4 February 2017 – 31 December 2020
This exhibition features iconic pieces from the golden age of Finnish design of the 1950s, Nokia mobile phones and the Angry Birds game alike. Utopia Now is Design Museum’s collections exhibition, telling about the central role of design in the emergence of the Finnish welfare state. It falls into five themes in which the history of design is presented in living narratives. The exhibition’s digital applications permit the display of previously unseen materials and a much greater amount of information than previously.
The exhibits are also accessible in a virtual digitized archive at: https://collection.designmuseum.fi
In Collection exhibition’s Changing Room: Fokus Bauhaus
23 August 2019 – 2 February 2020
Just like Nordic Design, the term Bauhaus indicates modern, functional, democratic design. The centennial of the German art school Bauhaus (1919–33) is an opportunity to look at the collection of Design Museum Helsinki through the lens of Bauhaus and search for influences, parallels and differences. Located in the Changing Room of Design Museum’s Collection exhibition, the exhibition presents one of the most iconic Bauhaus-artefacts: the Bauhaus-Lamp, designed by Wilhelm Wagenfeld in 1924. By bringing together this idealized object and its critical perception, the exhibition points out the difficulties in realizing utopian ideas and introduces the viewers to the challenges of design.
Furthermore, the exhibition connects Bauhaus ideas with artefacts from the permanent collection, asking: What is the meaning of Bauhaus in the Nordic countries and how does it relate to Nordic design and architecture? Is there a shared history or should we see them as separate worlds? What is “Bauhaus”, after all? – and “Nordic Design”, then?
The exhibition Bauhaus will be showcased from 19 August 2019 to 2 February 2020 at Design Museum’s collection exhibition Utopia Now – The Story of Finnish Design. The exhibition is curated by Julia Meer (Berlin) and Julia Kartesalo (Helsinki).
The exhibition is supported by Goethe-Institut Finnland and Arts Promotion Centre Finland.