24.–26.12. Closed
27.–29.12.  Open from 12–5 pm
31.12.–1.1. Closed
2.–5.1. Open from klo 12–17

Happy Holidays!

The exhibition program for Spring 2025 is published! More information about each exhibition will be updated on the site later.

17.1.–9.2.2025
Antti-Ville Reinikainen
Mediabox: Shubhangi Singh

14.2.–9.3.2025
Hyäryllistä-taiteilijaryhmä
(Jouko Korkeasaari, Sari Koski-Vähälä, Heli Kurunsaari)
Mediabox: Monika Czyżyk & Neil Luck

14.3.–6.4.2025
Ilmari Gryta
Rikard Lassenius
Mikko Luostarinen
Mediabox: Minna Suoniemi

11.4.–4.5.2025
Verna Joki
Paavo Paunu
Ville Välikangas
Mediabox: Kristiina Laine & Albert Laine

9.5.–1.6.2025
Milla Toivanen
Mediabox: Dora Dalila Cheffi

6.6.–29.6.2025
Reima Hirvonen
Ninni Luhtasaari
Timo Tähkänen
Mediabox: MSL (Jade Kallio ja Antti Jussila)

The Open Call has ended.

Apply for an exhibition time in Mediabox for 2025 – Deadline October 22, 2024!

Mediabox is an exhibition space for media art, located in Forum Box. The programme presents recent media art pieces and is coordinated in collaboration with AV-arkki – Centre for Finnish Media Art. The space is currently an important outlet for media art.

There are 11-12 exhibition times available for Mediabox in 2025. The space includes a fixed projector, media player & active loudspeakers.

Read more and apply

The exhibition program for Autumn 2024 is published! More information about each exhibition will be updated on the site later.

20.9.–13.10.2024
Elina Autio
Mediabox: Reija Meriläinen

18.10.–10.11.2024
Juhana Moisander
Panu Rytkönen & Jan Ijäs
Mediabox: Emilia Ukkonen

15.11.–8.12.2024
Einari Hyvönen & JP Köykkä & Juha Vanonen
Mediabox: Martta Tuomaala

13.12.2024–12.1.2025
Aleksi Tolonen
Veikko Björk
Salla Myllylä
Mediabox: Juha Mäki-Jussila

Photo: Elina Autio.

The gallery is closed June 21–22, 2024.
On Sunday June 23rd the gallery is open as usual from 12 to 5 pm.

On view are  Anna Fröman’s, Mari Mäkiö’s and Jussi Pyky’s exhibitions.

Welcome!

Photo:
Jussi Pyky: Karsina (2024)

The gallery is closed on Friday, March 29 and Sunday, March 31.

On Saturday, March 30 the gallery is open 12–4 pm.
Welcome to see Tarmo Paunu’s exhibition Parsimus Maximus!

On Mondays the gallery is closed.

Photo: Pietinen (1930) / Museovirasto.

The Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation, in collaboration with the Forum Box cooperative, is awarding the Linnamo Prize for the second time, with a value of 15 000 euros. The prize is awarded to visual artist Mervi Kytösalmi-Buhl (b. 1948) in recognition of her dedicated exploration in artistic practice. The prize committee characterises Kytösalmi-Buhl’s work as follows:

”Mervi Kytösalmi-Buhl is one of the pioneers of Finnish video art, and her work from the 1970s and 1980s is undeniably considered a starting point for video art in Finland. She studied at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts in the 1970s, under the guidance of figures such as Joseph Beuys and Nam Jun Paik. Kytösalmi-Buhl approaches the body as a plastic and sculptural material in a complex interaction and interdependence with the video camera, her preferred medium of choice in her earlier works. Here the artist’s own body deconstructs and constructs the concepts of gender and subjectivity performatively. In more recent works, the body is physically more distant; it is mnemonic, fragile, and symbolically present, always in relation to various materialities. For Kytösalmi-Buhl, art has always been a way to restructure her relationship with the surrounding space and reality, regardless of the context or medium of the works. Awarding the Linnamo Prize in 2023 to Mervi Kytösalmi-Buhl recognises her significant, individual artistic practice that has paved its own path in the field of Finnish art.”

