Experimental spaces. The ‘Ruum ja Vorm’ exhibition

Ruum ja Vorm—space and form—was an exhibition of experimental work first held at the Tallinn Art Hall in 1969, with subsequent editions in later years. The exhibition was initiated and organized by the designers’ section of the Artists’ Association of the Estonian SSR, with the aim of introducing the public to the latest explorations in environmental design. Each exhibition revolved around a central theme developed by the exhibition’s designers. Visitors were treated to spectacular total environments that transformed the Art Hall’s light-filled spaces unrecognizably.
The first edition’s keywords were experimentation, standardization, and the combination of these towards a sense of individuality. The concept of using standard elements to create non-standard solutions was presented as an open-ended invitation to both designers and exhibition visitors, showcasing the designer’s research process and highlighting new ideas in form, materials, and colours, along with the potential for individuality within the standard toolbox. The first edition focused on the use of modular structural units as a way of creating complex articulated spaces.
The second edition focused on abstract object-space solutions. What was presented was mostly the intermediate analysis phase, often before the stage of material realization, with an emphasis on the associations that arise while experiencing the work and on the desire to avoid stereotypes, while also highlighting the work’s experimental value. The exhibition featured a maze of plywood partitions punctuated by openings, with different perspectives offering layered views into the various spaces; according to the responsible designer, this helped avoid the static nature of the previous edition.
‘Inimene ja puhkus’—person and holiday—was the theme of the third edition, which had the clearest focus compared to the previous ones. This time, specific functional solutions were presented, and although it still offered an unconventional look at the future, the exhibition was perceived as having lost its innovative charm.
There was a lot of interest in the ‘Ruum ja Vorm’ exhibition series, in terms of visitor numbers, media reporting, and critical response. For a long time, this series remained the only one of its kind in the Soviet Union, receiving widespread coverage both locally and further afield. These exhibitions helped highlight the importance of the analysis phase, which is key to the design process. Despite the generally experimental focus, several proposed solutions actually reached practical implementation in the following years.