Jurgen Bey (The Netherlands), Birdwatchcabinet, detail, 2004, Studio Jurgen Bey, assisted by Christiaan Oppewal and Silvijn v/d Velden.

Crafted Form: Beyond Design, Craft, or Art

Liljevalchs Konsthall
Djurgärdsvägen 60, SE-115
46-8-508-313-30
Stockholm
Hands on movement — Crafted form in dialogue
June 18-August 26, 2007

Hands on movement — Crafted form in dialogue aims to present a new understanding of the fields of design, crafts and applied arts.

Each of the participants in the exhibition has been given a room at Liljevalchs. This allows for individual meetings with these innovative artists who are all internationally established pioneers in their fields. Several of the participants are showing work in Sweden for the first time.

Visitors will meet interior and furniture designers, jewellery designers, graphic designers and ceramicists who have a free approach to conventional limits of the craft.

The exhibition weaves together our contemporary material existence with the history of the design field, highlighting various movements and ideals and illustrating the lively communication between different aspects of our highly material and designed culture.

Zandra Ahl and Päivi Ernkvist have curated and produced the exhibition. They are both practising craft artists as well as freelance curators and authors. They have gained a reputation for their innovative promotion of design which emphasizes communication and experimental manufacturing processes.

Zandra Ahl and Päivi Ernkvist have minted the term "crafted form" which they explain as a specific movement:

According to the curators, crafted form cannot be defined as design, craft, or art but is a phenomenon that is in a constant state of dialogue with these genres. Unlike the traditional romanticization of techniques and materials in applied arts and crafts, the term ‘crafted form’ emphasizes communication, discussion of issues and experimental manufacturing processes.

At the exhibition website www.formhantverk.se, visitors are guided through the exhibition, room by room in a virtual three-dimensional format. Visitors can choose their guide – Päivi Ernkvist guides in Swedish and Zandra Ahl in English.

The guided tour takes place in the empty rooms of the gallery while the guide describes what can be seen there when visiting the real exhibition. This “blind” guiding means that visitors can form an opinion of the works that are described and can then compare this with an actual visit to the gallery.

To take full advantage of the guided tours on the website, the sound can easily be downloaded onto the visitor’s own mp3-player for listening at the gallery. There are also mp3-players at the gallery with the guided tour installed. They can be borrowed at the pay desk with an ID card as a deposit.

Pontus Lindvall (Sweden), Mother of colorful objects, eternal source of light divine, 2007, sitespecific light fittings.

Takashi Hinoda, ceramic.

Front (Sweden), Sofia Lagerkvist, Charlotte von der Lancken, Anna Lindgren, and Katja Sävström, Sketch Furniture, 2006, Plastic.

Hjarta Smarta (Sweden), Angela Tillman Sperandio and Samira Boubana, LOOK, 2007, Book.

Andreas and Fredrika (Sweden), Invitation/, Xavier Veilhan for Chanel, 2005.

Ted Noten (The Netherlands),Superbitch bag model Gucci.

CLAYDIES (Denmark), Tine Broksø and Karen Kjældgård-Larsen, Tine, From the project Claydies and Gentlemen, a series of handmodelled stoneware bowls.

 

Dinie Besems (The Netherlands), No title, 2006, Silver, Photograph Bettina Neumann.