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Friday, 29.03.2024, 13:22
Estonian National Museum’s “Echo of the Urals” named the best permanent exhibition of the year
The newly-opened Estonian National Museum in Tartu, Estonia offers both
fascinating new world-class architecture and a very contemporary take on
museum exhibitions. One of the two large permanent exhibitions - Echo of the Urals -
focussing on introducing all the Northern Finno-Ugric cultures, was
awarded the best new permanent exhibition prize on Friday at the Annual
Museum Awards Gala of Estonian museums. The exhibition is based on the
concept of anthropologist Art Leete and was put together by curators
from the Estonian National Museum. Echo of the Urals was designed and
produced by interior architects JANKEN Wisespace and design agency
Velvet.
According to one of the designers of the exhibition, Velvet’s design lead Kristian Kirsfeldt,
the team found their inspiration from ethnofuturism, a delicate
cultural strategy by which you preserve patterns of archaic cultural
diversity by interweaving ancient tradition into contemporary cultural
field. "For us, it meant "inhaling" preserved patterns from textiles,
daily tools, petroglyphs, and "exhaling" a contemporary take. The goal
of the graphic design as well as architectural design in the exhibition
was to create a new, clearly perceptible layer of exposition surrounding
the ethnographic exhibits: one relating to, but not mixing with the
originals. As a result, Echo of the Urals became an environment which is
a unique combination of experience, emotion and facts. There is
something for all the senses. But before anything else, this exhibition
is meant to be perceived with the heart. The Finno-Ugric nations are our
family members, kinsmen, friends – being allowed to be part of their
lives, stories and dreams is an invaluable thing to
experience," Kirsfeldt explained.
The exhibition is split into four exhibition halls, each of them
dedicated to a few of the language groups, but also to a certain time of
day and a season. Moving through the space, the visitor is taken from a
spring morning to a summer day, followed by an autumnal afternoon and
wintery night.
Jan Graps, the interior architect of the exhibition,
says that the exhibition design - created during an extraordinary long
period of around 8 years - has by now started to live its own life. "It
has formed a complete spatial environment, the visitor can take the time
of and completely forget the outside world for a while. E.g. sit behind
the Komi hut table and get the feel of distant peoples way of life,
feel their hospitality and delve into the variety of their national
cuisine, while listening to the calming snuffle of the virtual
grandfather sleeping behind the furnace. Or sit on the bench in front of
the Karelian sauna, looking at the rocky coast in sunset, listening to
the calls of herons and just let your mind wander. Perceive the
progression of time in these worlds and the similarities to our own
lives," Graps suggests.
The exhibition also boasts an interactive sound installation that is
likely the largest in the world. Created by soundscape designer Taavi
Tulev, the installations spreads over 1000 square metres and uses 126
speakers to emit sound from 140 channels. The spatial experience that
this creates, takes the visitor on a trip to the locations where the
tiny Finno-Ugric nations live. Each of the spaces sets the mood by using
seasonal sounds of migrating birds, the splashing of a stream,
crackling fire, winter gales, etc.