the national museum of finland explores the unique development of finnish material culture and design

the exhibition ‘man matter metamorphosis: 10.000 years of design’ by the national museum of finland, which will last until february 2, 2019,  focuses on the unique development of finnish material culture and design as a result of a specific dialogue between society and ecosystem. taking the end of the ice age as a radical starting point, the exhibition presents a series of critical themes in which archeological and ethnological material is interwoven with contemporary content.

edited, written and designed by florencia colombo and ville kokkonen
published by the finnish heritage agency 2018

the exhibition presents an unprecedented collection from the national museum of finland. it brings into focus multiple dialogues from a primal origin: the end of the ice age, the arrival of man and first material interactions. the archives from the archaeological and ethnological collections provided an unparalleled substance for these themes. through a selection of content spanning 10.000 years, the exhibition examines the unique engagement of society towards ecosystem, energy sources, and matter. this timeless view presents the accumulation of knowledge and legacy of values that have proven relevant to finland’s ingenious approach towards design.

man makes things and things make man – mechanical prosthetic hand, wood, 1950s, respecta oyj gouge, stone age (finnish heritage agency-archaeological collections)

the land that today comprises finland began to rise from the water approximately 10.000 years ago. the baltic was first a bay of the atlantic. as the ice receded, it revealed the outline and characteristics of the present territory. human occupation—as well as wildlife— is recorded to have begun within present-day finland during the end of the glacial period around 8500 BCE.

matter is not inert – ethnological documentation, eino nikkilä, 1929 (finnish heritage agency) – molecular materials research group, department of applied physics, school of science, aalto university

the ecology of things – a microscopic image of reindeer fur (national museum of finland-conservation centre) – pants with shoes, skolt sami culture (national museum of finland-finno ugric collections)

transmission – karuselli, chair shell, molded fiberglass, yrjö kukkapuro for haimi, 1964 – magical object, bear skull (national museum of finland-ethnological collections)

from supernatural to super natural – digital x-ray monitoring desk, juhani salovaara and heikki kiiski for valmet instruments, 1973 – deity statue as a fishing offering (national museum of finland)

operating systems – first finnish standard, SFS, 1927 (finnish standards association) – ax, stone age (finnish heritage agency-archaeological collections)

ice skates, bovine tibia bone (national museum of finland-ethnological collections) – ethnological documentation, arvo hollstein, 1953 (finnish heritage agency-picture collections)

stone age tools, study – bidirectional gouge, stone age (finnish heritage agency-archaeological collections)

1:1 scale drawing of stone age tool (finnish heritage agency) – nuclear waste canister overpack, 5cm thick copper, 0,98 x 4,44m (posiva oy)

ax head/crossbow fibula, bronze age (finnish heritage agency-archaeological collections) – compos, seat shell, flax-polylactic acid, 100% biodegradble, samuli naamanka for piiroinen oy, 2009

laitinen ss2010, men’s suit, digitally printed cotton, tuomas laitinen – linux kernel, open source operating system, developer: linus torvalds, publicly released in 1991

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: maria erman | designboom