MERVI KYTÖSALMI-BUHL

Mervi Kytösalmi-Buhl was born in Imatra, Finland, and studied in Germany at the Cologne University of Fine Arts and the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. Notably, her instructors at the latter institution included Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik. Kytösalmi-Buhl currently resides and works in Cologne, Germany, while spending her summers in Ruokolahti, Finland. Between 1978 and 1984, Mervi Kytösalmi-Buhl created an extensive body of video works, widely regarded as the starting point for performance-based video art in Finland. The key elements of her works are body, movement, space, and time. In more recent works, Kytösalmi-Buhl has produced photographs, object assemblages, and textile sculptures. Her works can be found in the collection of institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.

LINNAMO PRIZE

The Linnamo Prize is a Finnish fine arts prize awarded by Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation biannually. The award is given in recognition of committed exploration shown in artistic practice. It is worth 15 000 euros and will be awarded for the second time in 2023.

The prize is awarded in close collaboration with the artist-run cooperative Forum Box: in addition to the monetary acknowledgement, the prize includes an opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at Forum Box gallery. With the award the foundation seeks to acknowledge work that invigorates the expressive potentialities of art, modes of experimentality that often take place in the margins of the art world.

The Linnamo Prize is awarded to an experienced artist or artist group whose work can be anticipated to lead to interesting paths in the future. The recipients of the prize are expected to be either Finnish citizens or permanently living and working in Finland. The recipient is decided by the board of trustees of Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation based on a proposal by a three-person jury composed of artists. In 2021-2023 the jury includes the following members: Markus Konttinen (b. 1957), Jani Ruscica (b. 1978) and Man Yau (b. 1991).

Read our language intern Rugre’s poem from the Box’s blog!

Click here to see the post.

The exhibition selections for 2025 based on Forum Box’s Open Call have been completed.

Both those who got an exhibition time and those who were left without one this time have been informed of the decision.

We received more than 300 applications this year, thank you once more to everyone who applied!

Forum Box Autumn 2023 exhibition program is here! Read more about the artists and the themes of the upcoming exhibitions below. The more specific information about each exhibition will be updated to our website during the fall.

❦❦❦

8.9.–1.10.2023
Teemu Saukkonen
Mediabox: Marja Viitahuhta & Ánnámáret

6.–29.10.2023
John Court
Mediabox: Kristoffer Ala-Ketola

3.–26.11.2023
James Prevett
Mediabox: Liinu Grönlund & Okku Nuutilainen

1.–23.12.2023
Noora Nio-Juss
Mediabox: Jade Kallio & Remi Vesala

Teemu Saukkonen

The beginning of Teemu Saukkonen‘s career 1978-1982 coincided with a boom in painting.The movement he represented was called neo-expressionism, a style that was characterised by figuration and a striving after individual emotional expression. Initially, Saukkonen’s subject was the human being, but later conceptual ready-made elements and abstraction entered his work. In the early 2000s Saukkonen used old cross-stitch patterns in his paintings, thereby returning to figuration. The themes of his most recent paintings have been vulnerability and ephemerality of life and the relationship between man and nature. Saukkonen has always applied contemporary artistic and social stimuli to his own art.

John Court

John Court (b. 1969, Bromley, Kent, UK; lives in Tornio, Finland) produces art that springs from personal experience, focuses on the body and, most importantly, hinges on process and the passage of time.

Court graduated from London’s Camberwell School of Art (1994) and obtained a 1st Class Honours Degree in Sculpture from the Norwich School of Art and Design (1997) and, although the general character of his projects has evolved over time, the artistic footing he developed while a sculpture student continues to be a mainstay of his approach. Colour, for example, never requites consideration, since it is predetermined by the materials he uses. And while he continues to produce sculptural objects and draw, these processes are frequently adapted to respond to specific contexts and/or dovetailed into time-based works. The resulting transformations greatly expand the scope of these artistic approaches and generate outcomes that are unexpected and intrigue. Moreover, Court’s interest in process is so far-reaching that he does not differentiate between work produced in the studio or live before audiences. He considers all to be performative.

