Design Museum Helsinki’s Open Call searches for an exhibition exploring the theme New knowledge
In the Design Club Open Call, opened on 9 November, Design Museum Helsinki is searching for an exhibition that explores the theme of New knowledge. The opening of the exhibition selected through this international call will be included in the programme of Helsinki Design Week in September 2021. This is the fourth consecutive year that the Design Club Open Call is in the quest for powerful, critical contents to feature in the Gallery space of the Design Museum Helsinki. The series of open calls was first launched as a three-year pilot programme in 2018. The pilot proved a success, so the decision was made to continue the open calls.
The theme of 2021, New knowledge can have an array of meanings, depending on the applicant and their proposal, from reinterpreting existing or historical information, data mining or data visualizations to the creation of a new kind of understanding enabled by encounters between individuals.
The theme New knowledge similarly offers the opportunity of exploring what happens when historical information and data cross paths with memories and experiences.
For this open call, the goal was that the exhibition proposals would include the ideas of learning new things and gaining new understanding. Design Museum Helsinki seeks to operate as a platform for social change and become a hub for the production of new knowledge. At their best, exhibitions can shake up established thought patterns and help to view the world from a completely new perspective.
“In addition to its topicality, New knowledge was picked as this year’s theme as it immediately inspired more questions in us. Can information be the material or working method of a designer? And what is the difference between knowledge, information, data, learning and understanding? What does collective knowledge production mean and can it be used to enhance the inclusion of multiple voices. Do we expect that design only offers strictly fact-based information or is it possible that the outcome is speculative and fictive by nature?” Suvi Saloniemi, Chief Curator at Design Museum, notes.
Design Club Open Call 2021
The Design Club Open Call 2021 by the Design Museum will open on Monday, 9 November 2020 and close on 27 December 2020. The entry, which can be an exhibition proposal or an installation, may consist of one or more works.
The call for exhibition proposals is open for Finnish and international designers, working groups, businesses, curators, researchers or students.
The exhibition concept selected through the application process will be granted production funding to the amount of €10,000. The winning proposal will also be offered the use of the Gallery space of the Design Museum, help for putting the exhibition together and for its basic expenses.
The Design Club Open Call is a way of searching for new, powerful exhibition contents and to develop new business support forms for creative activities. The Open Call is organized in association with Design Club, the business network of Design Museum. The members of Design Club are Finnish companies that seek to develop their business with the aid of design.
Soil Laboratory is a part of the Soil Matters exhibition, chosen through the previous Open Call. In the Soil Laboratory, reminiscent of a pottery studio, research, art and personal stories are used to dig deeper in this theme with the help of a diversified team of experts in soil. Photo: Paavo Lehtonen
Detailed application instructions
The applications shall be submitted no later than 23:59 (11:59 p.m.) (EET) on the 27th of December 2020 in pdf format to the address opencall@designmuseum.fi Design Club and Design Museum will select the exhibition and the successful applicant will be notified in person in January 2021.
The applicants should submit their proposals under the theme of the open call, New knowledge. The proposal must be somehow connected to the field of design: in the use of its expression, working methods, tools or discourse. Each applicant may independently define how to interpret and process the theme of the application cycle. The application may include suggestions for possible partners for the exhibition.
The call for exhibition proposals is open for Finnish and international designers, working groups, businesses, curators, researchers or students. The entry, which can be an exhibition proposal or an installation, may consist of one or more works.
The exhibition concept selected through the application process will be granted production funding to the amount of €10,000. The winning proposal will also be offered the use of the Gallery space of the Design Museum, help for putting the exhibition together and for its basic expenses.
Welcome to Design Museum Helsinki, an internationally recognized national specialist museum of Finnish design. Design Museum researches, collects, stores, and documents design, and displays it both in Finland and in touring exhibitions abroad.
