EXHIBITION DANISH DESIGN
The most spectacular event of the project Z Dania na Ty was the exhibition Danish Design presented in the Institute of Industrial Design, September 4 -20.
The exhibition presented a wide range of Danish design, in which the functionality of an object, its pure form, saving of materials and high quality are equal values.
Design is the area Danes are most proud of. Design expresses their history, their spirit, and even their identity; it shows who the Danish people actually are. It is directly related to Danish democracy: Design is a part of everyday life and accessible to everyone in one's surroundings: On the train, in the post-office, in the kitchen. While cooking dinner, sitting on a chair or turning on a TV-set in Denmark - one has always got to do with good design.
The composition of these features makes the Danish design recognizable everywhere and is the reason of its high rank in the world. It were also these features that drew the attention of the curators of both parts of the exhibition: Anna Grabowska from the National Museum in Poznan and Jens Houmann, many years' collaborator of the Danish Museum of Contemporary Art Louisiana. The exhibition makes not only a wide and representative panorama of Danish design, and not only presents the relation of Danes to the quality, functionality and beauty of an object. Moreover, it not only proves how primary is the aesthetics of surrounding objects in everyday life, but also shows how technical problems in respect to functionality and ecology may be solved through design. In spite of the worldwide popularity of Danish design and the activities of companies offering some of its products on the Polish market (eg. Decorum, Image, Bang&Olufsen), Danish design is still not very well known in Poland, excluding Lego blocks. The world famous companies with traditions like Stelton, Georg Jensen, Bang&Olufsen, PP Möbler, Fritz Hansen, Louis Poulsen, Royal Scandinavia (previously Royal Copenhagen) take great care as far as the design of a product is concerned: That is an integral part of the whole manufacturing process. These companies employ well known designers but they also invest in the education of young people. The effectiveness of such approach is proven by the fact that many products are successfully manufactured over many years. The Warsaw edition of the exhibition Danish Design consisted of two parts. The exhibition Arne Jacobsen and Contemporary Danish Design arranged by the National Museum in Poznan was presented in the smaller hall of the Institute of Industrial Design. In June 2000 the exhibition was shown in the Museum's Design and Poster Gallery. The perfectly illuminated, pure forms of Arne Jacobsen's metal objects gave a perfect effect in the dark interiors of the gallery. Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971), a legend in Danish design, author of many model architectural and interior designs, is - due to his everyday use products - present in most Danish houses and offices. The exhibition in Poznan was enriched by the collections of the leading Danish companies. The exposition showed the examples of the most outstanding achievements by Arne Jacobsen: The armchairs Egg and Swan, chairs Ant and No.3107, and the kitchen set Cylinda line. The exhibition was supplemented by products designed by other artists like Erik Magnussen as well as by the latest audio-video equipment, designed by David Lewis, donated to the Museum by Bang&Olufsen. The author of the arrangement of both exhibitions (in the Institute of Industrial Design in Warsaw and in The Cultural Centre ZAMEK in Poznan) as well as the exhibition Arne Jacobsen and contemporary Danish design was Piotr Machowiak, in cooperation with Justyna Machowiak.