The “Looking Through Objects. Women in Contemporary Polish Design” presents the profiles of 16 Polish female designers working at the intersection of product design, collector’s design, handicraft and art. The curators’ idea is not only to show the designers’ work but also to build a feeling of actual contact with the artist behind each exhibit. The object is accompanied by a large portrait of the artist at her studio and photographs showing her workplace and tools. The curators interviewed the designers; quotes from these conversations accompany the presentations. The visitor may feel that they have visited the designer at her studio and spent some time there to talk about her work and the essence of design.

The “Looking Through Objects. Women in Contemporary Polish Design” project was conceived as a travelling exhibition to promote Polish design accompanied by sister exhibitions dedicated to women designers from the host country. Estonia is the first project partner. Therefore, there will be two exhibitions at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design: one dedicated to Polish and the other to Estonian female designers. The first has been prepared by the National Museum in Gdańsk, the latter by the local Museum. They are based on the same concept to present not only objects but also the figures of the designers themselves, their working environment and musings about art. This concept not only provides an opportunity for insight into the Polish and Estonian design scenes but also to compare these countries and their artistic milieus.

The “Looking Through Objects. Women in Contemporary Polish Design” exhibition was produced under the “Looking Through Objects” project by the National Museum in Gdańsk, co-financed by the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage under the Inspiring Culture programme.

Dates: 17 June – 25 September 2022
Venue: ETDM Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Lai 17, 10133 Tallinn
Organiser: National Museum in Gdańsk
Partners: Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, SWPS University, Polish Embassy in Tallinn
Curators: Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, Gian Luca Amadei, Dario Lombardi

More information: https://www.mng.gda.pl/wystawy/looking-through-objects-women-in-contemporary-polish-design/