With House Of Norway, the Museum Angewandte Kunst dedicates its entire exhibition space to Norway, the Guest of Honour of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2019. The exhibition brings together and mixes outstanding positions from art, design, craft and architecture to create constellations that surprise and invite you to see in a new way.
It can be read like a journey of a special kind: with first-time and recurring encounters, moments of astonishment and pause, with new discoveries where something already seemed familiar and familiar. A journey through a country characterised by different landscapes, climatic zones and population densities: the south and west, with their coastal areas, lakelands and forests, are decidedly different from the snowy tundra of Finnmark in the north or the arctic climes in the north-east; life in Oslo and the other few large cities is different from that in the rural areas. Accordingly, not only are the realities of life different for the people in the respective places, but also the stimuli for artistic and creative work. And so the existence of an indigenous ethnic group, whose cultural area, Sápmi, extends across Norway, Sweden, Finland and parts of Russia, also holds other themes in store for artists and designers than the landscapes in Telemark, which are defined by deep valley incisions and dark forests - which in turn leads to other forms of expression and meanings attributed to the works.
The open thematic presentation brings together works by contemporary artists such as Frank Ekeberg, Kari Steihaug and Ingrid Torvund with the never-before-exhibited lyrical text drawings by the world-renowned artist Edvard Munch. Insights into Sámi art and culture will be provided by a guest performance by the Sámi National Theatre Beaivváš; there will also be works by the Sami artists Britta Marakatt-Labba, Máret Ánne Sara and Hans Ragnar Mathisen, who were represented in Germany for the first time at documenta 14 in Kassel, as well as by artisans such as Sune Enoksson and Jørn Are Keskitalo. You will also meet important Norwegian designers such as Regine Juhls, Torbjørn Kvasbø, Peter Opsvik, Grete Prytz Kittelsen and Tone Vigeland. Examples from architecture, for example by Sverre Fehn or Peter Zumthor, from the field of social design as well as contemporary impulses from fashion and new Nordic cuisine stand for a creative engagement with a world in transition.
Next to works from 47 artistic and design positions, the exhibition presents 24 selectable short films from Norway. The selection, curated by Sabine Schirdewahn, makes it possible to imagine the individual reflections of the artists and designers in relation to the objective social, ecological and economic conditions that might have led to the creation of their works.
A varied supporting programme with lectures, panel discussions, culinary events and an educational programme consisting of workshops and public guided tours for adults, children and young people round off the exhibition programme. The outreach program is sponsored by the Polytechnic Society Foundation.
Source and further information: https://www.museumangewandtekunst.de/de/besuch/ausstellungen/house-of-norway/
