Cavén, Dahlgren, Hautala, Kujasalo and Rannikko at Hämeenlinna Art Museum

Works by Kari Cavén, Jacob Dahlgren, Jorma Hautala, Matti Kujasalo and Vesa-Pekka Rannikko are on view as part of Hämeenlinna Art Museum’s collection exhibition Abstracting the ordinary – Art from the everyday. The newly opened exhibition runs until 13 April 2025.

At the core of the exhibition is the Niemistö Art Collection, on long-term deposit to the museum, which comprises Finnish and Nordic art from the 1950s to the present day. With a focus on abstract, or nonfigurative, art, on display are paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, drawings, graphics and media art by 36 artists. The exhibition is curated by Tanja Pääskynen.

“Reducing the subject to a series of visual elements, to forms, colours, rhythms and compositional patterns, allows the viewer to leave the figurative behind and to focus on their own experience, to become immersed in the artwork.”

Image: Vesa-Pekka Rannikko, Paauat, 2017, pigmented plaster. Photo: Jussi Tiainen

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Works by Antti Laitinen at Museum Centre Taika

Works by Antti Laitinen are on view at Museum Centre Taika in Hyvinkää, as part of a group exhibition Ääri. The exhibition brings together four Finnish contemporary artists: Laitinen, Petri Eskelinen, Juhana Moisander and Taneli Rautiainen. Including moving images, photographs and interactive works, the exhibition deals with different kinds of tensions and extreme phenomena, especially extreme natural events: the moments when nature shows its power, or changes from familiar and safe to threatening or scary. Ääri explores how art can be used to create experiences that make people feel small in front of nature. The exhibition runs until 12 January 2025.
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Image: Antti Laitinen, Wanderer, 2024, video, 7 min 21 sec

New public work by Heini Aho unveiled

Heini Aho’s new public artwork Washed Ashore by a Thought was unveiled in Helsinki. The 5-piece work is spread amongst the small pier platforms surrounding Sompasaari in Kalasatama. Based on her observations of the area, Aho created the works suggesting various ways to engage with the landscape. Aho’s sculptural elements combine with texts she created in collaboration with poet Virpi Vairinen. The works, curated by HAM Helsinki Art Museum, will be added to the City of Helsinki’s art collection.

Aho noticed that people often stand on the pier platform alone, watching the sea. In Breath, a shell holds small objects and is accompanied by an engraved image of bladderwrack and the line, “Ajatus kutsuu luokseen toista” (“A thought invites another”).

Heat Reaction – The Island of the Eternal Yawn asks: where is the line between catching a yawn and spreading them? A tiger paw print reminds us of the Siberian tiger that lives in Korkeasaari zoo on the island opposite the platform.

In Elevating, a palm holds a shell. The Finnish line “aallon laella haahka kahlaa vaahto haihtuu aava vaihtuu” (“on the crest of the wave, an eider wades, foam dissipates, a sea changes”) plays phonetically and visually with the movement of the sea waves.

Energy Islet – Monument to Carbon Black comprises of the charred remains of logs engraved with the colour code for carbon black (0,0,0). The monument pays tribute to the various shades of black and carbon’s enormous significance for life on Earth.

Little Hylkysaari Island toys with the idea of an urban recycling and lost-and-found station. It refers to the nearby Hylkysaari – Shipwreck Island in English – and the treasures washed up by the sea.

Photo: Heini Aho

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