Material and culture Is an exhibition For the first Rotterdam design biennale, which was curated by the native designer Bolaji Teniola. At the core of Material and culture Is the concept of the Biennale of What is real is unknown. Eight Australian creative people based in Adelaide and a Duo-Takeshi IUe, Nat Penney, Lotte Schwerdtfeger, Kulemans & Hashimoto, Gretal Ferguson, Carly Tarkari Dodd, Alexandra Hirst and Bolaji Teniola Self-in Rotterdam. From ceramics, wood, different metals, glass, stone and textiles, Tenoila asks: “What does your selection of materials say about you?” We are invited to consider how to expand culture through an unexpected methodology.
Emma-Kate Wilson: Hello Bolaji, thanks for the interview from Rotterdam. When did you come up with the idea for the idea for you at the beginning? Material and cultureAnd can you tell us more about how it follows from your previous exhibition Reflections from home?
Bolaji Tenola: I wanted to track Reflections from home Somehow, either offered the opportunity to discuss their works regarding the topic in order to complete this chapter. Or by shifting the focus on a new topic that is underpinned by the essence of Reflections from hometo examine the inventory, the connection or the influence between our creative practice and our home, our heritage or culture. So the feeling was there, but it had no name. When the opportunity to participate in the Rotterdam Design Biennale came, I had the opportunity Material and culture. Admittedly, both, I think, have plenty of scope to dive deeper because it feels like I just scratch the surface.
EKW: Were there differences in the submission of the exhibitions or new things that you discovered in the curation of both shows?
BT: The two biggest differences were reducing the number of participants between every show. So from 18 to eight and of course and of course more on Australian creative people than a mixture of international and national talents. With regard to the graphics, however, the visual language was transferred to maintain this connection, and both are underpinned by a thematic or question. Where Reflections from home Was the answer to the question: “What does the idea of home mean for you?” Material and culture The question answers: “What does your choice of materials say about you?”
EKW: How did the exhibition come about with the Rotterdam Design Biennale?
BT: A few years ago I did an internship in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, where I made strong connections to many people with whom I interned and connected to which I was connected. We are still good friends to this day – which was fantastic for many reasons. After this internship I moved to Rotterdam and lived there before I returned to Australia. So quickly forward until the end of 2024, a good friend of mine divided from these days, who kindly shared the open call for the design bees and encouraged me to apply. The Biennale was a great opportunity to connect with old friends and the city of Rotterdam again. It's a kind of moment of the circle!
EKW: Why did you only decide to work with Adelaide artists?
BT: For me it was a child's play to concentrate on Adelaide -based artists and designers, as there is so much talent and variety of skill in Adelaide and his creative community. After I spent three and a little years in Adelaide, I now have a better understanding and appreciation for the talent in this city. I had the feeling that it would also be a good one-to-one exchange between Adelaide and Rotterdam, since one aspect of the Biennale was to emphasize the creative community of Rotterdam. So why not highlight the creative community of Adelaide? In view of the narrow time frame, I had to bring this show together, just to think of meaning, think locally to act globally.
EKW: Can you tell me more about the works of art for the exhibition – how can you either improve, challenge or undermine the conventional possibilities of your chosen material?
BT: The selection of the media is diverse with unique ceramic pieces, wood, different metals, glass, stone and textiles. In my opinion, each piece does a pretty good job to improve the use of its medium by performing technology and processes. When they are considered together, the pieces offer a visual unit because their natural, almost organic properties combine, be it in the form or material use, but on closer inspection everyone keeps their own stories and meaning.
EKW: Can you offer some examples of works of art and how you do that? I would also like to hear about your work in the exhibition.
BT: Gretel Fergusons engraving The series emphasizes the firmly anchored gender roles within crafts and society, while it is a tribute to the homage to those who have previously combined the traditionally male craft of silver -carriage with hand seams. Although the metal components are of crucial importance for the work, it is actually the silk threads that hold the metal components together, which makes them structurally and decorative. And in Gretel's words the perfect analogy for women in every company.
Guy Kulemans and Kyoko Hashimoto's Carbon cases undermines the perception of coal, which is viewed economically and politically as goods. Hashimoto and Kulemans suggest that the coal in public imagination should be changed in order to reflect its geological history in the history of the earth. Due to the topologies of jewelry and jewelry boxes, coal can convey an accuracy and an obligation to maintain care and express effective properties as an old sediment stone, millions of years that are connected to the development of trees and the green of the world.
And I show mine Athos Lamp, which was one of three lamps that were made for the first time for the Melbourne Design Week 2023. It consists of walnut wood shavings that were layered and combined with a homemade adhesive over a rudimentary form to create its shape. It shows a way to improve what is normally regarded as waste material in the wood chips. It's pretty interesting to see how people react to it here!
EKW: The works all play in the letter recording of the Biennale, which is real, is very unknown. I am sure it has to be great to be for the Biennale in Rotterdam. I am excited to see how the two places (worlds apart!) Can inspire your practice?
BT: I was incredibly happy to include travel as part of my practice. I think it is important for me to travel because it always helps to get out of my bubble and combine with creative communities that I know. This also opens up more opportunities and opportunities to develop and grow as a designer.
EKW: And finally, what do you think about the future of design and materials?
BT: Since I am in the eye of the storm, I usually have incoherent thoughts, but it feels like an exciting time. There seems to be the desire to move from the Greenwashing Connotation of sustainable design and instead to deal with imaginative and efficient types of working with materials and to lend themselves to a story or meaning that is connected to humans. Improvement of the inner value of our media. Hopefully it will help to create the finite resources that we have. However, it is still a long way!
Material and culture is exhibited on the Rotterdam Design Biennale from February 20 to March 2.