The EuroCircle team is always happy to support worthy European artists and causes.
Tanya Stawski and Eila Kopra will be there to welcome our members – we are happy to work with the Ichiro, Kio and Ville to introduce you to Scandinavian art.
This particular exhibit is presented by Arte Ry/Titanik & QiPO
Click on the image to enlarge it
Curated by: Ville Laaksonen in collaboration with Kio Griffith and Ichiro Irie
The exhibition is supported by Artists’ Association Arte and QiPO and financially supported by Frame Contemporary Art Finland and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
ARTISTS
Heini Aho
Jan-Erik Andersson
Shawn Decket
Juha Allan Ekholm
Toni Hautamäki
Sirkku Ketola
Antti Oksanen
Per Sonne
Maria West
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The Fin_between exhibition at Arena1 (Los Angeles, USA) engages the distinctive spirit of doing and experiencing art from Finland. The artist’s work can be seen from political in global perspectives and as an artistic discourse to which Finnish artists share a very unique angle. Located in between the west and the east, on the edge of the Europe and next to Russia, Finnish people are often reminded “you have already won the lottery as you were born Finnish”. The American dream seems not so far away? But being Finnish has multiple facets. The top education state and an obsession towards winter sports, as well as high-tech brands companies such as Nokia and Supercell hover over our heads.
How many Finnish contemporary artists or their work do Americans recognize? One of the roles of artists in Finland is to challenge the stereotypical ways of approaching nationality, things which are connected to what being a Finn means. A vital aspect of an artist in a globalized world is to challenge political structures. Art is an in-between state where the artist’s personal beliefs evoke a conversation with the world.
In the Fin_between exhibition Heini Aho will be presenting a new installation work where corner shaped artworks from Finland are connected into American objects. Jan-Erik Andersson and Shawn Decker have created a sound installation Apple Concert. The duo will also prepare a performance, taking place during the opening. Juha Allan Ekholm has been documenting Finnish workers who have been fired from their jobs in tech-related companies. Toni Hautamäki will be implementing his works, which follow the legacy of hard-edge constructivism directly to the gallery walls. Sirkku Ketola‘s work consists of a large-scale installation including hand-made prints and a video work, which takes us on a trip from a Finnish outhouse to our national landscape. Intervention-artist Per Sonne is currently on a trip: begging for money in the streets and shopping centers of Turku, Finland towards raising funds for the destination of Los Angeles, with Sunset Boulevard and Venice Beach. Antti Oksanen and Maria West have made a new video production for the exhibition which, according to them, reflects upon the meaning of locality for artists in contemporary art and a global, transnational world penetrated by virtual networks.
As artist and curator, Ville Laaksonen, not only developed the concept for the exhibition, he helped realized the collaborative works that will be on display in the Fin_between exhibition.
All the artists are members of Artists’ Association Arte, which runs the Titanik gallery in the city of Turku.
Titanik has been active since 1960, and it parent organization Arte is known for its keen interest in how art and artists can shape the use of spaces, both through temporary interventions, and by actively repurposing unwanted structures. The Fin_between group exhibition aims to promote Finnish artists internationally by collaborating with other organizations on a global scale. The project at Arena1 is a collaboration with two Los Angeles based curators, Kio Griffith and Ichiro Irie from QiPO.
The Fin_between exhibition is the counterpart for the QiPO’s Lazy Susan exhibition, which opened at Titanik in June 2016.
QiPO’s representatives have planned a series of artist and curator meetings, through which artists are able to network directly in the Los Angeles art scene. While visiting Finland, the curators met approximately 30 artists and a number of staff from local art organizations, including Kiasma, the national museum for contemporary art in Finland.
The exhibition is supported by Artists’ Association Arte and QiPO and financially supported by Frame Contemporary Art Finland and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
Further information: Ville Laaksonen / ville.laaksonen@gmail.com / + 358-50-3537071
