From an old school chair to a star of the design world?“State of Emergency” at designforum Vorarlberg

With “rAusnahmezustand. An Exhibition Against Overwhelm,” the designforum Vorarlberg will open its first self-curated exhibition on October 1, 2026. In collaboration with the Vorarlberg-based design studio Designreserve, the exhibition shines a spotlight on a previously overlooked hero of design history: the school chair. The opening, featuring a design talk, will take place on October 1 at 5:00 p.m. as part of FEZ 26—Festival zur Eröffnung der Zukunft (Festival for the Opening of the Future)—at CampusVäre in Dornbirn.

From an old school chair to a star of the design world? What happens to the things that surround us every day and are supposedly no longer needed? How do recycling, reuse, and redesign become more than just trendy statements? The new exhibition “rAusnahmezustand” at the designforum Vorarlberg uses discarded school chairs as a starting point to ask: How do we decide which products stay or go, and how do we create genuine circular value?

“rAusnahmezustand” is an exhibition about the potential inherent in things: materials, labor time, standards, manufacturing expertise, and signs of wear. The exhibition centers on a previously unsung hero of design history: the school chair. The starting point for the exhibition is a warehouse full of discarded school chairs—the parts warehouse at CampusVäre.

In collaboration with the Vorarlberg-based design studio Designreserve, designforum Vorarlberg is now taking a close look at the school chair—from materials and function to decision-making, standards, and compromise. The school chair serves as a symbol of a world that produces more than it can account for. The exhibition asks the question: How do we decide what stays and what goes?

Before the exhibition goes on tour throughout Austria, you can see it in Vorarlberg through April 29, 2027.