Yesterday, December 5, 2024, the MAK and the MAK Art Society (MARS) invited people to an exclusive artists’ dinner, which was a continuation of the artists’ festival at the MAK, which has already been successfully held twice. The atmospheric evening provided an exclusive preview of the large MAK exhibition PECHE POP: Dagobert Peche and his traces in the present one of the most virtuoso and eccentric designers of the Wiener Werkstätte. Around 200 guests from art, culture and business accepted the invitation from MAK General Director Lilli Hollein and MARS President Martin Böhm to the dinner, the proceeds of which go to the museum, and celebrated the creative power of design together with the MAK.
No surface was safe from Dagobert Peche, who was described by Josef Hoffmann as an “ornament genius”. The MAK also gave free rein to the creative urge – in the MAK colonnade and in the table setting, with a new edition of artist tableware with Gmundner ceramics and other artistic interventions.
The Special Plate Edition 2024 designed by Andreas Kronthaler, Creative Director of Studio Vivienne Westwood, and manufactured by Gmundner Keramik MAK × Gmundner Ceramics × Vivienne Westwoodwhich is available for purchase and from which Gmundner Keramik supports the MAK, shows a series of drawings and graphics by Vivienne Westwood, some of which refer to Dagobert Peche.
Philipp Quehenberger on the piano and the Stockholm-born paper flower artist Gustav Axel Broström also contributed to the evening’s program, who created a paper flower arrangement for the tables inspired by Dagobert Peche. J. & L. Lobmeyr provided his glasses for the dinner.
“This special format of our artist dinners, which is so fitting for the MAK, was created in 2022 inspired by the exhibition THE FESTwhere we took up the tradition of artists’ festivals and are now organizing them very successfully for the third time. This year, Dagobert Peche’s boundless creative wealth offered a particularly glamorous occasion for this evening dedicated to art. I would like to thank the artists involved and the numerous guests for the special atmosphere, but above all for their support, as we can use the funds from the dinner to purchase art,” says MAK General Director Lilli Hollein.
The guests of the evening included numerous artists and designers, including Gelitin, Andreas Kronthaler (Studio Vivienne Westwood), Carmen Müller, Olaf Nicolai, Jakob Lena Knebl and Ashley Hans Scheirl, Markus Schinwald, Nicole Six and Paul Petritsch and Heimo Zobernig; MAK Board of Trustees Chairwoman Astrid Gilhofer and Gertie Gürtler (Chairwoman of the MAK International Advisory Board); Leaders of the art and culture scene such as Eva Blimlinger, Agnes Husslein-Arco (Heidi Horten Collection) and Maria Planegger (A01 Architects); Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and guests from the media, companies and business, including Nicole Adler, Cornelius Grupp, Tatyana Ivanova (Van Cleef & Arpels), Fabian Kaufmann (CC Real), Leonid Rath (J. & L. Lobmeyr), Franz Radatz and Thomas Zedrosser‚ Angelika and Wolfgang Rosam, Magda Hanau, Marion and Erwin Soravia, Susanne and Johannes Strohmayer, Percy Thonet, Laurence Yansouni and Johannes Juranek (CMS).
We would like to thank Gmundner Keramik, J. & L. Lobmeyr, Stölzle Lausitz, Champagne Taittinger, Weingut Markus Altenburger, Falstaff LIVING, Ottakringer, Vöslauer, Pianohaus Förstl, Nohava & Partner Piano Transporte KG and Gerin Druck GmbH for their support in implementing the artists’ dinner .
Pictures of the atmospheric artists’ dinner at the MAK can be found at the following link:
https://we.tl/t-1xjE2EF7IZ
© Andreas Tischler
The MAK exhibition PECHE POP: Dagobert Peche and his traces in the present will open on December 10, 2024 (MAK exhibition hall, December 11, 2024-May 11, 2025).