Material Information

Material Information – the 2012 thematic exhibition of the Norwegian Arts and Crafts Association.

Exhibition Period: 28.09.2012 - 27.01.2013

Spotlight on the production and collection of objects in a globalized world.

Arts & crafts and museums of the decorative arts are closely related, both originating around 1850 in response to the negative consequences of the industrial revolution – aesthetic decline and alienation from production – referred to by Marx as ‘commodity fetishism’. In contrast craftsmen concerned themselves with every stage of the process from concept to finished product.

Juan Gaitán, curator of the exhibition, asks why craftsmanship is still dominated by the mindset of the 1800s, while industrial production has been radically updated.

The kind of industrial production that is considered a benchmark of European craftsmanship has almost disappeared from the Western world today. It has been outsourced and fragmented, and its products are global and anonymous.

This exhibition not only poses a challenge to the area of arts and crafts but also to the museum. The artists turn the role of the museum as collector and storyteller upside down, and in doing so deprive the museum of its monopoly over the representation of the objects in its collection and the narratives associated with them.

Material Information brings a set of contemporary practices together in order to present a multiple meditation on the new and old objects of industry.

Artists
Zarouhie Abdalian (US), Abbas Akhavan (CA), Danai Anesiadou (BE), Siri Brekke (NO), Asli Cavusoglu (TK), Hilde Angel Danielsen (NO), Goldin+Senneby (SE), Hadley&Maxwell (CA), Iman Issa (EG), Katrine Meisfjord (NO), Alex Morrison (CA), Shahryar Nashat (CH), Amalia Pica (AR), Praneet Soi (IN), Ola Vasiljeva (LV/NL) og Aoi Yoshizawa (JP/FI).

The exhibition is curated by Juan A. Gaitán, and will take place in three different venues and around the city of Bergen. The main exhibition will take place here, at the Art Museums of Bergen Permanenten between September 28th and January 31st.

I addition, a film program will be screened at Galleri Format between September 27th and October 29th and a commissioned project by artist Carolina Caycedo will take place at Hordaland Art Centre between November 16th and December 16th.

Material Information is initiated by the Norwegian Association of Arts and Crafts West-Norway, produced by Petra Rahm, and supported generously by: The Norwegian Association for Arts and Craft, The Norwegian Arts Council, Bergen kommune and Office for Contemporary Art Norway.

 

• 28 Sep 2012 to 27 Jan 2013
• Kode 1
• 100,- / 50,- / 0,- *

* * Adults: NOK 100-, Students: NOK 50-, Children (0-16 yrs.): Free. Free admission with the Bergen card. The ticket gives admission to all exhibitions at KODE for two days.