Court has exhibited extensively and has been invited to perform at major events such as Navigating North KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art (2023)  Belfast International Festival of Performance Art Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK (2023, Das Dicke Ende in Bern Art Museum Switzerland (2018), MA, Art Museum in Rouyn-Noranda Canada (2018), UP-ON Live Art festival Chengdu China (2017), SIGNAL Festival in Brussels Belgium (2017), Beijing Live in China (2016), Viva! Art Action festival in Montreal, Canada (2015), 7a*11d in Toronto, Canada(2014), DigitaLive in Guangzhou, China (2014), SpaceX Gallery Exeter in UK (2012), Guangzhou Live Art Festival in China (2010), ANTI Contemporary Art Festival in Finland (2010 and 2018), the Venice Biennale (2005) and the Liverpool Biennial (2004).

James Prevett

James Prevett was born in Cambridge, England and currently lives in Helsinki. He makes things to gather around – objects, events, text, video, often combined together as sculpture, and is interested in sculpture as means to explore the limits of minds and bodies, both personal and collective.

His two intersecting modes of artistic practice, studio based making and a social practice, both explore sculpture and its social relations. James often works with other people as a way of exploring this bringing alternative voices to the work.

He has exhibited widely including in UK, Finland, Thailand, USA, Austria and Brazil, and was part of a team that represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2006. His works are in the Kiasma, Finnish National Gallery collection and numerous private collections. James is a Lecturer in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts of Uniarts Helsinki. In 2021 he was awarded the inaugural Linnamo Prize, by the Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation for committed exploration shown in artistic practice.

Noora Nio-Juss

Noora Nio-Juss (b. 1976) is a visual artist from Helsinki. Noora graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Fine Arts with a master’s degree in fine arts in 2017 and a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the Estonian Academy of Fine Arts in 2000, majoring in painting.

Nio-Juss has held several solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions both in Finland and abroad. The latest exhibitions in Turku Art Hall, Galleria Sculptor in Helsinki, Tallinn Art Hall Gallery, Riihimäki Art Museum and VS Gallery in Fiskars. Nio-Jussi’s works include e.g. In the collections of the National Gallery of Finland, Helsinki City Art Museum, Paulo Foundation, Mänttä City and Tampere Art Museum. Noora Nio-Juss was nominated for the 2020 Queen Sonja Print Award and in 2021 she received the William Thuring Award.

In recent years, Nio-Juss has been working on large-scale woodcuts. His wood drawings move between painting and wood graphics. Noora is looking for new ways of presenting wood graphics and ways to make and experience it.

Shift

This exhibition embraces the shifting nature of movement—of layers of time, space and materiality, hence the title Shift. The artist, Inka Bell, explores these subtle movements through the materiality of paper. A material used universally due to its accessibility and most widely understood for its ability to hold knowledge, the paper, in this case acts as a catalyst for the sense of movement that permeates the space. The cuts, incisions and arrangements create shapes within the paper that play with light and allow the audience to move their bodies in relation to the work for a complete spatial experience. The lightness of the paper is contrasted with the metal frames that encompass it. These frames hold the work together while obscuring the paper’s lightness, grounding the work in weighted reality.

The materiality of the piece effectively communicates the intentions while the subtle conceptual framework underlying the process is increasingly visible with each moment spent with the work. Inka Bell’s creations transcend verbalization and external interpretations. They prioritize the sensory realms established between the observer, the artwork, the surroundings, and the moment. These sculptural bodies dynamically change, bend, and transform in response to the position and perspective of the observer. This moment of encounter fosters active engagement and encourages the observer to shift their own position. To experience the work in its totality is to reach, crouch, lean and twist—exploring the potentials of one’s own body while simultaneously exploring the possibilities offered by the artwork. It is through this movement that the changes become apparent.

Beginning with these tangible physical elements, and acting through the body of the observed, the works conclude with a deeper evocation at a subconscious level.

Least Concern

Marianne Siri’s Least Concern includes plaster and ceramic sculptures that predominantly feature female figures, alongside a few animals and a young boy. This exhibition was prompted by the concept of humans as ‘least-concern species’–referring to a type of species classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as abundant in the wild and therefore not requiring conservation efforts. While critiquing the anthropocentrism of such conceptual frameworks, Marianne’s sculptures also unveil a captivating array of three-dimensional pieces, each with its own unique story to tell. The artworks aim to highlight the diversity of nature, the sacredness of life along with the influence of social media–ultimately challenging the perceptions of nature existing solely for human consumption.

