The new millennium and the uncoupling of the MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts from the federal association called for a critical analysis of the objectives behind the institution's foundation. Contrary to other museums, the idea behind its foundation was to assemble a selection of models and to establish an institution for the formation of good taste – two crucial purposes to which the various collections were only related in the course of time. This is why "Art and Industry" is an exhibition on the history of art and culture.
 
Drawing on outstanding samples from the MAK collections, it outlines the development of the former Austrian Imperial and Royal Museum of Art and Industry from Historicism to Art Nouveau and from Rudolf von Eitelberger to Arthur von Scala. The exhibition also centers on a number of eminent personalities who supported the experimental character of the institution that was to be both a treasure of models and an arts and crafts college and to form an essential hub between artistic creativity and economic production.
 
Leading industrialists like Ludwig Lobmeyr and Philipp Haas and designers like Eduard van der Nüll and Josef Storck, whom Rudolf von Eitelberger succeeded in winning for his project, accompanied the museum founded in 1864 and the Austrian applied arts on their way to international acclaim.
 
Curator Hanna Egger
Assistant curator Rainald Franz
Guest curator Kathrin Nagel