The Rotunda is a high and round room in
the centre of the Pinakothek der Moderne.
Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum
put together this exhibition.
It is about:
• sitting as an experience with company
• sitting to start a conversation

The idea for this exhibition is:
Social Seating in a museum.

Social Seating in the museum is a project in
which visitors can participate if they want.

The Pinakothek der Moderne will have
pieces of seating furniture available for visitors
for a whole year.
Visitors can sit on this furniture and talk to each other.
It is all about conversations between visitors.
And it is also about the experiences visitors have
with this seating furniture.

Social seating comes from an idea that allows people to come together.
With the help of new media,
people can choose who they want to sit next to.
This way they can choose who they want to talk to.
The offer is always voluntary.
Sometimes Social Seating is available
on aeroplanes or at events, for example.
 
But in the Rotunda of the Pinakothek der Moderne,
visitors meet by chance.
They can talk to each other on the seating furniture
if they want to.
This is why Die Neue Sammlung shows
15 pieces of seating furniture.
They were made by designers from many different countries.
The oldest pieces of seating furniture are around 70 years old.
But there is also very modern seating furniture from today.

The exhibition asks these questions:
• How has sitting together changed over time?
• How does sitting together affect people’s lives together?
• What different ideas have designers tried out?
• How has the look of seating furniture changed?
• What materials were used to make seating furniture?
• Will it be even more important in the future
for seating furniture to last a long time?
Also, is it more important
that the material can be easily reused?
This is known as sustainability.

The Internet has changed the world:
There is less real contact between people now.
The Social Seating exhibition wants to
encourage contact and real conversations
between people.

Our exhibition turns the Rotunda in the Pinakothek der Moderne
into a place for everyone.
The Rotunda is now a place where people can meet and
talk to each other.