While thematically the work dives into greater environmental concerns, the formal elements of the artwork showcase a profound level of artistic techniques and craftsmanship. Through meticulous attention to detail and experimentation of materials, every artwork captivates and holds the viewer’s attention. The towering Marie (painted plaster and ceramic, 2021) occupies the central location of the install. She draws great attention due to the height of her hair and the intensity of color inspired by French aristocracy. Marie stands in stark contrast to the white sculptures that encompass it––standing in homogeneity to each other and inviting a close inspection. The exhibition offers a diverse range of styles and mixed materials.

–Najia Fatima

https://www.najiafatima.com/

Photos: Anna Autio.

Forum Box is again part of  Art Fair Suomi Goes Galleries contemporary art festival. You can find the other participating galleries and the complete program from the event’s website.

The vernissage of the festival takes place on Tuesday, June 6th. Forum Box among other galleries will exceptionally be open until 7 PM, welcome to see Inka Bell’s and Marianne Siri’s solo exhibitions! At Mediabox on display is Artor Jesus Inkerö’s Jab (2020). Some refreshments will be served on the AFS opening night. Welcome!

Art historian Jane Vuorinen’s article Photography and the Organic Nonhuman: Photographic Art with Light, Chlorophyll, Yeasts, and Bacteria (open access) published in Konsthistorisk tisdkrift. Vuorinen examines the artistic practise of Jenni Eskola amongst others. Jenni Eskola’s and Antti Oikarinen’s exhibition  Välissä took place in Forum Box in October–November 2021.

Forum Box is now included in the City of Helsinki’s Think Sustainably service. The service helps citizens to make more sustainable and responsbile choices by presenting actors who have passed the service criteria. You can familiarize yourself with the service criteria here. Forum Box is committed to acting responsibly and strives to promote more ecological and fairer ways of living on our shared planet.

Forum Box is closed on Friday, April 7 and Sunday, April 9 due to Easter holidays.

On Saturday, April 8 we are open 12–5 PM as usual, welcome!

On view is Juuso Noronkoski, Tuomo Rainio & Joonas Siren’s joint exhibition Two Million Seconds and Leena Kela’s Rest of Time (2021) at Mediabox.

This is the third year of Bærum Kunsthall’s Nordic look at curating. This year the jury consisted of Antti Oikarinen, Riikka Puronen and Vesa-Pekka Rannikko from Forum Box, and was led by Oda Broch from Bærum Kunsthall. Together they chose a total of 11 artists/artist groups to exhibit at Bærum Kunsthall in 2023.

The chosen artists/artist groups are: Sibylle Eimermacher, Qi Tan, Sissel Fredriksen, Samuel Brzeski, Miguel Rozas Balboa, Sanna Helena Berger, Jens Stegger Ledaal, Clara J:son Borg, Johan Urban Bergquist, Jonas Liveröd, and Gorjeoux Moon.

The first exhibitions opened on January 5th with Sibylle Eimermacher’s Antiomony and Qi Tan’s Cosmic Garden. Both exhibitions are on display until the 29th of January.

Read more: https://finno.no/en/articles/baerum-kunsthalls-program-for-2023-juried-by-forum-box

The jury’s work and Baerum Kunsthall’s collaboration with Forum Box is supported by The Finnish Norwegian Cultural Institute.

Last week while the gallery was on summer break, Forum Box organized an art camp for Ukrainian children and youth at the Annantalo Art Centre. The camp was organized together with Ukrainian Community Centre, All Our Children NGO, and the City of Helsinki. Ukrainian artist Maria Lenova and Forum Box member artists facilitated art workshops for the participants, in which they, for example, created collages, painted still-lives with charcoal and watercolors, and fabricated figurines from silk clay. On the last day of the camp the participants got to visit Kunsthalle and Helsinki Art Museum (HAM).

The Open Call for Bærum Kunsthall this year is a collaboration with Forum Box in Helsinki. The jury for 2023 is Antti Oikarinen, Riikka Puronen and Vesa-Pekka Rannikko from Forum Box and Oda Broch is leading the jury for BK.

This is the third year of Bærum Kunsthall’s Nordic look at curating. The BK jury for 2021 was Kling & Bang from Iceland and the BK program for 2022 was juried by A Kassen from Denmark. Now it’s time for a Finnish jury and Bærum Kunsthall is happy to announce the collaboration with Forum Box, one of Finlands eldest artist-run venues.

