Past events
The history of the material as part of the work. A trace made to the surface, a touch. The
lifespan of the material and it’s strong connection to the earth. It is only natural that all kinds
of things happen to it﹣it changes, rustles, wrinkles, creases, fades, becomes fragile,
perishes. However, in optimal circumstances it is practically eternal.
A paper can be a platform, a medium, a starting point, or the content. The six artists of the
exhibition have their own starting points, and they have travelled different paths to arrive at
the same material and concept. They are interested in the paper’s capacity of expression
and its character, how paper will eventually become part of the soil again. On one hand, it is strong, and, on the other, it has tendency to vanish﹣it would require merely one spark and the work would transform into ash.
The artists Susanna Autio, Outi Koivisto, Astri Laitinen, Emma Peura, Irma Tonteri and Maria Valkeavuolle share the love for paper, and together they have founded the association Helsingin Paperipaja ry. The association constitutes an artist community and an openpapermaking studio that produces contemporary art by using traditional craft methods.
The association also arranges papermaking courses. The Arts Promotion Center Finland and the Finnish Cultural Foundation have supported the founding of the studio.
www.paperipaja.com
https://www.instagram.com/helsinginpaperipaja/
https://www.facebook.com/HelsinginPaperipaja/
The exhibition opens on 16.2. at 17.00 with the artists present.
Helmenpunoja (Pearl Weaver): Mari Hokkanen’s photography exhibition about Persian poetry at Yö Galleria 28.1.-13.2.2022.
Poetic phrasing is often compared to a pearl in Islamic culture. A poem can be seen as a string of pearls. Helmenpunoja is a string of photographic poems and performances with symbolic references to the world of ancient and modern Persian poetry.
I visited Iran three times to work in residencies as well as travel the country as an independent visual artist. I set up my stage wherever I could: In the desert, in the houses of the people I met, in guest houses and residencies.
In addition to the images, the project includes 5 videos that portray classical and modern Persian poetry in Fars and in Finnish. Some of the featured poems have been translated to Finnish for the first time. Video soundscapes were created in collaboration with composer Marouf Majidi and sound Designer Jaakko Autio. Video post-production by Babak Arzani. Translations by prof. Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila.
I was given a book by Hafez, one of the most famous Sufi poets from the 14th century, as a gift from a lover. We were in our twenties, a rose and a nightingale. We spent numerous nights with our friends asking Hafez; how we should live our lives? Years later at the grave of Hafez I realized that everyone is looking for his advice.
Poetry is my comfort; when the world around me goes crazy, the poets remain sane. They know that one should enjoy the wine and the meadow now, for tomorrow this will be someone else’s garden. They know that not much changes among people and after all we are just clay for tomorrow’s pottery yet behind the curtain the secret remains.
During my journey through unknown landscapes it was my map in trying to understand my surroundings. It was my script telling me how to play my scenes. It was my language for befriending strangers and together we created something new.
Helsinki based photo-artist Mari Hokkanen (b.1979) builds her performative self-portraits to communicate her experiences and thoughts on cultural and political phenomenons. Playful improvisation and experimental use of materials are important working methods for her. Hokkanen often uses naive and comical approaches to tackle more in-depth viewpoints.
She is currently completing a Master of Arts in Photography at Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Her works have been displayed in solo and group exhibitions in Finland and internationally, including Photographic Centre Nykyaika (2021), MuuKaapeli (2018), Villa Rosa (2016).
In addition to private collections, Hokkanen’s works can be found in the collections of the Turku City Museum and the State Art Commission.
More info: Mari Hokkanen
p. 050 44 100 38
marihokkanen.com
There is time to party and there is time to return to the normal life. And sometimes in between those we experience hangover.
Life can’t always be about having fun and in the end you have to confront the reality.
We often begin a new year with a promise of a healthier life. Often those promises are broken and same mistakes are repeated all over again and things continue to go in cycles.
My relationship with alcohol is quite complicated. It’s hard to think of many things that I enjoy more than a shower beer after a really long day. Alcoholism destroyed my family and yet – drinking beer with friends is still plenty of fun.
