Copper Smithy, Fiskars
9.5.-26.9.2010
WOOD WORKS!, the summer exhibition of 2010 of the Cooperative of Artisans, Designers and Artists in Fiskars continues the cooperative’s tradition of material-based exhibitions by addressing a single body of material – wood and the forests in all their variety. The theme of the forthcoming exhibition begins with the forests and ends with the artworks and products derived from them. The cooperative has staged extensive exhibitions of high standard at Fiskars since 1994.
WOOD WORKS! takes as its focus wood as a living organism and material, addressing man’s relation to timber both growing and processed, and the mental and ecological significance of wood. What are the immaterial products of the forest? What successful product could be made of wood or the forests without felling timber? What intellectual qualities are needed to understand wood? How is climate change affecting our relationship with wood? In addition to these, other questions will arise.
During the exhibition, forest growth in Finland will exceed 100 million cubic metres per year for the first time in history. How much of this growth will we use and for what purposes? How much of it will we leave to nature? Considerable changes are taking place in forestry regulations, and industry is not alone in competing over forest resources. The forests can provide the new “intellectual building blocks” that are particularly needed at present.
WOOD WORKS! seeks new answers to the issues of the meaning and materials of wood through the themes of 1) wood and ecology, 2) traditions and new skills, and 3) the forests as a source of inspiration.
Some forty architects, designers, artisans and visual artists will be invited to participate with new perspectives providing catalysts for new ways of thinking regarding wood. The wood design studios of higher institutions of learning will make their own proposals for the exhibition, and companies and organizations of forest and timber industries will be linked to its themes. Naturally, Fiskars’ own artisans, designers and artists will participate through a jury selection process. Members of the working group will also have the opportunity to make additions to the exhibition.
