Utställningen Irrational Times på Kalmar konstmuseum och Form/Design Center i Malmö

När vi studerar spår ur historien ser vi att olika kulturer överlappar varandra, något som visar att världen varit en smältdegel sedan urminnes tider. Det här blev utgångspunkten för ett samtida kulturellt utbytesprojekt – ”Irrational Times” – mellan svenska Petra Lilja Design Studio och Polska designstudion Kosmos Project.

Resultatet är en utställning av samtida design som tagit sin utgångspunkt i likheterna mellan slavisk och skandinavisk kultur – både vad gäller den materiella kultur som bevarats och de legender och myter man känner till från 500-talet och 900-talet. Utställningsföremålen har skapats av Petra Lilja Design studio, baserad i Sverige, och Kosmos Project studio i Polen.

Kuratorteamet, som utgörs av de medverkande i utställningen och den polska kuratorn Magdalena Popławska, har arbetat fram projektet i dialog med varandra. Den första visningen äger rum på Kalmar Konstmuseum (22.10-22 .11.2015), och den andra på Form/Design Center i Malmö (26.11.2015-10.01.2016).

Projektet har finansierats av Polens kulturministerium och Polska instituet i Stockholm.
Samarbetspartner: Kalmar Konstmuseum, Form/Design Center in Malmö, Polens kulturmin isterium, Polska instituet i Stockholm.

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Foto: Irrational Times, huvudbilden, grafik 1, 2, 3.

IRRATIONAL TIMES Kosmos Project, Petra Lilja Design, Magdalena Popławska

22 oktober 2015 – 22 november 2015
Kalmarkonstmuseum

Design: Kosmos Project, Petra Lilja Design
Kuratorer: Magdalena Popławska, Ewa Bochen och Maciej Jelski (Kosmos Project), Petra Lilja

Kontakt: Kasia Syty (projektledare)
Tel 08 50 57 50 52
katarzyna.syty@instytutpolski.org eller

Marta Dybula (PR)
Tel 08 50 57 50 73
marta.dybula@instytutpolski.org

Kalmar Konstmuseum, Sweden / 22.10-22.11.2015 / press conference: 22.10.2015, 4pm / opening: 22.10.2015, 6pm / curatorial tour: 22.10.2015, 7pm

Form/Design Center in Malmö, Sweden / 26.11-10.01.2016 / press conference: 26.11.2015, 4pm / opening: 26.11.2015, 6pm / curatorial tour: 26.11.2015, 7pm

When we study traces of the history, the borders of different cultures are overlapping on each other, revealing the world as a melting pot since ancient times. In order to research cultural history, one can look into collections of archeological and ethnographic museums, or search for inspiring myths in literature. 

By doing so, we find that between Poland and Sweden for years in the past regular trade exchange had been conducted and it allowed for the flow of both material and immaterial elements of culture, an example of what sometimes is called ancient globalization. Nowadays we can see common motifs in folklore, decoration, similar or even the same techniques used in production of everyday objects. Also, east-orien ted expeditions of Vikings ended up in settling down and exchanging goods, not only attacking and taking over foreign lands. This opened up for assimilation processes.

"Irrational Times" is a Polish-Swedish exhibition of contemporary design based on found similarities in Slavic and Swedish culture, observed through saved elements of material culture as well as legends and myths from 6th to 10th century of our era. The objects exhibited are created by Petra Lilja Design studio based in Sweden and Kosmos Project studio based in Poland. The curatorial team is working on the project by leading constant dialogue, and is made of participants of the exhibition and a polish curator Magdalena Popławska. First presentation will take place in Kalmar Konstmuseum in Sweden (22.10-22.11.2015), the second one – in Form/Design Center in Malmo, in Sweden (26.11-10.01.2016). Both will be accompanied by press conferences and curatorial tours.

Irrational Times project is financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and Polish Institute in Stockholm.

Partners of the project: Kalmar Konstmuseum, Form/Design Center in Malmö, Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Polish Institute in Stockholm – in the frame of Polish Leadership in the Council of the Baltic Sea States, Embassy of Poland in Stockholm, Embassy of Sweden in Warsaw.

Confirmed media partners: TVP Kultura, Fundacja Bęc Zmiana, FUTU, Design Alive, Materialiści, Kulturaonline.pl, Domplusdom.pl

BIO
Kosmos Project (http://www.kosmosproject.com/) is a design studio based in Warsaw, founded in 2006 by Ewa Bochen (1981) and Maciej Jelski (1981). The designers studied at Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (where Maciej Jelski is now working at) and at the Politecnico di Milano. After their studies, they gained experience in Milan, working with designers such as Alessandro Mendini and Denis Santachiara. Kosmos Project´s inspiration comes from observation of relationship between the civilized and the wild. Designers strongly believe that modern design needs to focus on human s pirituality as the way to transform dehumanized life. In their conceptual approach they see design as a vehicle for expressing emotions, which creates the possibility to communicate through the use of everyday objects, and with those objects. The earlier projects of designers alluded, among others, to the collective unconscious phenomenon and the world of supernatural, with animalistic references and the will to transcend materialism that characterizes design.

Petra Lilja (http://petralilja.se/) is an industrial designer and curator based in Malmö, where she runs an eponymous design gallery from a converted car repair shop; she also works as program coordinator for the Design Master Program at Linnaeus University. Petra Lilja’s work incorporates exhibition, furniture and product design. She studied interior architecture and industrial design at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design in Copenhagen, the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University in Sweden, and Pratt Institute in New York. In her work she often takes the advantage of local craftsmanship and traditional manufacturing techniques. She produces a lot of her designs herself creating unique or limited edition pieces. As the co-founder of experimental design studio Apokalyps Labotek (2008-2013; awarded the Wallpaper Design Award in 2011) she declared: “We know there are keys to be found by cross fertilizing different fields of knowledge. We believe in transforming low tech into high tech and the other way around. We accept that old can become new and that we can change the world”.

Magdalena Popławska – curator of exhibitions dealing with relationship between design and art, coordinator of educational and animation projects, editor and co-author of publications dedicated to contemporary art and design. Graduate of the Faculty of Sociology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and post-graduate studies at the Faculty of Art Education of the University of Fine Arts in Poznań. She curated exhibition during Poznań Design Days (2015), Survival Festival in Wrocław (2014), 7^th Biennale of Photography (Poznań 2011) and numerous exhibitions in Arsenal Municipal Gallery (Poznań, 2012-2014).