The Message curtain was designed to the lobby of the Vapriikki Museum Center. Due to the corona restrictions, the changing major exhibition adjourned on for months and only the gray closed doors were visible in the lobby. At the entrance to the multifunctional museum center, it was confusingly gloomy, so we developed a colorful divider from the postcards used. Staff had to get out of the hallway, but at the same time it had to keep the audience away from there. We turned the cards into a light door curtain.The cards were naturally related to the card exhibition at the Vapriikki Postal Museum.
Due to the spring restrictions, the exhibitions closed, but in Vapriikki visited lunch customers every day to get their TAKE AWAY portion from the museum restaurant, the museum shop was also open and most importantly, the museum’s numerous employees were cheered up by the Message Curtain.
Corona restrictions also closed museum workshops, so we collaborated with the Postal Museum on a series of three craft videos.
We developed products and manufacturing instructions for them. The Postal Museum implemented the technical side of the videos.
Below is the first video
mixed media,
made of recycled postcards, 165 x 930 cm, 2021
Finnish postcard 150 years,
Finnish Postal Museum,
Tampere, Finland
We received 15,000 used postcards as material when the Postal Museum ordered the art work from us.
The feel, quantity, quality of the material and the location of the work largely determined the working method. The subject and content were heavily on the postcards themselves. Messages from person to person, including the card designer at the beginning of production and the mailer before the final recipient. Many hands, steps, thoughts, messages flow.
mixed media, domestic waste, 150 x 150 cm, 2020
From serie SHOCK TROOPS – FORCES OF NATURE
Corona, natural disasters, wildfires, storms, exceptional animal behaviors, species extinctions... In the almost apocalyptic moods, contemplating the cycle of life through recycled materials gave hope.
Public community art project 2018–2019
”Tied up days” is an 24 piece art work for the city of Tampere 240 year jubilee made by recycled neckties.
It is a result of ”Tied up secret...” –project. The residents of our hometown donated almost 5,000 neckties to us. We also collected stories related to neckties and they turned out to be really touching.
All of them, ties and stories, revealed the full spectrum of life. We truly were honored to be part of this people’s history. That is why we shared the experience with different actors, and some of the work was done with a youth action center, some with city dwellers and some with rehabilitative work.
Mayor of Tampere received ”Tied up days” on behalf of city and citizens. The necktie art set is now part of the Tampere Art Museum’s collection.
collage made of cut and glued photos, 144 x 225 cm, Galerie Pleiku, Berliini
A work assembled directly from a shred of photos directly into the gallery wall over three weeks. After the exhibition, the work was cut into pieces suitable for a suitcase to be moved to a new location. The final whole is always outlined directly in the exhibition space and its assembly is part of the process of always re-creating a changing work.
Discussing the survival of nature and animals and humanity under climate change. News about the environment and biological threats makes you wonder what all living things need to do to cope with future threats? For a long time, viruses in the digital world were considered a threat, but they are indeed disappearing into bit space alongside natural disasters and pandemics. However, we do not want to spread anxiousness but to deal with themes through play, humor, color, and through them bring hope and joy. As visual artists, we always also create visual entities.
Puzzle version was reassembled using sewing thread, 240 x 240 cm, 2019, Haihara Art Center, Tampere.