”Design is everywhere” is the Museum’s new slogan. The motto that should permeate the business means that the design concerns us all and is everywhere. Excellent, I think, almost radically. The Design is made not seldom something exclusive when it should be about both brushes and mobile phones. Things that we all use on a daily basis.
but here on the premiere is still the rarities – guldbroderierna, gudabilderna, hårdekorationerna, china – in the new main exhibition ”Inspiration east Asia” the biggest reward for me.
the Museum’s chinese collection is one of the oldest in Europe. In two rooms on the top of the massive building exposed now a selection of these treasures in the dark, the theft-proof display cases. The whole supplemented with previously non-displayed textiles, together with the giant Buddha-figures, and rows of snusflaskor in a myriad of colors.
the View from ”Inspiration east Asia” at the Röhsska museum. Photo: Hendrik Zeitler
have interactive digital elements, and the color and lighting highlights the antique items. Ljusinstallationen, where the goldfish release themselves from the pattern on a large keramikkruka and swims out on the floor, is downright adorable.
On the other side of the huge staircase is japanese art and crafts, as well as an appendix that tells how the latter-day practitioners inspired and is still influenced by chinese, Korean and japanese design. Among the examples we find 1900-talsdesigner Lisa Larsson and Stig Lindberg but also contemporary names like Kennet Williamsson, Louise Campbell, and the Front.
the Old and the new unite, therefore, in the Röhsska. The architecture is heavy and dominant. Still feels the renovated parties fresh modern: källarplanets cloakroom, toilets, baby changing facilities and barnvagnsparkering. In the foyer on the ground floor have roof diamond inspired Marge Architects for a flexible möbelsystem with benches and shelves of the small shop. The parts can be combined in various clever ways and the color selection has been guided by the glazed tegelfriserna in Arkitekturhallen just inside.
the Chinese snusflaskor in ceramics from the new main exhibition ”Inspiration east Asia”. Photo: Hendrik Zeitler
has now also opened. The conceptually most important thing is without a doubt, ”Unmaking the Democratic Design: Fredrik Paulson”.
In their occupation, using Fredrik Paulsen often cheap materials in an artisan way. But his items are sold by a gallery owner and will then be placed in a new context in which the art market’s scale of values applies. The ambition here is to discuss the democratic design from several different aspects. Maybe it’s not at all?
A podium meander through the room, with six unique chairs made of different materials. Then a workshop, where visitors will get to make their own seating area. These should then be placed along the wall – a paraphrase of the stilhistoriska stolparad that still hangs in the connection to the auditorium on the museum’s basement. A third section illustrates the different användningsformer, while a fourth involves the industrial manufacture of the specially designed ”the Röhsska chair” as an example.
Sure, it can be fun to study the various elements and stolmodellerna but gratiskatalogen is absolutely necessary for those who want to understand Paulsens interesting ideas. There is also an eye-opening assessment of the cost of the said ”the Röhsska chair”, as well as the essay ”Reflections on democratic design” by Sara Kristoffersson.
”Unmaking the Democratic Design: Fredrik Paulsen”, overview with the chairs and the workshop ”the Shed” in the background. Photo: Hendrik Zeitler
Brynjar Sigurdarson, the winner of the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg prize” in 2018, shown in a second temporary exhibition. The objects reflect the icelandic landscape. This applies not least to the choice of material and the organic design idiom where the fishing line and feathers to become brittle decor. A small hallway tables from the collection ”The silent village collection” is a good example of how Brynjar Sigurdarson combines traditional techniques, including the way to merge the different parts, with today’s thoughts on sustainable design.
Environmental issues are ever-present with Brynjar Sigurdarson. Most striking is his ”Glacier candles”, an installation where small glaciärformer of ljusmassa scored a wick in each of the top. It burns already, everything is too late!
The third temporary exhibition ”New in the collection” presents a selection of recent acquisitions. The last half of the year, It partnered with the Design Lab’s, children and pensioners, who together formed a ”expert advice”. Its mission has been to look at a number of museum pieces from the other point of view than the traditional one. During the spring, visitors can bring their own things to the museum and get them assessed by the same experts.
the Intention is to open for discussion of the selection processes and purchasing policies. The whole thing is a kind of educational experiment in line both, with the motto ”Design is everywhere” and the Museum mission to be a local meeting place for the form and design issues.
Part of the podium in the ”New in the collection”. Photo: Hendrik Zeitler
takes up topics that will recur in the future. At the same time are the collections of the museum of the spine, according to the director of the museum Nina Due. Next on the tour to be renewed is the so far untouched section ”design history” of the design from the last two hundred years. Today it feels both dated and dusty compared with the new ”Inspiration east Asia”, despite the fact that everything behind the artifacts have been cleaned and polished. The way in which the objects should be exposed is still a discussion. The key is making design history relevant for our time.
My impression of the new Gothenburg, the country’s only design museum, worth the name, is sprawling, both in form and content. But also vital and adapted to the present. And enough is ostentatiously better than the dull.
