Estonian National Museum opens poetry exhibition with 70,000 acorns

The Estonian National Museum has opened “The Primordial Nature of Being Human,” a poetry exhibition featuring about 70,000 acorns and reflecting on what it means to be human in a changing world. The exhibition opened on October 10, ERR reported.

Created by poet Karin Kivipõld, the exhibition takes visitors through an autumn bog, salty sea winds, snowy forests and a spring field edge, using natural sounds and imagery. The exhibition hall is arranged around the four seasons and decorated with peat, acorns and other natural materials.

Kivipõld said people are part of nature but often have too little time in today’s fast-paced world to feel and enjoy that connection. Nature, she said, can offer support, healing, answers to unanswered questions and a sense of belonging, yet can feel both close and inaccessible.

Acorns are a central element of the exhibition. About 600 litres, or an estimated 70,000 acorns, were used. Exhibition designer Natali Mällo said she had enjoyed following the exhibition through its four seasons and finding symbols that bring a connection with nature into the gallery. Several kindergartens, a school and the Estonian Museum of Natural History helped collect the acorns.

Kivipõld wrote the poems. Mällo designed the exhibition and created its nature videos, while Rona Luug was the graphic designer. Ülle Lichtfeldt and Üllar Saaremäe provided the spoken performances, and Veljo Runnel created the nature sounds. Inga Tartes edited the texts.

The concept was developed for the Estonian National Museum’s “Own Exhibition” competition, which offers people and organisations outside the museum and exhibition-curation professions the chance to organise an exhibition in its participation hall. “The Primordial Nature of Being Human” will remain open until December 31.