Pure Gold



The design exhibition Pure Gold – Upcycled! Upgraded! is a worldwide touring exhibition initiated by the Institute for International Cultural Relations (ifa). 



At every venue of the exhibition we organise and hold design workshops in cooperation with the local Goethe Institutes, supported by the ifa and in collaboration with the seven curators from Europe, Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

INITATORS, CONCEPT Studio Lapatsch|Unger, Axel Kufus
Commissioned by ifa (Institute for International Cultural Relations) in cooperation with Goethe-Institut São Paulo, Goethe-Institut Philippines, Goethe-Institut Vietnam, Goethe-Institut Myanmar and Goethe-Institut Thailand.
Special thanks to Instituto Tomie Ohtake, Vargas Museum Manila, Heritage Space Hanoi, Ministers' Building Yangon (The Secretariat) and Thailand Creative & Design Center (TCDC).

2017 – ongoing
More about the project here.


The Pure Gold project consists of two complementary parts: the physical and material exhibition with the local workshops and the virtual platform as a space for dialogue, discussion and the storage of knowledge gained by the workshops. A direct result of the workshops are Instructables, simple and non-verbal video instructions in stop-motion format that invite the spectator to imitate and gain a new perspective on waste materials. The workshops foster a community and a cross-cultural exchange of practitioners such as designers, activists, artists, artisans as well as non-profit organisations, to explore the social, economic and geopolitical aspects of discarded materials. Within the workshops the participants are guided to exchange, reinterpret and prototype regional practices and to extend their individual approaches on recycled waste steams in a creative process.