Main exhibition in the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design
14.11.2009-21.02.2010In 2009, the Tallinn Applied Art Triennial will take place as an international event for the fifth time.
To find a theme and curator for this year’s triennial, the society’s management held an invitational competition; the young designer and artist Kärt Maran was selected as the winner with a project called “Know How”. The exhibition poses provocative questions: What is the essence and objective of applied art? Are works born of jealously guarded know-how and artistic egocentrism the only creative path? “Know How” is an experiment that sets out to prove that good design and applied art are founded on ideas, not on keeping secret the method and skill for executing the design – in its own way, it is thus a reaffirmation of the social nature of applied art.
This year’s triennial follows the competition exhibition format of years past.
Applications were received from 142 artists – a total of 176 works from 28 countries: Latvia, Finland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden, Lithuania, Germany, Denmark, Hungary, France, Slovakia, Spain, Greece, Israel, Taiwan, Russia, the United States of America, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Iceland, Thailand, Switzerland, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Serbia and Estonia.
A five-member jury selected the works of 38 artists to be displayed at the triennial exhibition.
Ketli TiitsarExhibition design by: Ott Kadarik, Tuuli Aule