The international perspective on curating is innovating and fair. Jurying happens on different terms when the curators do not already know the artists and their story. Mixing up the backgrounds of the jury members ensures a fresh look at the Norwegian and Nordic art scene. A fair amount of the applications to Bærum Kunsthall’s open call arrive from outside of Norway and inviting various Nordic jury members makes us sure that Norway-based artists are juried fairly on equal terms as their international colleagues.

Application deadline is Monday April 25th! More info about applying can be found here.

LINNAMO PRIZE AWARDED FOR THE FIRST TIME – VISUAL ARTIST JAMES PREVETT SELECTED AS THE FIRST RECIPIENT OF THE AWARD

Press release 24 November 2021 6 p.m.  |  Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation and Forum Box cooperative

In collaboration with the Forum Box cooperative, Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation awards for the first time the Linnamo Prize, a new fine arts award worth 15 000 euros. The first prize is awarded to the Helsinki-based sculptor James Prevett (b.1977) in recognition of committed exploration in artistic practice. The award committee elaborates the selection as follows:

“The sculptor James Prevett’s art practice can be described as contemporary sculpture in a state of constant change. He embraces that which is going on around him and often the end result is something unpredictable and surprising. Instead of being limited to an embodied practice with materials, Prevett’s art combine elements of research and social action, focusing on situations, spaces and the people engaging in them. What resonates underneath all this is a profound fascination for the social significance of art, for that which is created by activating and engaging with one’s surroundings and its participants with a view to new and unfamiliar configurations of the everyday. By expanding both the spatial and the social reach of sculpture from the institutions of the art world towards the city space, the domestic realm, as well as the range of social media, James Prevett’s work has provided the field of contemporary sculpture in Finland with inspiring and invigorating new perspectives.”

JAMES PREVETT
James Prevett is a British artist living and working in Helsinki since 2013. He creates things to gather around – objects, events, text, video that are often combined as sculpture. Prevett is interested in sculpture as means to explore the limits of minds and bodies, both personal and communal.  His work draws on many influences from music to poetry to the histories of monuments. Prevett enjoys collaborating with other people, embracing the creativity and unpredictability that comes with making things together. He thinks everybody can and should ‘make’, and that this can bring unexpected beauty to the world.

Prevett has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally in countries such as Finland, Thailand, Singapore, USA, Austria and Brazil. He was part of a team of artists, musicians and architects selected to represent Great Britain at the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2006. His ongoing series Patsastellaan: Parties for Public Sculpture invites artists to make something new for an existing public sculpture in Helsinki. He is currently a Sculpture Lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki.

Images:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jujLtPi94E8Eed2UqBLiwXMzOTpBRCzh?usp=sharing

Further information:

Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation

Marko Karo
Chairperson

+358 50 547 1836

Member of the jury
Jani Ruscica

+358 40 708 5361

Links: https://jamesprevett.com/

Forum Box Market online until the end of November

The annual sales exhibition includes works by Gallery Forum Box member artists, including sculptures, photographs, graphics, paintings and media art.

All available artworks are on display here! You may reserve works through the webstore, further instructions available on the site!

Works for sale e.g. by the following artists:
Sampo Apajalahti, Petteri Cederberg (second from the left in the picture), Petri Eskelinen, Kaisaleena Halinen, Mika Hytti, Anita Jensen, Kirsi Jokelainen, Kaisu Koivisto, Arto Korhonen, Raakel Kuukka, Johanna Lecklin, Tiina Elina Nurminen, Thomas Nyqvist (first from the right), Eeva Peura, Pekka Pitkänen, Riikka Puronen, Vesa-Pekka Rannikko (second from the right), Satu Rautiainen (third from the left), Teemu Saukkonen, Joakim Sederholm, Antti Tanttu (far left on the picture), Kain Tapper, Nora Tapper, Fanny Tavastila, Tommi Toija, Pauliina Turakka Purhonen, Samppa Törmälehto, Kristiina Uusitalo, Ilona Valkonen, Timo Wright, Magdalena Åberg.

For more information, contact:

Kersti Tainio
Forum Box Market -sales exhibition producer

044 298 7546

The autumn program of Forum Box has been published! The new season is filled with versatile and high quality contemporary art by artists representing different art forms and generations.

