Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design
“Uneversum: Rhythms and Spaces” explores the fascinating relationship between radical ideas and the everyday as they interact with sleeping spaces, environments, and time and timekeeping. The exhibition showcases the work of both foreign and Estonian designers who – through visions of the future to approaches dating back over a century – explore the spaces and times that we dedicate to sleep.
The display is divided thematically into four. The first two themes, “Designing and Depicting Time” and “Room for Sleep” draw upon themes that resounded throughout the 20th century and came under critique in the 1960s and 1970s – efficiency and speed, control, and the modernist creeds of progress and future-oriented thinking. Architects and designers have consistently tried to place, design and rethink the sleeping area. The other two themes, “Far and Near Futures” and “The Sleep of Machines”, explore the present. The specificities, fears, conventions and inspiration of situations dedicated to sleep are presented here through speculative art and design projects.
Although the focus is on the space for sleep, “Rhythms and Spaces” does not attempt to provide an exhaustive history of beds or bedrooms. Instead, it juxtaposes everyday objects with design projects and works of art to illustrate how the perception of time, space, and sleep has shifted and how it resonates with our experience of the world today.
Artworks, designs and projects by Ranno Ait, Emilio Ambasz, Archizoom Associati, b210, Maarten Baas, Mai Bauvald, CIAM, Joe Colombo, Eibert Draisma, Niina Eigi, Buckminster Fuller, Helle Gans, Martina Gofman, Maile Grünberg, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Tõnis Jürgens, Alar Kotli, Valentin Kuusk, Ilmar Laasi, Leida Lang, Hans Leistikow, A. M. Luther Factory, Kirsti Metusala, Narva Furniture Factory, László Németh, Anett Niine, Margo Niit, Erika Nõva, Kärt Ojavee, Norman Orro, Maia Oselein, PIN Arhitektid, Poltronova, Koit Randmäe, David Reinfurt, Tõnu Riit, Helga Schmid, Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Taimi Soo, Standard Funiture Factory, Liisi Tamm, Asta Uustalu, Riho Vahtra, Vello Vinn, Tõnis Vint, August Volberg, Paul Wolff.
Curator: Sandra Nuut
Designers: HG Architecture (HGA) Andrea Ainjärv, Anna Endrikson, Evelyn Fridolin, and Tomomi Hayashi
Exhibition production: Valge Kuup
Graphic design: WWW stuudio, Ranno Ait
Exhibition team: Helen Adamson, Kai Lobjakas, Kristi Paap, Silvia Pärmann, Ketli Tiitsar, and Toomas Übner
Sponsors: Embassy of Austria, Estonian Cultural Endowment, Estonian Academy of Arts, Nordic Hotel Forum, Treimann Mööbel ja Disain
Many thanks to Aina Alunurm, Harri Ausmaa, Avinurme Vanavara, DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Estonian Museum of Architecture, Art Museum of Estonia, Tanel Eigi, Flat & Bound / Integral Lars Müller, Eliina Grünberg, Ignazia Favata / Studio Joe Colombo, Triin Jerlei, Madis Kurss, Else Lagerspetz, New York Museum of Modern Art, Helen Oja, Poltronova, Eva Ponomarjov, Pärnu’s Trall kindergarten, National Archives of Estonia, National Library of Estonia, Refiner Translations, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Hille Saluäär, Tallinn City Museum, Viimsi Municipality, Vienna University of Applied Arts – Collection and Archive.
“Uneversum” is a collaborative exhibition project between the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, the Estonian Theatre and Music Museum, and the Estonian Health Museum.
More info on the museum’s website
Photos by Anu Vahtra