Time serves as the overarching theme, when Henrik Vibskov stages works by 18 Danish designers and craftsmen at MINDCRAFT17 at the world’s leading design event, FuoriSalone, in Milan.

The inspiration for this year’s MINDCRAFT exhibition theme, TIME, according to curator and designer Henrik Vibskov, sprang directly from the historic setting for the exhibition, the San Simpliciano cloister, where time plays a central role in structuring the flow and rhythm of life. Time thus also formed a key focus for the 18 makers and designers selected to take part in MINDCRAFT17, who were asked to address and interpret a specific time span or time of day in their contributions, which are all created especially for the exhibition.

Under this general theme, the participants explore how time can help explain what makes us tick, for example with regard to the rhythms and rituals of life, but also how time affects the creative process – from the drying time of a ceramic glaze to considerations about when or for how long an object will be used.

Curator Henrik Vibskov explains his thoughts about the theme for this year’s exhibition:

‘Time has a strong presence at the exhibition site. The cloister appears as a beautiful pocket in time in a bustling city, and one senses the rhythm and atmosphere of the place, as it fluctuates with the varying light throughout the day. Moreover, time is something we use to structure our everyday life and world on many levels. From the microscopic tangible elements to the vast, unfathomable eternity – so there is plenty of room for the participants to explore. Some of them address the theme in the way a material patinates and changes in colour over time. Others have seized on the social element at a specific time of day. Like the liberating afternoon coffee-and-cake break or the point where night turns into day, expressed as a poetic physical intersection in a piece of furniture.‘

In their exploration of time, the pieces position themselves within the span between the conventionally functional and purposeful and the processual and artistic with a more sculptural and poetic presence – from graphic design, ceramics and furniture to fashion, glass, textile and silver.

MINDCRAFT17
Chiostro Minore di San Simpliciano
Piazza Paolo VI 6
20121 Milan

4–9 April 2017
Tuesday at 11.00–23.00
Wednesday–Saturday at 11.00–21.00
Sunday at 11.00–17.00
Opening reception: Tuesday, 4 April at 18.00–23.00
MindTalk with participants from MINDCRAFT,
moderated by Henriette Noermark: Wednesday, 5 April at 17.00-18.00

Additional information and press relations
Bo Kolbye, senior advisor, Agency for Culture and Palaces, bko@slks.dk, tel.: +55 33 74 55 42