ART·HAND·WORK

Explore contemporary crafts in a playful and multifaceted exhibition.

Art can be interpreted in many ways. Each art discipline has its own ways of reading, and each way of reading offers new meanings.

This exhibition is an opportunity to discover some of the ways crafts can be read. With almost 100 works by a wealth of practitioners, the breadth and depth of contemporary crafts is presented under a variety of headings. From large, immersive installations to small, intricate works of art – here you will find both surprises and hidden stories.

In ART·HAND·WORK contemporary crafts are explored under the headings of Materiality, Craft traditions, Everyday life, Decoration, Recycling, and Post-industrialism. Here you will encounter a range of voices and perspectives, through audio stories, texts, activity spaces, and videos that show work processes.

In 2025, the artist organisation Norske Kunsthåndverkere (the Norwegian Association for Craft Artists) celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. To mark the occasion, Kode, the National Museum, and Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum (the National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Trondheim) have joined forces to create an exhibition that presents crafts as an independent and important art form.. The exhibition is based mainly on the collections of the three museums, with an emphasis on works from the past twenty-five years.