Applied art must create useless things!
During the period of economical revolutions and global crises, when our thinking and acting is more than ever deter mined by the calculation of expenses and profit, a large-scale international exhibition has been arranged under this motto. Only a few years after the political revolution in Estonia, the touring exhibition of design and craft, initiated in Tallinn, called on artists to describe the way “from dreams to realty”. Is the present exhibition a regression then? Does it witness of hesitations or, rather, self-assurance?
On the contrary, the name of the exhibition has been chosen very smartly – first and foremost, it confirms widely diffused prejudices and raises banal associations, which, then, lead a person to crucial ideas simply by force. What are the truly useful and useless things in this world threatened by choking of its own overproduction? There are about 10,000 things in an average European household. How many of them are really useful? Has applied art been well advised, when it tries to make itself more usable, approaching the methods and goals of product design, and concentrating on large, market-orientated mass production? Or should applied art oppose itself to the dictation of usefulness altogether – like free art does -, and serve one’s mind and freedom, rather than fashion, market, and the desire to please?
It seems, most of the 304 artists from 26 countries do not participate because of the title of the triennial. More likely, they were influenced by an idea expressed in the circular, coinciding with their own experiences. Namely, the idea that the increasing amalgamation of the aesthetic and the conceptual in contemporary applied art no longer satisfies the traditional comprehensions of applied art as such.
Indeed, the present exhibition affirms that the tendency to divide art into free and usable is as obsolete as observing works of art on the basis of the methods of craft only. Who would still want to measure the quality of figurative expressions by the quality of craft and the proper use of material? Thus, the decision of the jury was based upon the question, whether the work of art under the observation was independent and new, and whether the materials and the technique were suitable for the execution of its artistic idea. From among 304 applicants, the international jury chose 79 artists of 16 different nationalities. Two thirds of them come from Finland and the Baltics. This can be explained, first and foremost, by their geographical closeness, as well as the tradition of triennials. But besides that, it certainly indicates the high level of applied art in this region.
The exhibition not only shows the convincing variety and artistic idiosyncrasy of the selected works, but also reveals a problem which occurs once in a while, when applied artists free themselves from the restrictions of the function of use and start dealing with free subject matters: some stay loyal to the craft acquired and the materials used and endeavor to express ideas with the help of these – although they might get better results by some other means. Free artists, however, are not so tied to their means of expression. In their work, idea always dictates material, and not vice versa. At this exhibition both approaches can be seen.
Although some of the works displayed seem to have no connection with the hidden purpose of the subject “Useless Things”, they are not in a wrong place. The jury has deliberately chosen them for the sake of their high quality of craft and expressive perseverance. And actually they hold fast to the subject matter, belonging to the kind of handicraft which is said to produce “nice things that no one needs”.
The content of this slapdash expression is quite general and is neither right not wrong, while it contains criticism which the latter has been dealing with ever since the beginning of the industrial era, and which cannot be avoided at the Tallinn triennial either.
How should applied art react to the reproach of product designers, who consider this realm of art inopportune because it is made of unique and precious materials and, therefore expensive? And how could it get rid of the repute of an applied art which is constantly fighting for the same position as free art has?
Neither do the buyers and admirers make it easy for applied art to reorientate, as they would prefer a little of everything. If applied art was to fulfill their wishes, commodities would be cheap like industrial goods and at the same time individual like works of art, as well as traditional and of high quality like decent handicraft.
Nils Jockel
Chairman of the jury
Exhibition design by Urmas Muru and Peeter Pere