The season opens with an international group exhibition, Companions, that is tied around London Feminist Library and combines art with activism. The year 2021 will close with Kaarlo Stauffer’s solo exhibition. In addition to the exhibitions in our main space, Mediabox is once again filled with contemporary media art, co-curated by AV-Arkki and Forum Box.

AUTUMN 2021

COMPANIONS Aug 20th – Sept 12th

Hanna Saarikoski / Kaija Hinkula / Minna Suoniemi Sept 17^th – Oct 10^th

Antti Oikarinen ja Jenni Eskola Oct 15^th –Nov 7^th

Christian Langenskiöld Nov 12^th –Dec 5^th

Kaarlo Stauffer Dec 10^th –Jan 9^th, 2022

In Mediabox:

Sasha Huber: The Firsts – Edmonia Lewis Aug 20^th – Sept 12^th
Aino Aksenja: Small town girl Sept 17^th –Oct 10^th
Nina-Maria Oförsagd: Arrangement non-existent Oct 15^th – Nov 7^th
Ewa Górzna & Katarzyna Miron: Surround (Working title) Nov 12^th –Dec 5^th
Jan Ijäs: Belgrade Forest Incident …and What Happened to Mr.K? Dec 10^th – Jan 9^th, 2022

Introducing our Artists is a new series for presenting the fantastic member artists of our cooperative that was founded over 25 years ago! There are now over a hundred members in the cooperative, representing several generations and genres of top-notch artists.

The first artist to be introduced is visual artist Kaisu Koivisto and her latest installation Siirrettävä monumentti.

At the heart of Kaisu Koivisto’s work are the special features of the northern landscape and changes in societies. The surprising combinations of subject and material are characteristic of Koivisto’s works, in which she reflects on the interfaces between nature, technology and culture. Kaisu Koivisto’s works have been exhibited e.g. in the following places : Kiasma (Helsinki), Aboa Vetus&Ars Nova -museum (Turku), Reina Sofia Museum (Madrid), PS 1 (New York), Estonian Art Museum Kumu (Tallinn), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Porin taidemuseo, Galleria Sculptor, Forum Box.

http://www.kaisukoivisto.com
@kaisukoivisto
Facebook

Kaisu Koivisto: Siirrettävä monumentti
Installation (textile, security fences), 2021.
250 x 450 cm

I follow the news of the world closely. Protest movements are demolishing monuments that are offensive from the perspective of our time. Some are protesting for democracy, others for other issues. The unifying factor is the security fences that restrict or attempt to restrict the movement of people. Siirrettävä monumentti (Movable Monument) is an idea of a peaceful monument that can be moved from one place to another. The textile part of the work folds softly over the structure I made of security fences into a tent-like shape.

Forum Box is open as usual Tue–Sun from 12 to 5pm. We limit the amount of visitors in our 300m² gallery space to a maximum of 6 people at a time. We kindly ask you to wear a face mask and keep a 2 meter distance to our other visitors as well as our staff. We take thorough care of the hygiene of surfaces. Welcome to enjoy art safely!

The address for submitting proposals has changed. Please see the competition plan.

The open competition Taidetta Jätkälle (“Art for the port”) in two parts seeks a public artwork for the port area in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki. The competition started on 28 August 2020 and ends on 4 June 2021. The aim of the competition is to find a site-specific artwork that reflects the identity of Jätkäsaari.

Read more about the competition.

The first questions and answers concerning the Taidetta Jätkälle – Art for the Port public art competition have now been published. We are still open for more questions!

See the Questions and Answers as well as general information concerning the competition here.

The first phase of the competition started 28 August 2020 and it will last until 20 January 2021. The participants must ask their questions concerning the first phase by 15 November 2020 via email to the contact person of the competition: Virpi Näsänen, virpi.nasanen[at]forumbox.fi. The questions will be answered on Art for the Port -page of Forum Box’ website as soon as possible, however, no later than 1 December 2020.

Elämän vesi / Lífsins vatn / Water of Life
25.1.–29.2.2020

At Kling & Bang -gallery, Reykjavik opens up the exhibition Elämän vesi / Lífsins vatn / Water of Life, produced in collaboration with Forum Box. The artists in the show are Hermanni Saarinen, Ilona Valkonen, Kristiina Uusitalo, Petteri Cederberg and Vesa-Pekka Rannikko. The exhibition is curated by Juha-Heikki Tihinen and it is open from January 25th to February 29th, 2020.

