Papers by Leena E Svinhufvud
The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Design, 2016
Routledge eBooks, Aug 25, 2022
The plot behind an exhibition can at times be just as important as the objects on display: This p... more The plot behind an exhibition can at times be just as important as the objects on display: This plot reflects an intention, which adds perspective to the exhibited and stimulates the intellectual capacity of the visitor beyond the simple -and often irrelevant -question of beauty. (Bøe 1966, 14) Though originating in an unrelated 1966 exhibition review in the journal Dansk Brugskunst, these words by Norwegian design historian Alf Bøe are apt in capturing the qualities of institutional transformation traceable in three exhibitions studied in this chapter. Seeking to broaden the scope of design and strengthen its relevance to society, these three exhibitions all come close to embodying this overall 'plot' as Bøe describes it, each in a different way. They are: the Norwegian Industrial Design exhibition at the Oslo Museum of Decorative Art in November 1963; the FORM 68 exhibition at the Danish Museum of Decorative Art in Copenhagen in May 1968; and the exhibition Object and Environment (Esine ja ympäristö) touring Finnish schools, libraries and other local exhibition spaces between 1968 and 1971. The desirable luxury objects and furnishings of the post-war years encompassed by the 'Scandinavian Design' label were -and still are -an obliging category for exhibition formats based on aesthetic premises in museums and kindred organs. With the 1960s and 1970s increased attention to the expanded concept of design, its social meanings and activist potential, institutions of didactic cultural exhibiting were faced with a new challenge of communicating design as contemporary culture and as an element of social change. In national museums of industrial and applied arts, the traditional art historical practice of highlighting an aesthetic canon held sway, consequently leading to a retrospective approach. Conversely, within the exhibition activities of national societies and associations of craft and design, the commitment to advancing industrial export and domestic production were dominating and implied a demand for novelties and goods ready for mass production. In order to afford the general public a way of exploring the cultural meaning of design at eye level without addressing them as immediate consumers, the need arose for developing new curatorial strategies.
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Papers by Leena E Svinhufvud