
Outdoor exhibition
Matters – rethinking materials

The museum and CHART proudly present Matters – rethinking materials, an exhibition showcasing unique pieces by five Nordic designers, investigating new and innovative ways of using material.
The pieces will be shown in the five outdoor exhibition cases in the museum's new Museum Plaza this fall.
Matters presents five young Nordic designers who show a visionary approach to rethink how materials, ranging from the synthetic to the organic, can shape new conceptual ideas for a more sustainable future. The exhibition is part of CHARTs Curio initiative and is developed in close collaboration with the museum, where it will be shown.
Meet the designers






SARAH VAJIRA LINDSTRÖM
Presented as an archive of natural history or as a kind of microbiological laboratory, the Norway-based, Swedish artist Sarah Vajira Lindström explores the connection between humans and their bodies, earth, plants and animals in her exhibited piece. Lindström will exhibit the installation Unidentified objects, a collection of pieces of textiles and other materials in which she confronts the natural and the artificial. Her work is inspired by scientific methods and their clinical aestetics. Lindström’s practice challenges open-ended questions such as the relationship between the body and its organs and between the human and other organisms.

Antrei Hartikainen
Antrei Hartikainen (1991) is a designer and cabinetmaker from Finland. Antrei exhibits the piece SEITIKKI, which is named after the cortinarius mushroom. A light sculpture made by observing nature, the piece transfers the vulnerability, frailty and beauty of nature. The form of the sculpture is created as a result of Hartikainen’s examination of how landscapes are moulded by humans, climate and nature in different seasons. Hartikaninen’s practice is centred around working with wood and often explores the boundaries between art, design and utility.

Kathrine Barbro Bendixen
Danish designer Kathrine Barbro Bendixen will exhibit the light installation ‘Inside Out’, which has been made from cow intestines. The piece is challenging our understanding of the use-value of certain materials by giving the unwanted material of innards a ‘second life’. Barbro Bendixen’s practice is characterized by an unusual and experimenting use of materials which she stages in new and unconventional contexts. Working at the border between art and design, she uses an artistic approach to create functional design. In her light sculptures sustainability is a starting point when she brings new life to animal waste products and at the same time revitalizes the concept of a chandelier.

Kajsa Willner
Drawing attention to the dilemmas surrounding plastic waste, Swedish designer Kajsa Willner exhibits the piece Polarized portraits. Willner’s work plays with the optical phenomenon of polarized light microscopy to create an imaginative x-ray of planet Earth. The piece examines how disposable plastic can become aesthetic optical art ‘portraits’ of our world, while remaining environmentally harmful plastic waste.

Stian Korntved Ruud
Stian Korntved Ruud (1989) is educated at Akerhus University in product design as well as Oslo’s architecture and design school. Ruud’s experience also originates from an internship at Tom Dixon in London, followed by a series of exhibitions around the world. Ruud has won the BKH Handcraft Award in 2015 as well as the Talents à la carte (Maisson&Objet) in 2016. Ruud has for a long time had a fascination for how products are created and assembled, which is why he through his exhibitions always has experimented, adjusted, repaired and destroyed objects around him. Today, he focuses on the naturalness of materials and strives to make objects either with pure functionality or with aesthetic functionality. Ruud always strives to learn how to form and use as many types of materials as possible. Some materials he has collected from forests in Oslo where he lives, primarily natural materials such as wood and metals.
About the exhibition
Matters is curated by Line Ulrika Christiansen, Institute Head at Domus Academy Milano, in collaboration with Pernille Stockmarr, curator at Design Museum Denmark. Matters is presented at Designmuseum Danmark’s newly completed exhibitions vitrines in front of the museum.
Read more about CHART: www.chartartfair.com