From 24 March to 22 April, 12 European basket makers, painters and textile artists will celebrate Pileforeningen's 10^th anniversary with the exhibition KURV, which will display modern wickerwork. This is different from and much more than traditional weaving techniques and baskets for shopping and storage.

There are baskets at the exhibition KURV, but they are baskets that have long since stopped resembling the basekts we use for firewood, newspapers and empty wine bottles. These are unique baskets that are woven in innumerable forms of willow and bark, mixed with other materials such as paper, rubber and plastic.

There are basket sculptures so large that you can crawl into them. There are mobiles suspended from the ceiling. There are spherical basket balls and there are all the imaginative, fantastic variations on the traditional basket that provide the inspiration for unsuspected combinations of materials, techniques, forms and colours.

Denmark shows the way
At the end of the 1980s, basket making was on the point of extinction in Denmark, but the old craft traditions then enjoyed a renaissance with great inspiration from abroad. The interest in basket work has grown steadily since then. In 1997, Pileforeningen was founded. Initially it had just a few members – now it has around 1600.

Today, Danish basket makers are known for mixing up all manner of traditions and techniques and for constantly experimenting and tearing up the rule book. If it is possible to talk about an avantgarde in basket work, a large part of it is in Denmark.

Basket making on the spiral staircase
In connection with the opening of the exhibition, there will be basket making on Rundetaarn's spiral staircase. A group of basket makers will make shopping baskets. Their motto is: "Out with the plastic bag. In with the shopping basket". There will be basket making on Saturday, 24 March and Sunday, 25 March during the tower's opening hours.

Silkeborg Bad
In summer 2007, Pileforeningen will be exhibiting at Silkeborg Bad, where it will be possible to see a wider range of members' work. Read about the exhibition