EXHIBITION: The Secret Life of Objects

The Secret Life of Objects, an Interactive Map of Finnish Design
18.3. - 1.6.2008

The Secret Life of Objects, an Interactive Map of Finnish Design is a selection of objects from the collections dating from 1874 to 2008 on show in the Design Museum. In the interactive map visitors can give their comments about the objects and enjoy comments that were left by other visitors. The Secret Life of Objects is a project done in collaboration between Design Museum and Media Lab, University of Art and Design Helsinki.

We organized workshops in which teenagers and children were invited to work with design objects using music, poetry, photography and drawing. Audio-visual materials gathered in the workshops are accessible in the exhibition and on-line through the interactive map and the blog .

Visitors can comment on the historical material related to the objects, on the material coming from the workshops, on the objects of the exhibition, on other visitors' comments, on the exhibition as a whole, and on the future design.

This project is making the museum collection accessible to new audiences (children, teenagers, and virtual communities), to different moments (after, during and before the visit), to linguistic minorities (written material in Swedish, English and Finnish) and to different perspectives and vocabularies (visitors’ and museum staff’s). In parallel it is is improving access by showing different materials (videos, poems, music and drawings) coming from museum’s resources (workshops). All these possibilities allow people with different abilities to enhance the museum visit experience.

Working team at Design Museum:
Leena Svinhufvud (production coordination)
Harri Kivilinna (exhibition designer)
Hanna Kapanen (workshop guide)
Elina Eerola (texts, photos, workshop guide)
Susanna Vakkari (texts)
Jukka Savolainen (exhibition collaboration, information/media)
Merja Vilhunen (image archives, internet solutions)
Selection of objects: Leena Svinhufvud, Elina Eerola, Marianne Aav, Harri Kivilinna, Jukka Savolainen

Working team at Media Lab, University of Art and Design Helsinki:
Mariana Salgado (production coordination and designer)
Diana De Sousa (graphic and video designer)
Tommi Jauhiainen (computing support)
Mikko Laitinen (video support)
Atte Timonen (software designer)
Lily Diaz (expert advisor)

External collaborator:
Matti Luhtala/TunnelVision (sound designer)

Our special thanks to:
Andrea Botero, Ilpo Kari, Pekka Salonen, Tuukka Teponoja, Vennu Nivalainen and Ville Tikkanen from Media Lab. The active collaboration from 9 children and 2 teachers from a kindergarten in Helsinki, who made possible the first workshop serie "Esa and the Objects".
Rody Van Gemert who planned and organized with us the "Sound of objects" workshop. Thanks to the guitar students that brought creative ideas and stories to the objects. Special thanks to sound designer Matti Luhtala for helping with the edition of the sound from the workshop and the concert. Thanks to Petteri Laukkanen, Sound Designer, from Suomen kansallisooppera that lend us the microphones. Outi-Maria Takkinen (Titi) and Nana Smulovitz-Mulyana from Nuoren Voima Liito and Annantalo for bringing your students and ideas to our workshop serie: Odes of Objects. Many thanks to the participants that wrote Odes for the objects in the exhibition and allow us to publish them in the Interactive Map.

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Esineiden Salatut Elämät
18.3. - 1.6.2008

Designmuseon suomalaisen muotoilun perusnäyttelyä uudistetaan. Esineiden Salatut Elämät -näyttelyssä on esinettä museon kokoelmista vuosilta 1874 – 2008. Näyttelystä on tehty interaktiivinen kartta, johon kerätään kävijöiden omia ajatuksia ja näkemyksiä esineistä. Kartta on käytettävissä myös internetissä. Näyttely kuuluu Designmuseon 135-vuotisjuhlan ohjelmaan.

Esineiden Salatut Elämät on toteutettu yhteistyössä Taideteollisen korkeakoulun MediaLabin kanssa. Näyttelyssä kerättyjä aineistoja käytetään tutkimuksessa.