New design exhibition opens in Riga on the 23 March 2005. This exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of Scandinavian Design and shows more than 200 objects from a historical perspective up until today’s contemporary design in different countries. The travelling exhibition will now be shown at the Museum of Decorative Applied Arts in Riga from the 23 March until 5 June 2005. Scandinavian design is presented in a new large exhibition with a new perspective.
The exhibition opened in Berlin in November 2003 and is touring eleven countries for three years. The exhibition was shown in Milan at the la Triennial during the Milan International Furniture Fair 2004, then in Budapest and now in Riga. After Riga, the tour continues to Glasgow, Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Oslo (and New York, where the tour will end in June 2006).
At the exhibition, you will find the whole diversity of design which established and consolidated the definition of Scandinavian design. The exhibition gives retrospective views, discusses the myths and stereotypes behind the concept, as well as showing the contemporary design from the five Nordic countries.
The exhibitions´ concept and thematic structure are inspired by the Italian philosopher Italo Calvino’s Six Memos for the Next Millennium: – Lightness, Quickness, Exactitude, Visibility, Multiplicity and Consistency. The division into Calvino’s six themes has created a new view of Scandinavian design. The exhibition starts with a historical view and ends with an entertaining part which features humoristic and ironic comments on Scandinavian design.
The list of well known Scandinavian design companies and luminary designers is extensive. Iittala, Georg Jensen, Fiskars, Lego and Tetra Pak are just some of the companies whose products feature in the exhibition. Scandinavian design has often been used by Hollywood in film sets to describe a carefree and cleaner life, often with futuristic elements. In the exhibition, design icons from five decades are presented side-by-side with the latest within the Scandinavian design.
Further information can be found at www.scandesign.org.
