How is design challenging the present and shaping the future? New exhibition opens at Design Museum

Enter and Encounter at Design Museum Helsinki
24 March – 22 October 2017

Jointly produced by the Finnish Association of Designers Ornamo and Design Museum and for the centenary of Finnish independence, the exhibition presents Finnish contemporary design since World Design Capital Helsinki 2012. It looks ahead in an optimistic spirit and asks how design is challenging the present and shaping the future.The works, projects, ventures and initiatives featured in the exhibition respond to change or the needs for it, creating new phenomena, offering perspectives and laying the basis for new attitudes and practices in a global context. The title of the exhibition, Enter and Encounter, invites its visitors and viewers to encounter changes in design and society with an open mind and in a positive spirit.

Also on display are the design process project of LA Architects and the City of Helsinki for the Oodi Central Library in Helsinki and the New Biomateriality Lab’s concept of new biomaterials from wood such as applications of cellulose. The younger generation is represented by product designers Hanna-Kaarina Heikkilä and Elina Ulvio. Ragamuf steered by Tuula Pöyhönen and Martta Leskelä is an example of, among many other things, a global actor responding to needs for change.The exhibition contains examples of combating climate change, changes in food production, new forms of graphic design, satellite-based information services, and artificial intelligence. Exhibits include the Culture and Sompa saunas representing urban and sauna culture, new forms of culinary culture such as the Finnjävel restaurant and Kalle Freese’s Sudden Coffee, and new applications like Noona for the care of cancer patients, the MaaS urban mobility concept and the OURA Ring for monitoring personal health.

–  With this exhibition, we want to describe Finnish contemporary design and its status,’ note Chief Curator Suvi Saloniemi of Design Museum and Project Manager Kaisa Logren of the Finnish Association of Designers Ornamo. ‘The exhibition shows that Finnish design is of broad scope and proceeds from solutions, while at the same time global and applying technologies to a large degree.

The exhibits are in six rooms: Techno Pastoral, Global Finn, Ecologies, Post-Industrial Crafts, Urban and Soft Systems.

The curators of the exhibition: Paula Bello, Katja Hagelstam, Juha Kronqvist, Heini Lehtinen, Ville Tikka and Esa Vesmanen.

Participants: Erich Berger & Mari Keto, CellPod, Aalto University: Colour and Material Led Design, Aalto University: Design for Government, Kirsi Enkovaara, FinEst Link, Finnjävel, Helsinki Dry Gin, Tenu Gin, Napue Gin, GRMMXI, Hanna-Kaarina Heikkilä, Hello Ruby, Iceye, Iris AI,  Oodi Central Library, Ville Kokkonen, Culture Sauna, Nathalie Lautenbacher, M4ID, MaaS, Musuta, Elina Määttänen, New Biomateriality Lab, Nikari, Nokia OZO, Noona, ONAR Studios, the Ornamo Prize, OURA Ring, Deepa Panchamia, Ragamuf, Remedy Entertainment, Timo Ripatti, Robin Hood Coop, Rolls-Royce Future Shore Control Centre, Anna Salmi, Kozeen Shiwan, Showerloop, Fyra interior architects, Sompasauna, Sudden Coffee, Suomen Jäätelö, Elina Ulvio and Laura Väinölä.

The exhibition team was coordinated by Chief Curator Suvi Saloniemi of Design Museum and Project Manager Kaisa Logren of the Finnish Association of Designers Ornamo.

Exhibition architecture by
Leonard Maand Martti Kalliala.

The exhibition is part of Design Museum’s and the Ornamo Association’s programme for the centenary of Finnish independence in 2017.