8 April – 2 October 2022
Finnish design has established a reputation as a flagbearer for equality. Many of its most iconic design products have been perceived as having the ability to increase equality in our daily lives.
The Design Museum’s main exhibition this spring and summer highlights the interconnection between design and equality in the past century. It explores the ideal of equality in some of the most celebrated icons of Finnish design as well as in lesser-known projects. The present and past of design come together around these same questions in this exhibition: Who is allowed to design and on whose terms? Who do they design for? Whose work is visible, whose voice is heard?
Design historian Kaisu Savola and curator Anna Vihma are the curators of the exhibition, while Hanna Anonen is designing the exhibition architecture.
Content warning: Some of the exhibits in the exhibition can seem insulting in our time. You will come across stereotypes, racialization and exotification.
Picture: Kobra Agency, photos Paavo Lehtonen. Objects from the left: Howard Smith sculpture 1982, Outi Leinonen Leena ceramic sculpture 1982 and carpet beater Annansilmät-Aitta.
