KONTAKTi – The Memory of a Landscape
28.4.–10.9.2023
The exhibition KONTAKTi – The Memory of a Landscape – open at the Ostrobothnian Museum from 28th April to 10th September 2023 – celebrates the combined 150-year history of the Ostrobothnian Artist Union and the Vaasa Artists Guild. Through an open call ten member artists have been invited to take part in the exhibition. In terms of content, it links together ideas of merging interior and exterior landscapes. The landscape forms an internally and externally layered continuum. The surrounding environment becomes part of our inner landscape. The local landscape is connected to the ever-changing environment and memory. It lives and actively continues to become a part of new landscapes, and yet it brings us back to our roots.
The exhibition comprises of paintings, sculpture, prints, photography, and video art. An event and interdisciplinary approach is also represented in the exhibition.
In his works Björn Aho examines communication structures between people. He sheds light on the thin interface between understanding and misunderstanding. Svetlana Bogatcheva, on the other hand, is interested in the changes of the individual and of the community. The statements of her works confront the viewer with the current state of society. Author and artist Alexandra Sandbäck’s subtle works handle difficult themes like body image and chronic illness with openness and playfulness. They are a tribute to the artist and humanity.
The artist Mia Damberg and painters Petri Hildén and Seppo Kari unfold the many layers of the human mind and memory. Damberg’s works convey longing and the meaning of memories and their various individual traces. Hildén’s works emerge from a connection with the subconscious. The artist characterizes figures and situations from the past and the future. Kari’s paintings take place in nocturnal spaces. They combine references from surrealism and renaissance into new visual content. In media artist Markus Lerviks’ video work, the personal landscape tells a shared story about the past. The work goes through the cycle of the year as an endless loop.
Elina Försti paints the local landscape by choosing her subjects intuitively. In her colorful works, barns gain both abstract and representational elements. In Sylvia Javén‘s installation, the elements create an illusion of constant motion. The work is layered like the variety of experienced landscapes. Tiina Laasonen carves different types of wood as her main material. For Laasonen, working with three-dimensional forms is a dialogue between the artist, the materials and the theme.
The exhibition has been produced by the Vaasa City Museums in cooperation with the the Ostrobothnian Artist Union and the Vaasa Artists Guild and is curated by Aura Seikkula.
The uppermost picture: Elina Försti: Gable, 2022. Oil on canvas. Photo: Pasi Puskala.
Permanent exhibitions