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News • Helsinki • Finland • 2012-10-11

Design Museum Investigates the Concept of Home – Museum of Finnish Architecture Displays Top Norwegian Talent

The Home – A Space and State of Mind is a multifaceted exhibition and the high point of Design Museum autumn season during World Design Capital Helsinki 2012. It addresses the relationship of modern-day people with the home from different perspectives, both conceptually and with concrete examples, and the various manifestations and meanings that this familiar environment can have. The exhibition also considers the evolution of the home in retrospect, from the present day back to the 19th century. Produced by Design Museum, the exhibition is curated by the museum’s Chief Curator Suvi Saloniemi and the exhibition architecture is by Harri Kivilinna. The visual design is by graphic designer Laura Väinölä.

The home is a private space of continuous change that we construct to complement and express our personality, or at least many wish to do so. It can be an intimate small nest, a total work of art, a dream work of interior design, or just a place in a virtual dimension. The home can equally be a focus of yearning and a symbol of refuge for someone without a home. Nomadism can also be voluntary choice: for a world traveller a tent or hotel room can be a safe, home-like place. Together with its interior decoration, the home reflects change in society in broader perspective, which can be revealed, for example, by interpreting the evolution of furniture such as sofas. The ideals and norms of the home have become more democratic over time: interior decoration magazines are now matched by blogs that can be published by anyone. The home is constructed not only of space, people, moods and states of mind but also of objects that are collected, recycled and replaced by new ones.

”I wanted to study the home in its broadest and most diverse sense through the lens of contemporary phenomena. To borrow enriching perspectives from cultural history, contemporary art, computer games and fashion, and to create a dialogue between old and new, perception and concrete reality, the bliss of domestic cosiness and dismal homelessness,” notes Chief Curator Suvi Saloniemi of Design Museum, who has curated the exhibition.

The Home – A Place and a State of Mind features objects, works and projects by, among others, Alex Delany, From:, Habbo Hotel. Pekka Harni, Kaarle Hurtig, Kaksi Två, Jeremy Leslie, Elodie Pong, Panu Puolakka, Bita Razavi, Sanna Saastamoinen-Barrois, Nene Tsuboi & Tuomas Toivonen, Emilia Ukkonen, Juha van Ingen and Timo Wright. The exhibition includes a large series of events produced by Design Museum. There will be flower arrangement and the embroidering of inscribed wall-hangings with a new attitude, lectures on subjects such as meditative cleaning and local produce and reading circles, among other activities. On 17 October, Design Museum will take part in the Night of the Homeless. The proceeds of the evening’s museum event will go directly to support the work of the Association for People without a Permanent Home. Design Museum’s exhibition The Home – A Place and State of Mind is part of the programme of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.

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