Juha-Heikki Tihinen: Water of Life

The Water of Life exhibition presents works of five contemporary Finnish artists. They are Petteri Cederberg, Vesa-Pekka Rannikko, Hermanni Saarinen, Kristiina Uusitalo and Ilona Valkonen. The name of the exhibition, Water of Life (Aqua vitae), can refer to different things: e.g. the Book of Revelation, the fairytale of Brothers Grimm, distilled spirit and the Fountain of Youth. It can be mystical and spiritual, or very matter of fact and mundane. The choice of approach is yours.

The exhibition is a continuation of the co-operation between Forum Box and Kling & Bang. In 2016 the Pro Artibus Foundation organised an exhibition called By Water in Finland and exhibited works of 14 Icelandic artists. One of the venues were Forum Box. Forum Box is an artist driven gallery space and an artistic collective which has been active from 1996. The very idea of Forum Box is to create a forum for all arts and artists.

The exhibition shows the diversity of Forum Box artists and also the variations on how to treat the exhibition theme. The artists treat the theme in various ways which make clear how Water of Life can be seen from sublime or from carnivalesque perspectives. This diversity creates a parallel to the Forum Box activity which combines artistic practice with ordinary tasks.

Petteri Cederberg (b. 1976) works with different mediums, paintings, drawings, animations and installations. His piece in the exhibition is Median life and / or death (2019). The piece is a good example of Cederberg’s oeuvre. His works are dream-like or some kind of apparitions. He mixes both geometrical and organic forms which start out as abstract but turn into figurative. Cederberg turns animation into an uncanny, but at the same time humorous experience.

Vesa-Pekka Rannikko’s (b. 1968) Fall (2020) is about the contact between human and nature, and between the sacred and profane. The work is a drawn animation which is projected on paper, which hangs on an installation structure. Fall outlines the transit area of the narrative, open up a no man’s land between words and drawings and the content they represent. Rannikko works with installations and sculptures which create associations to nature, materiality, society and human experience.

Hermanni Saarinen (b. 1979) creates sculptural installations which can combine readymades or be made of wood. His installations create a sense of wonder by the unusual combinations of materials and forms. In a way he creates a piece of art in the form of scenography, which turns the exhibition place into a presentation. Simultaneously, presentation and representation initiate a dialogue.

Kristiina Uusitalo (b. 1959) has been active in the Finnish art scene from the early 1980’s. Her paintings are quite often related to experiences in nature. Her concern of plastic pollution in our seas has become a part of her work and has created a series of painting which can be related to the micro flakes but also to light and the sublime. In her works, she shows how painting can refer to aesthetics, ethics and politics, and comment on both todays environmental crisis and have art historical references.

Ilona Valkonen (b. 1980) is a Finnish visual artist who works in both traditional and experimental ways. She has been exhibiting paintings but is most well-known for a performance piece called Vieno Motors. In Vieno Motors the participating artists turn the audience into living sculptures by dressing them in flowers and other materials, subsequently turning them into human flower bouquets. In Water of Life Valkonen exhibits an installation version of her performance. The performance is carried out during the opening of the exhibition.

Juha-Heikki Tihinen works as a curator at the Pro Artibus Foundation. He is a PhD in art history from the University of Helsinki (2008). Tihinen has been working as a curator, critic, researcher, teacher and writer from the late 1990s.

Land Beyond the Sea 25th of January to 5th of  April, 2020

The exhibition Land Beyond the Sea is on view at The Nordic House in Reykjavik January 25th to April 5th, 2020. The exhibition is produced by the Pro Artibus Foundation and is curated by the foundations curator Juha-Heikki Tihinen. The group exhibition features five Finnish artists: Erik Creutziger, Marjo Levlin, Carl Sebastian Lindberg, Susanna Majuri and Pauliina Turakka Purhonen.

Read more about the exhibition here.

It follows up By Water – Icelandic Artists on the Shores of Finland, an earlier exhibition presenting the work of Icelandic contemporary artists held in Helsinki and Tammisaari in 2016.