handiCRAFT

This exhibition at MAK in Wien reflects on the significance and status of handicraft as an integral component of material culture and cultural identity.

Denis Diderot, Jean-Baptiste Le Rond d’Alembert, Verrerie en bois from Recueil de planches, sur les sciences, les arts libéraux, et les arts méchaniques, avec leur explication, Tome X, Paris, 1772 Copperplate engraving © MAK/Georg Mayer

The MAK exhibition handiCRAFT: Traditional Skills in the Digital Age invites visitors to reflect on the significance and status of handicraft as an integral component of material culture and cultural identity.

HandiCRAFT. Traditional Skills in the Digital Age, exhibition view at MAK, Wien, 2016. © MAK/Georg Mayer

Currently the terms “handicraft” and “handmade” are used with inflationary frequency in advertising and lifestyle media. The Maker Movement and DIY culture are enormously successful, creating a worldwide hype. Globally operating luxury labels explicitly foreground handicraft as a mark of quality and distinction, in contrast to the reality of locally operating craftspeople struggling for recognition and a fair wage.

In six sections, this comprehensive MAK exhibition encompasses handicraft from historical times to current European perspectives, examines how handicraft can help preserve natural resources, explores interfaces to digital technologies, and presents masterpieces from a range of craft disciplines.