17 Oct 2010

Rooted Design for Routed Living at Centre For Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw

ROOTED DESIGN FOR ROUTED LIVING

Maja Ganszyniec, Amy Hunting, Paweł Jasiewicz, Ola Mirecka, Oscar Narud, Trond Nicholas Perry, Tomek Rygalik, StokkeAustad, Jakub Szczęsny

1 October through 31.10. 210
Curators: Marianna Dobkowska, Ula Siemion, Ika Sienkiewicz-Nowacka
Laboratory Building of the CCA Ujazdowski Castle

The exhibition at the Laboratorium Building is the first public presentation of objects created by 10 young designers from Poland and Norway as part of the project Rooted Design for Routed Living. Alternative Design Strategies. The presented objects were created in the course of a two-year process and were created specifically for two artist residence centres: a-i-r laboratory in Warsaw and NKD in Dale, Norway. Both institutions run artist-in-residence programs, albeit in different conditions. NKD is based in a village on the west coast of Norway, whereas a-i-r functions in the centre of a European metropolis. Artists live and work in both, and it is with them in mind that the design group has created objects that, based on a analysis of the two countries’ material culture, are meant to respond, in a universal albeit tradition-rooted fashion, to the resident artists’ needs.

During the project, the designers visited both institutions, becoming their residents for some time in order to experience their specificity 'on their own skin'. Today's artists travel a lot between exhibitions, projects and commissioned jobs. Over the last decade, the model of artists travelling between residences has also become popular. The life of the contemporary artist, always on the move, is characterised by a lack of roots. The fact that both institutions run similar residence projects in different conditions became a common platform for the Exchange of ideas. Both places became a source of inspiration, knowledge and experience for young designers taking into account the possible and impossible ways in which interior spaces can significantly refer to their immediate, local environment. The project allowed both Polish and Norwegian designers to conduct research in the other country.

More on the Rooted Design for Routed Living project at
www.design-in-residence.org

Project was made possible by funds offered by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.

Partner: Illy, Lidex, Comforty Living

Media patrons: Gazeta Wyborcza, Trójka - Program 3 Polskiego Radia, Aktivist, Exklusiv, Artinfo.pl, Sztuka.pl, Stolica, Elle Decoration, Bęc Zmiana, Futu, Architektura Murator