Laura Dahlberg
DESTROY THEM WITH CUTENESS
The title of the exhibition refers to a feeling known as cute aggression.
It can arise when encountering something overwhelmingly cute: for example, a kitten that is so adorable you feel the urge to squeeze it, not to harm it, but because the sudden emotion is simply too intense to process. In cute aggression, two opposing feelings take over the body at the same time, causing something inside you to waver.
In the works of the exhibition, technology appears strange and soft. Their cute appearance and bright colors, combined with artificial movement, may evoke a contradictory sensation. Humans often experience a feeling of unease when encountering robots that resemble living beings but remain too distant from the natural.
The material choices of the works have been shaped by what the creatures need in order to move. The technical realization of mechanical beings requires great care. The digital and physical worlds must function together: if the form does not hold, air escapes and movement fails to emerge. If the rhythm of the code is not right, a caterpillar may burst. Sometimes a creature does not awaken at all – its silicone skin has been too fragile.
One of the key materials in the works is the air of the room, which fills the empty spaces around us. Air flows into the openings of the creatures and is released back out. We both use the same air, so that we may be alive for a moment.
The soundscape of the exhibition has been created by Eemeli Dahlberg.
Laura Dahlberg (born 1991) is a sculptor who uses robotics and new materials in her work. The themes of her works focus on the coexistence of technology and other species, as well as the animistic elements that emerge in the interaction between them. She is interested in creating spaces where we can experience a connection with mechanical objects.
Dahlberg graduated as a visual artist from Saimaa University of Applied Sciences in 2016 and earned her Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki in 2022. Her most recent exhibitions were a solo exhibition at HAM Gallery in Helsinki and group exhibitions at Onoma Summer Exhibition in Fiskars and Galleria Rostrum in Malmö. Her works can be found in the collection of the Helsinki Art Museum.
Tanja Koljonen
Thinking Numbers
The starting point of the Thinking Numbers exhibition is Jonathan Schell’s essayistic nonfiction book The Fate of the Earth, published in 1982. The book is considered one of the key works of the Cold War era and examines the consequences of nuclear war and the future of humanity. According to Schell, reflecting on the fate of the Earth brings humans into contact with something they can neither fully control nor fully understand. At its best, this state of not-knowing can lead to wonder, and wonder in turn to respect and to actions aimed at securing the future of the planet. Does not-knowing still hold value in a time when ‘’an explanation’’ is always available?
From these premises, the artist’s book Thinking Numbers took shape and forms the basis of the exhibition. Thinking Numbers does not comment on Schell’s original work or its themes, even though it maintains a clear connection to it. The artist’s book preserves the size and page count of the source publication, but most of the text has been removed. Only numbers, numerical references and words related to thinking remain in their original positions. The result is a list of words in which numbers and thinking detach from measurement and their logic turns into magic. Numbers no longer explain the world; instead, they become tools for thinking about meaning, time, emptiness, and the limits of control.
The exhibition has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
Tanja Koljonen (born 1981, Muonio) lives and works in Helsinki. She graduated with a Master of Arts in Photography from Aalto University in 2014 and a Master of Fine Arts from the Department of Printmaking, Academy of Fine Arts in 2024. Koljonen works at the interface between printmaking and photography. Koljonen’s works are often published in book form, which expand into spatial entities in exhibitions. Her work emphasizes an interest in the relationship between written language and images, and how they can change familiar ways of reading and observing. Koljonen has held solo exhibitions in Finland and elsewhere in Europe, and she has participated in group exhibitions and residency programs around the world.
www.tanjakoljonen.com
Timo Viialainen
Advent for Black December
The exhibition consists of two works that are connected by their relationship to light and darkness, as well as by the opposing elements of fire and water present in the works. The exhibition’s title work, Advent for a Black December, has been built on a large and worn snowplow blade that I found. This object has accompanied me for two years. I have thought about it a lot. There is something unavoidable in the size and form of the object. It has given me physical resistance and it has also been constantly on my way
I began processing the blade by burning it in a Midsummer bonfire. Instead of a rational or functional goal, the gesture was symbolic. I wanted to connect opposites to it, from the brightest moment of the year to the darkest moment of the year. Later, using different patination and waxing techniques, I have created on the surface of the blade a pinkish and purplish tone that transitions from light to dark in a chiaroscuro-like manner. A color world that resembles the moment after the sun has set.
There are twenty-four holes in the blade. In the annual cycle, there are on average twenty-four half-moons. There are twenty-four Advent days. In the work’s twenty-four holes burn small neon flame bulbs made from Christmas light strings. Coincidences in the materials have given rise to the name of the work. In an English-language context, Black December refers to shark attacks that occurred within a short period of time in South Africa in the 1950s. In Finland, Black December brings to mind darkness caused by an exceptional lack of snow.
The second work in the exhibition is the infrasound work Infrasound Piece, completed in 2020. In the work, very low frequencies that fall below the threshold of human hearing are sounding. If darkness in sound means low pitch and brightness means high pitch, then infrasound would be located on the side of black. Instead of a clear auditory sensation, the sound can be perceived as a kind of pressure. The tunnel-like form of the Forum Box Parvi can strengthen this sensation at certain points in the space.
The movement contained in the frequencies is visible in water colored with iron oxide, as well as in the filament of an incandescent light bulb vibrating at the same frequency. A lower frequency causes larger and slower movement and a higher frequency smaller and faster. The frequencies that ended up in the work have been selected according to how they resonate in the space and according to how they function visually. As an exception, the frequency of 18.98 hertz, the so-called ghost frequency, has been included because of the references associated with it, which in popular culture are connected to haunting.
The duration of the work is approximately 9 minutes.
The exhibition has been supported by the Kone Foundation.
Timo Viialainen works in the fields of visual arts, performance art and sound art. His artistic production is embodied in sculptural works that activate viewers, as well as in performances that utilize sound elements. He graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the Sculpture Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in 2021. Viialainen’s works are in the collections of the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Fund and Kiasma. He has had three solo exhibitions, the most recent of which was on display at Sinne Gallery in 2023. As a performance and sound artist, he has performed at numerous events and festivals in 22 different countries, including Norgberg Festival (Norgberg Sweden), New Performance Turku Festival, Interackje Festival (Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland), Performance O Morir Festival (Norogac i, Mexico), Palestine Performance Symposium, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center (Ramallah, Palestine, West Bank), Sofia Underground Festival (Sofia, Bulgaria) and Asiatopia International Performance Art Festival (Bangkok, Thailand), Electric Eclectics Festival (Meaford Ontario, Canada).
Mediabox