Time of Growth – Collection exhibition 13.6.–31.12.2024
Time of Growth challenges the viewer to examine growth and development between two living beings. How does the life of a plant or tree compare to human development? What does a young birch forest smell like? What has an old dead tree witnessed?
The exhibition’s works present different stages of growth through forests, nature, humans, and other living species, juxtaposing different times and species with each other.
The exhibition showcases Finnish art from the late 19th century to the present day.
Noora Geagea’s video work Struggle: IV (2016), which covers the back wall of the exhibition hall, brings a human into the midst of trees. In the video, a person dressed in a dark, formal suit is seen laboriously dragging a suitcase through a snowy forest. The person’s journey through the winter forest appears difficult and burdensome. The dark suit and suitcase suggest that the person is headed somewhere and does not belong in the snowy forest. The trees stand around the person harmoniously and peacefully. They are in no hurry to go anywhere.
Photographer Martti Anttila captured portraits of artists from 1981 to 1985, many of whom are visual artists from northern Finland. The simple black-and-white portraits have captured well-known visual artists at a moment in time, some of whom were just beginning their careers in the 1980s. What kind of growth can an artist experience through their work?
Exhibition artists:
H. Ahtela, Martti Anttila, Klaus Backberg, Gösta Diehl, Noora Geagea, Pekka Halonen, Jaakko Heikkilä, Reijo Hukkanen, Aimo Kanerva, Liisa Karintaus, Sanna Koivisto, Janne Laine, Hannu Kustaa Manner, Otto Mäkilä, Juho Mäkelä, Helene Schjerfbeck, Hugo Simberg, Ellen Thesleff, Kaisa Törmänen, Heikki Tuomela, Maria Wiik
Working group:
Anita Alamaunu, Amanda Hakoköngäs, Jari Hannuniemi, Virpi Kanniainen, Pasi Makslahti, Brita-Kaisa Välimaa