Exhibitions at the Academy of Fine Arts in summer 2023
The summer season’s exhibitions examine current ecological themes and reflect on the character of the artwork as an event and the art exhibition as a discursive space.
The galleries of the Academy of Fine Arts continue to host exhibitions in the summer. The doors of the galleries will only be closed to public in July.
Environmental data rejuvenates artistic research
Ecological themes are highly topical in the field of art. “As You May Sense – Environment, Data, Contamination” is an exhibition that investigates questions related to affective and sensory environments in an urban setting and a broader ecological context. The exhibition is part of Uniarts Helsinki’s Research Pavilion and will be organised in the Mylly building of the Academy of Fine Arts from 13 June to 2 July.
The themes of the exhibition were examined from a data-based perspective in a course entitled Ecological thinking led by researcher Samir Bhowmik and Professor Jussi Parikka. “Environmental data is like a doorway that introduces an alternate approach to observe things. Usually, people at the Academy of Fine Arts do not work with satellite data or remote sensing. This presents an opportunity to break new ground in artistic research,” says Samir Bhowmik. You can read more about the themes covered in the course in Bhownik’s and Parikka’s interview.
The artists participating in the exhibition are Frank Brümmel, Bruno Caldas, Saara Hannula, Leena Kela (together with Heini Aho and Eero Yli-Vakkuri), Lauri Lähteenmäki, Orla Mc Hardy, Heini Nieminen, Antti Nyyssölä, Ville Raasakka, Johanna Sulalampi, and Qiong Zhang.
The artwork as an event and the exhibition as a text
On Thursday 3 August, just after the summer break, we will celebrate the opening of two exhibitions, which will run until 27 August.
“Suhdunle” is a group exhibition organised in Kuva/Tila that focuses on the artwork as an event. The participants of the exhibition reflect on what the event for an artwork could be like and in what ways it is different from the exhibition as an event, particularly when the artwork is based on a performative or participatory approach. The name of the exhibition, with its peculiar spelling, forms a starting point that indicates astonishment and surprise, but which is also open to vagueness and a failure to interpret the event.
The works presented in the exhibition examine durational questions pertaining to the materiality of the artwork, such as how the artwork unfolds from the perspective of experience, or what the life cycle of the artwork could be like. Possibilities afforded by suddenness will also be explored in the exhibition. You can read more about the “Suhdunle” exhibition on the exhibition website.
The exhibition has been organised jointly by the Academy of Fine Arts and invited participants. The participating artists are Bebetton (Jani Anders Purhonen and Eeva Rönkä), Milja Havas, Hermanni Härmälä, Lina Herrmans, Aarne Kivelä, Lassi Kontiainen, David Nabel, Aala Nyman, Sara Rantanen, and Samuel Thompson-Plant. The exhibition is curated by Nimco Kulmiye Hussein and Joonas Pulkkinen.
The small gallery space in Kuva/Tila has been named Tasku. In August, Tasku will host an exhibition entitled Anywhere in no-time/Nowhere all the time, which the organisers describe as a “textual event, that can be broken down into parts, which always return somewhere else.”
The small gallery space in Kuva/Tila has been named Tasku. In August, Tasku will host an exhibition entitled “Anywhere in no-time/Nowhere all the time”, which the organisers describe as a “textual event, that can be broken down into parts, which always return somewhere else.”
“Anywhere in no-time/Nowhere all the time” takes shape linguistically and is realised as a text. In this case, the text is also attached to the space and place. It can be visible signs that exist physically in the space; on paper, on the walls and as sound. On the other hand, it is also determined immaterially; through the tacit controls of institutions and infrastructures and as theoretical and conceptual starting points.
Welcome to the opening of these exhibitions in Kuva/Tila on Thursday 3/8 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Kuva/Tila and Tasku, Sörnäisten rantatie 19, 00530 Helsinki. Open Tue-Sun, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (closed for Midsummer holidays 23–25/6). Free entrance. kuvatila.uniarts.fi