Why do we celebrate life by destroying ourselves?
Why do we drink this known poison called alcohol to comfort us in sadness and for pleasure?
Headache, nausea, remorse, fear of everything, anxiety and spent too much money again.
Sometimes while having a hangover my brain is in absurd mode. Adding a sort of distortion to my perspective of reality. If you can handle this slight loss of control you can almost enjoy or at least make a use out of this new point of view.
How yucky it may sound, suffering and (self inflicted) more challenging form of existence, inspired this exhibition.
Glass of water, slice of pizza, couple of funny dog videos and a shower beer. We will survive through this one, there shall be a resurrection! Happy New Year!
This exhibition is supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
Jesse Avdeikov (b. 1986) is an artist working in the mediums of painting, writing, embroidery, animation, and installation. His works stem from an autobiographical place, and stories are important to him. His art addresses themes such as friendship, different lifestyles, the importance of enjoyment, loneliness as well as birth and death. He is inspired by YouTube videos, the classic art of painting, dogs, thinking about sad things and the absurd aspects of life. Avdeikov earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts Helsinki in June 2020.
ig: @jesseavokado
In animated tv-shows transformation sequence is the segment where the hero/heroine transfigures and gains access to previously hidden powers. Each sequence is a montage that is always repeated the same from episode to another. It is a sort of a ritual that results in powering-up to a state beyond the ordinary self. In this transformed state super powers or weapons become activated or available and appearance alters to that of a recognizable superhero.
Harri Piispanen’s exhibition Transformation Sequences is a cavalcade of such transfigurations. It is about taking control of plastic bric-a-brac and McDonalds junk-toys and unleashing their hidden potential to become something twisted and creative. It is a continuous form of play where trinkets turn into something special - perhaps into art.
All objects within the exhibition are made from discarded toys and knick-knacks gathered during a period of several years. Each is practically built from trash: all of the material is found and recycled. Every object is in some stage of the metamorphosis - on it’s way to transform into a superhero.
Plastic toys were harmed during the process (but they all feel a lot better now).
Want to find something different to decorate your home for Christmas? Delight a friend with a gift that will last? Be part of supporting culture and the artists in our association? Welcome to the Yö Christmas Bazaar organized by Artists’ Association Yö ry at Yö Galleria! At the gallery you can discover art for yourself, or as a gift, and get to know the artists personally.
We have paintings, photographs, prints and other art works by several Yö member artists on display. Proceeds from the sales go directly to the artists themselves. Yö's own products and magazine will also be available and visitors will be served glögi & cookies. You are warmly welcome to take a break from the Christmas rush at Yö Galleria!
YÖ CHRISTMAS BAZAAR
21.-23.12. 2021
2-6pm
Harri Ahvenainen and Aino Ikivirta
PALAA KUNNES SAMMUU
7.-19.12.2021
ATTN! Exhibition opening on Friday 10.12. at 18-21
Yö Galleria
Lönnrotinkatu 33
00180 Helsinki
Notice the opening hours in December:
Tue-Fri 15-20, Sat-Sun12-17
Welcome!
Arise from somewhere
evolve into something
eventually disappear like a flame.
Transform into something
who doesn´t stay to tell you anymore.
What's left of it all?
Memory. Picture?
Recollection and image.
Tale. Legend.
Our friend matter and our friend pleasure appear in infinity for a moment.
Now that our power is in us: let it burn. Eternally
Harri Ahvenainen's and Aino Ikivirta's exhibition Palaa kunnes sammuu ("Burns until it stops") is a combination of spatial arts and painting. The unifying theme of the exhibition is humanity and life cycle.
Liisa Karintaus
ON THE FOREST EDGE AND OTHER PAINTINGS
19.11.-5.12.2021
Yö Galleria
Lönnrotinkatu 33, 00180 Helsinki
Tue-Fri 14-19 Sat-Sun 12-17
Exhibition opening on Thursday 18.11. at 17-21.
Welcome!
