Photographs, video installation, sculptures
I walk in a cellar guided by the light of a headlamp. The pitch-dark rooms are like angular caves. The chilly air feels humid, and the odor of mould is intense. The silence of concrete; the sound of water dripping in the distance. Images of landscapes glued onto the wall and flaking paint meld into a fascinating grotto scene. A socket sticks out of the wall like a strange burl. A kind of urban nature walk.
(Work diary, spring 2017)
Landscape on a Rice Grain explores the yearning for observing scenery and natural phenomena, and creating images of them. The exhibition consists of photographs, sculpture and a video installation. The works of the extensive entity are connected by pictorial motifs such as forest, vegetation, clouds and ships in very contrasting contexts.
My working method is combining things in a collage-like way. I juxtapose and connect materials, motifs and techniques of working.
Thematic photography is an essential part of my artistic practice. It is a powerful means in examining how traces of history, memory and the past are present in the here and now. They appear as receding and often contradictory remains in the changes of the world.
I photograph in places which had their primes long ago: in locker rooms of factories and abandoned military bases in Eastern Europe. The political dimensions of the locations and sceneries remind one of their troubled past.
Natural phenomena and the inevitably proceeding processes in nature are prominently visible in my lens-based works which depict, among others, crumbling wall paintings and glaciers. The primal forces of nature have a deep impact on me. Also the constant presence of technologies informs my artistic practice and is evident in my works.
The video installation Terra firma is complemented by Jan Eerala’s sound art Talvisatama.
Kaisu Koivisto
The exhibition has been supported by AVEK (production costs of video installation)
Kaisu Koivisto’s work have been shown for instance in the following institutions: Museo Hendrik Christian Andersen, Rome; Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid; PS 1, New York; Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Galleria Sculptor, Helsinki; Pori Art Museum, Pori. Kaisu Koivisto (b.1962) earned her MFA at the University of Art and Design Helsinki. She has also studied art history and aesthetics at the University of Helsinki. She lives in Helsinki, Finland.
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