Blue Collar – White Collar

From Norwegian Crafts associations annual exhibition 2018. Photo Kjell S. Stenmark

Blue Collar – White Collar documented

The 4th Industrial Revolution is called “The rise of the robots”. Old professions disappear and central tasks are robotized. First the blue collar workers were replaced and now the white collars. However, the skills of craft are given new meaning in society. The short film “Rhythm of the Hands” documents processes and reflections from four artists. They represent the art group AvArt as they progress towards their exhibition of ceramic objects in blue and white colours. The goal of the project was to see the world through the lens of craft to shed light on being human in an age of technology.

The project participated at Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale (GICB) in 2019.

What the critics say:

The four ceramic artists work with a common interest in the correlation between the “return” of the craft and the fact that a robotized workforce makes manual labour obsolete. The artists work directly with the traditional blue and white ceramics to draw parallels between today's discussion and the first industrial revolution, where Arts & Crafts movments formed a counter force to industrialization. Filmmaker Hoel has been following Berg, Jansson Lothe, Swang and Kielland for more than a year and has made a great short film, where we get insight to thoughts and reflections about making, immediately as we can see just that - to make. The topic is suitable for an annual craft exhibition in its own right.

Art critic Gjertrud Steinsvag, The annual craft exhibition in Norway 2018

From the series Inner Beauty – Blue Willow 2018

Conch / Konkylie 2016 (67x20) og Melody / Melodi 2016 (67x20) fra 1. del av utstilligskonseptet på Nääs Kunsthåndverk 2017