“You could have it all. My empire of dirt. I will let you down.

I will make you hurt. If I could start again. A million miles away.

I would keep myself. I would find a way.”
                                              From “Hurt”, Nine inch nails 1994.

Zandra: What would you like to call the exhibition?

Students: Empire of Dirt.

The American musical group Nine inch Nails is said to have slipped themselves in mud at a legendary event in the 1990s. Their front man, Trent Reznor has made the music for "Quake", a milestone in the computer game world. And Johnny Cash has also recorded the song 'Hurt', quoted above. Cash appeared on Österåker (prison) institution in the 1970s, and it also became a record with the same name. According to rumors, Lewi Petrus invited him to play at the Philadelphia Church in Stockholm. Why does this sound like a twisted version of what my students are working with? The students have previously done an exhibition at Konstfack called "Dirty Date".

They seem to be interested in the dirt. Craft appears to have undergone a similar journey as the authors’ to the song "Hurt".

Crafts development in the Nordic countries during the late 1900s was expansionary, and described as unexpected and innovative in their genre. A generation of craftsmen reformulated the field, often without involving or consulting the established institutions, and sometimes very loudly. And for the artistic schools, the Bologna process was introduced.

That meant internationalization, Bachelor and Master levels, and by extension- the implementation of artistic research in education. So what happens now?

Parallel to the teaching of the Master Group in Ceramics and Glass at Konstfack, there has been a collaboration with Eskilstuna Konstmuseum. After the 1990s cut-off point when contemporary craft came to include several different approaches, a new generation has now been trained and is expected to respond to craft-led research, as well as to material culture and traditions. Their work will find many venues, and exhibitions remain as a medium to communicate through.

Can a craftsman ignore working within the workshop?

Yes, this has already been established.

But the issue is more complex than that, the students express something different; they want to keep the connection to the workshop but represent it in their own way. They use crafts,

its materiality and its traditions through their work, but add something relatively new and demanding. Their interests affect how the field will develop and they want to ask questions and be touchy. Students' works become displayed in various ways within the institutional framework of the museum; their practice is presented as works in the exhibition, objects to buy in the shop and as short films.

Craft has a great potential in its ability to operate with double agendas, similar to how Eskilstuna Konstmuseum mixes a children’s art archive with contemporary art, craft and design. This is somehow also a little bit like what happens behind the doors of Konstfack, the University of Arts, Craft, Design and Pedagogy. 

                    Zandra Ahl, Professor in Ceramics, Konstfack 2010