On the Forest Edge and other paintings consists of works on canvas and animation on a TV screen. The starting point for the painting installation is a memory of a childhood landscape. The subjects combine, for example the dark coniferous forest in the courtyard of a mental hospital in Northern Finland, a person in the landscape with their dog, a chain of generations, the joy of drawing and the observation of colors. My work combines drawing and painting, they alternate during the process. I usually start working with drawing but the works get finished with colors.
The best thing about painting is the opportunity to express yourself freely and intuitively, to combine different things and ideas into the same work, and the possibility to end up with something unexpected.
The works are made with oil, tempera, plant glues, charcoal and chalks.
Liisa Karintaus is a painter living and working in Helsinki (b.1977 Rovaniemi M.Sc., Muurola). She graduated from the Painting Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in 2018.
The work for the exhibition is supported by the Art Promotion Center.
Ilari Vanhatalo
Olennainen - Essential
19.11.-5.12.2021
Yö Galleria
Lönrotinkatu 3, 00180 Helsinki
Tue-Fri 14-19 Sat-Sun 12-17
Exhibition opening on Thursday 18.11. at 17-21.
I walk in the woods at night or just stand still, for hours.
I am one with this universe, nothing separate. I breathe and smile, the future shows up for me.
I paint pictures of the universe, I paint ideas and structures, operating models and entities with their parts. oh god how beautiful is reality!
-Ilari Vanhatalo
Yö Galleria
30.10.-13.11.2021
Welcome to the opening on Fri 29.10.2021 at 17-21.
Phantasmagoria is a solo exhibition of Kalle Ahonen. The theme of the exhibition is phantasms, images spontaneously created by the imagination.
The concept of Phantasma (φάντασμα) has its roots in Greek, where it means both the visions produced by the imagination and apparitions that are imagined to be real, such as ghosts.
Phantasms, the images generated by the mind, cannot be solely derived from the sensations of external reality. We are also able to create images that are in complete conflict with the laws of perceived reality. Because the imagination includes also materially impossible forms of being, it provides us with a broader view in to the totality of existence.
Through visual art, the intangible images of the mind can be brought into a perceptible form. Phantasmagoria makes the realm of imagination visible through charcoal drawings, collages, three-dimensional works and installations.
17.-24.10.2021
Opening and premiere Sat 16.10.2021 at 6 p.m.
Other performances:
Tue 19.10 at 6 p.m.
Thu 21.10 at 6 p.m.
Fri 22.10 at 6 p.m.
This may be about copper blue iron slags, maybe about sidestones and sidewalks, shards, and flowing soil. Maybe this is also about the rocks and their slow change. Maybe this is about a pool and a desert.
Maybe this is also about witchcraft, magic, the afterlife, ghosts and fantasy. Things that do not appear, are not heard and not known but which are, nonetheless. Perhaps it is a matter of allowing and conveying the unknown, the undefined, the unnamed. Maybe it’s about overcoming fear.
Most likely this is about working slowly, trusting the intuition and the process of art. Likely this is about dance and transformation; about listening to the connections of different materials and their ways of being, about never-ending movement, movement even while still. Likely this is about a call of strange, shining colors, light, shadows, darkness and twilight. And traces that overlap with other traces. And the cinder. Most likely this is about cinder.
Hämärä is a process, performance and installation by dance artist Soile Voima and set desinger Anttoni Halonen which they have been working on since the fall 2020. The work still continues.
Opening of the installation and premiere of the performance is on Saturday 16.10. at 6 p.m.
You can come and go freely in the space even during the performance. Duration of the performance varies, but it is more or less 100 minutes and it is free of charge. The space can hold about 25 spectators at a time.
Hämärä at Yö Galleria 17.10. - 24.10, Lönnrotinkatu 33, Helsinki. Wheelchair accessible entrance through the courtyard.
Installation is open during the opening times of the gallery Tue-Fri 14-19 and Sat–Sun 12–17.
On the days of the performance the gallery is open until 20.00.
Welcome!
The work is supported by Ehkä-tuotanto, Yö Galleria, Theaterhouse Universum, Koneen säätiö ja Taike.
Hämärä is part of Soile Voima's artistic research project with the working group Toisinajattelijat, which observes and investigates the intersection between new materialistic thinking and performative art.