HAA Gallery presents the exhibition Menneiden mielialojen toimisto by Janne Martola (Hall 1) and the exhibition Lizzie menee rikki – erään näyttämöteoksen hajoamistapahtuma by Marika Hyvärinen and Tiia Hämäläinen (Hall 2) 3–26 August, 2023.
Welcome to the exhibition openings on Wednesday, 2 August 5–7 pm!
Image: Janne Martola (left) and Marika Hyvärinen & Tiia Hämäläinen (right)
Janne Martola: Menneiden mielialojen toimisto
Janne Martola skis his own slopes in the Finnish art landscape. Martola is a dreamer and a storyteller who is more comfortable in the forest than at the opening of art exhibitions. Martola wanders in his imagination, remaining open to the world around him. In Janne’s art, the present and everyday reality mix with the past and into the future, the imagined and the strange seamlessly. The exhibition features sensitive works made with pencil and charcoal drawings and playful watercolour works, in which the trace of a drawing is combined with freely spread colour spots. There is something inexplicable and enigmatic in the intuitive drawings, the works are still images of something bigger from a story for which the viewer has to come up with an explanation himself. In the watercolour works, our ape-like ancestors look at us sadly but lovingly for lost time. Martola’s art has no beginning or end, the viewer jumps into the middle of the screen, but that’s how Martola jumped when he made his drawings. The story continues, we are children of time and we only see our own share.
Marika Hyvärinen & Tiia Hämäläinen: Lizzie menee rikki – erään näyttämöteoksen hajoamistapahtuma
The duo Hämäläinen & Hyvärinen combine contemporary dance and sound art in an experimental way. They performed the choreography Lizzie Rose at Valtimonteatteri in December 2021. It included an art exhibition. The starting point and inspiration for the work was the painting Ophelia by the English Pre-Raphaelite John Everett Millais and the model and artist of the painting, Elisabeth “Lizzie” Siddal. The choreography combined contemporary dance, dance theater, Pre-Raphaelite poetry, video art, sound art and experimental singing. The work was supported by the city of Helsinki.
In this exhibition, the duo demolishes the creation Lizzie Rose. Creating a new choreography takes a long time and is performed only a few times. When the performances are over, artists move on to new projects. From this disposable culture of stage works, the Hämäläinen and Hyvärinen duo breaks the stage work into pieces to a gallery space. The characters of the work, Lizzie (Tiia Hämäläinen) and Lizzie’s shadow (Marika Hyvärinen), wander in performances modified from the choreography as blurry memories, reflecting their disposability.
The duo examines what remains of the choreography when the performances are over, what happens to its materials, sounds, props and video materials: what was intangible and what was not. How does the work live after performances? What do we leave behind as creators? Where and how does all artistic material, intangible and tangible, disappear?
Hämäläinen & Hyvärinen reflect the economic structures of artistic activity in free field. When a stage work is taken to a gallery space, it changes structurally and materially. The duo wants to develop their artistic work on a more sustainable basis and address these issues without compromising artistic quality.
The video materials were made in cooperation with VFX artist Sami Haartemo. The exhibition is supported by the city of Helsinki.
TIIA HÄMÄLÄINEN is a dance artist from Helsinki. She graduated with a master’s degree in dance (MA) from Teatterikorkeakoulu in 2005 and as a dance pedagogue (AMK) from Kuopio in 2003. Hämäläinen is interested in the integration of different art forms and the expansion of expression channels. In addition to dance, visual arts, poetry and music are close to her heart.
MARIKA HYVÄRINEN graduated with a master’s degree in music from the Sibelius Academy in 2015. Hyvärinen makes sound art, arrangements, compositions and installations, participates in video art projects and performances and teaches music as a freelancer. Hyvärinen is interested in fluffing and abusing the layers of music and working on fragile and disappearing sounds using different media. The works are based on music and sounds, but often take the form of a sound work, performance or installation.
https://marika-hyvarinen.webnode.fi/
SAMI HAARTEMO (b. 1975) has graduated with a Master of Arts (MA in New Media) from the Media lab of the University of Applied Sciences in 2005. Currently, he works as a VFX designer (Visual Effects Supervisor) for a company specializing in post-processing of films. When he grows up, he would like to be able to make different, experimental art ensembles.
Performances: Saturday 5.8. at 14.00, Sunday 6.8. at 12.30 and at 14.30, Saturday 12.8. at 12.30 and at 14.30, Sunday 13.8. at 14.00, Thursday at 17.8. at 16.00, Thursday 24.8. at 16.00.
HAA Gallery
Tue–Thu 12–6pm, Fri–Sun 12–4pm
(closed 20.8., on Tuesday 22 August the gallery closes 17:00 due to staff event)