What role did Chicago designers play in the story of American consumer goods presented in West Germany? How did their practices and designs connect to the city’s broader design scene? Find answers to these questions in this engaging virtual talk by art historian and writer Maggie Taft.

Above: Metropolis, handprint by Elenhank Designers, Inc., 1955.

Maggie Taft is Founding Director of Writing Space, a community-based writing center for artists and designers, and co-editor of Art in Chicago: A History from the Fire to Now (University of Chicago Press, 2018).

This event is free and open to the public and will take place virtually.

This event is presented in conjunction with the Design Museum of Chicago's current exhibition, A Designed Life: Contemporary American Textiles, Wallpapers, and Containers & Packaging, 1951–1954, from University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC). A Designed Life is curated by Margaret Re and organized by the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, UMBC with support from the Coby Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Knoll, Inc. A Designed Life is open until September 19 and can be viewed daily from 11am–4pm at our Expo 72 gallery at 72 E Randolph St.