At the annual meeting, Veikko Björk, Ylva Holländer, Tanja Koljonen, Anni Laakso, Ari Pelkonen and Veera Kaamos Pitkänen have been approved as new member artists of Forum Box – welcome to Box! Below you’ll find a brief introduction to each artist.
VEIKKO BJÖRK (b.1960 Kitee) graduated as a Master of Fine Arts from Konsthögskolan Valand, Gothenburg 1995 and from the Time and Space department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki 1998.
I am increasingly interested in making things with my hands and avoid sitting in front of a computer. I carve images that emerge from the depths of wood and my mind; a bus stop, a hearse, an astronaut… Wood is materialized time, light and heat, spiraled movement recorded in the trunk as a memory of the journey around the sun. I am currently working with the installation Photosynthesis for Sculptor gallery in spring 2027. I am trying to grow a small slime plant, Lemna minor, in order to bring a photosynthesis sculpture to the gallery. My work is exploring, building, dismantling, listening, feeling, reassembling, playing in the encounter of old and new.
Veikko Björk’s solo exhibition JÄLKIÄ, TRACKS, was on display at Forum Box from December 13th, 2024 to January 12th, 2025.
YLVA HOLLÄNDER’S (b. 1955) works bring forth absurd and unexpected encounters that lead to multi-layered association games. Her works deal with both the visible and the invisible – what is hidden under the grass or what is hidden inside a person. The works are coloured by humour and playfulness, but in the background there are also more serious fundamental questions about existence. She is currently working with ceramic sculptures and large-scale drawing installations.
She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki from 1974 to 1978. Over the course of her career, she has created, among other things, large-scale paper and drawing installations, sculptures, paintings, short films, and public works. In 2021 she made a large-scale installation for the Finnish Institute in Stockholm. In collaboration with Kirsi Kaulanen, she created a sculpture for Eklöf Park in Porvoo in 2009. Holländer has had numerous solo exhibitions in Finland and participated in many group exhibitions too. Her works are included in public collections such as the Amos Anderson Art Museum, the City of Porvoo’s collections, Pro Artibus, the City of Vaasa, and the National Art Collections.
She receives state artist pension.
TANJA KOLJONEN works within the expanded field of printmaking and photography. Her works are often artist’s books and publications that extend into exhibition installations. Central to Koljonen’s practice is the relationship between written language and the image, and how combining these elements can challenge conventional directions and modes of reading and seeing. Koljonen has held solo and group exhibitions in Finland and across Europe, and has participated in international artist residencies.
ANNI LAAKSO has worked as a sculptor since 1997, when she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki. The forms of her works consist of various and largely reused materials. Her sculptures are often site-specific installations that visitors can enter. The temporary nature of the installations and the transformation of the works into new ones are part of Laakso’s artistic process. Through her installations, she strives to create new environments within an existing environment or public space. She is interested in the connection between power and (urban) space, how the use, control and management of space are central tools of political action.
Her works made in public space can be found in Helsinki, Vantaa, Austria, Lithuania and Belgium. www.annilaakso.net
ARI PELKONEN (b. 1978) is a visual artist based in Helsinki, Finland. His artistic practice is centered on the material and conceptual exploration of printmaking. Working by hand, along with the use of paper, printing ink, and wood as materials, forms the foundation of Pelkonen’s work.
Pelkonen’s works have been exhibited extensively in Finland and internationally and are included in several Finnish art collections. In 2012, he was awarded the Young Artist of the Year.
Pelkonen studied at the Turku Arts Academy from 2000 to 2004 and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki. Since 2009, he has worked in teaching and other roles within the Printmaking Department of the Academy of Fine Arts. From 2020 to 2026, Pelkonen served as a member of the State Art Commission of Finland.
Pelkonen’s works were exhibited at Forum Box in the group exhibition Private Archives held from August 31 to September 23, 2018.
VEERA KAAMOS PITKÄNEN (b.1984) is a multidisciplinary visual artist focusing on analog techniques. She works with paper collage, wet plate collodion photography, bronze sculpture and the world’s best dog cartoon. The artist is currently working on a wet plate photography project in the UK dealing with local myths and folklore.
Pitkänen is a second-generation Box member – her father is sculptor Pekka Pitkänen, one of the founding members of the cooperative.