Travelling exhibition – hunters viewpoint on contemporary Komi hunting practice

How do you create a travelling exhibition, that would include everything a modern exhibition would, but also be fairly easy to move and set up in a place almost 2000 km away from Tallinn? Also, how do you show a history of a small nation like Komi in a very limited space and still do it justice?

We created a travelling exhibition for Estonian National Museum that answered both of those questions and created a new way of showcasing important pieces of history around the globe.

Since the space for this exhibition were so limited, we needed to focus on the core values of the people of Komi.

When Estonians are traditionally farmers and Sámisare traditionally herders, then Komi people have always been hunters. There lies their essence and history. They have a strong connection with forest and the life of a hunter. So we created an exhibition that focuses on hunter’s viewpoint on contemporary Komi hunting practice and takes you to a conceptual forest.

Restrictions makes us creative

To make the this exhibit as compact as possible, we created round display stands, that looked like giant tree trunks. Inside every trunk there were an item that showcased the history of Komi.

On the bark of the trunk, we designed different marks of a hunter and added fur and nature that showcased the natural environment of a Komi hunter. Everyone could see the item by looking inside the trunks and see the natures marks on the bark.

Then we transported it to Syktyvkar, Russia, The capital of Komi republic and set it up there.

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Our purpose was not just to create an awesome travelling exhibiton.

This was created with a purpose of letting the small Republic of Komi know, that they are not alone. To give them strength and to preserve their culture and language. This format is designed to be a stage for all Finno-Ugric nations and show everyone that these people are located all over Europe and their culture is bigger and more alive than you think.

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During our stay in Syktyvkar, we showed the people of Komi new ways of exhibiting history and how to create something that inspires and gives voice to something that you as a nation care about.