[…] have found that we are also capable of engaging in interesting and unconventional dialogues about difficult topics and of creating artistic form through hand-crafted processes and the materiality of textile. Trapholt has been engaging in co-created art projects since 2015: Maskernes Monument (Monument of Stitches) with Isabel Berglund (2015–16), Waste Time Home Party with […]
[…] and culture in everyday settings. With this current theme, Formkraft focuses on the atmosphere that crafts can bring to the public space by virtue of its inherent material culture, techniques and aesthetics. And why it is more relevant than ever to include craft makers and designers when state-owned buildings are renovated, when municipalities develop decorative […]
[…] between Denmark and Norway, between history and innovation and between local roots and global influences. In order to navigate in this boundary zone, Wathne uses her own hands as her ethical and aesthetic compass. Associate Professor of Aesthetics and Culture at Aarhus University Ingrid Halland met Wathne for a conversation about stories, waste and surfaces.
Materials have always been a key condition of human creativity, but in recent decades, they have taken on renewed prominence in artistic practices. This article examines how today’s focus on materials relates to ideas from 16th-century understandings of nature and materials and how these connections can shed new light on the ongoing departure […]
[…] 1970s led to a certain moderation. In combination with the deep-felt departure from conventions and the embrace of alternatives to ordinary jewellery conservatism, this further fuelled far-reaching material experimentation that has characterized all aspects of Danish jewellery art since the mid 1970s and the postmodernist surge of the 1980s. Gradually, everything became ‘allowed’. As […]
The new European Cultural Compass is an ambitious attempt to formulate a common European direction for cultural policy. It contains strong intentions: better working conditions for artists, increased access to culture and international encounters, and a strengthening of Europe's cultural values. But amid these ambitions, there is one area that risks disappearing from view: Crafts.
[…] to and which gradually became a burden without radical renewal possibilities. Danish designers were internationally inspired and came up with new expressions; provocative, organic, openings towards new materials and style games with the monumental and the decorative. Unfortunately, manufacturers were rarely on board. There was talk of the ‘furniture crisis’ with the Cabinetmakers' Autumn […]
[…] machine and an alchemist’s approach and breaking with the zero-error culture, two tutors and researchers from the Royal Danish Academy aim to show the world that there is an endless number of possibilities in recycling everything from roof tiles to toilets and turning them into new building materials – without compromising on form or aesthetic.
What’s the fuss about? In the autumn of 2023, Tideland Studio exhibited a collection of 3D-printed works at the Biennale for Craft & Design in the old welding hall at Copenhagen Contemporary. The nine small figures, intricately constructed from strands of fired clay, may seem a bit peculiar at first glance. But make no mistake. […]
Textile has made a comeback as an acknowledged material, technique and culture. In international art, especially in connection with conflicts, textile appears to occupy a unique role. Countless exhibitions use clothes and textile to express identity, gender, migration and life. The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei curated the art project Laundromat in a New York […]