The opening of the traveling exhibition MADE IN: Crafts — Design Narratives, will be held on February the 17th, 2020 at 8 pm at the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb, Croatia. The exhibition opening will be followed by the Dialogues discursive program with project curators and participants on the 18th of February, at 7 pm.
The exhibition is a result of two-year collaborations between contemporary designers and traditional craftspeople. The idea was to provide young, modern designers with skills and knowledge of European immaterial cultural heritage, but also a new opportunity for the family manufacturers which are mainly being threatened by the extinction. The exhibition showcases the Crafts Archive of 40 craftspeople from the region through photo documentation and stories, and raises questions about the production in the contemporary world within eight Crafts — Design Narratives realized through collaborations of more than 30 craftspeople and more than 40 designers from all over Europe.
The title itself emphasizes the position of design within the current market-oriented neo-liberal capitalist paradigm, with a reference to its source — craftsmanship and making, from which the discipline was inseparable up until the advent of industrialization. Today, on the brink of a technological revolution there seems to be a need to pose the questions about our physical and virtual space again: WHERE is it made? WHO is it made by? WHAT is it made of? FOR whom is it made? WHERE does it come from?
The exhibition will continue its traveling during 2020, to Ljubljana, Belgrade, and Andelsbuch, with perspective to visit other European cities during 2021.
