Arja Kärkkäinen & Raimo Saarinen
A night within days
1.2.-24.2.2019
The exhibition features Raimo Saarinen’s sculptures and Arja Kärkkäinen’s installation Gurglers. The works deal with violence, a sense of justice, control and western people’s relationship with nature. The theme is a continuation of the themes that the artists have previously worked on. The sculpture materials have been used by manipulating, controlling and altering them. People’s arbitrary desire to intervene in the course of events fills the space with an atmosphere that is out of tune.
Arja Kärkkäinen: Gurglers – Pyrrhula pyrrhula
Out of all the finches, bullfinches are by far the best at learning to sing. The males learn melodies in captivity, which is why they were popular as caged birds in Victorian times. In the wild a bullfinch’s song is a melancholic and restrained “pjyu”, a quiet gurgle.
The Gurglers installation refers to climate change at the levels of the environment and public discussion. The chaos of the “post-information era” shows not only as a changed environment but also as an increasingly one-sided discussion. Blurring the core issues, bureaucratic gobbledygook characterizes the exercise of power, the lost concreteness and the direction in which our society seems to be heading.
Voice actors: Kenkävaahto
Thanks Pasi Rauhala, Kunstventures, Antti Kytömäki, Gryta Radoslaw, Vesa Rahikainen
Raimo Saarinen: Martyrs
Saarinen’s work Martyrs deals with control and western people’s relationship with nature. At the core of the western view of nature is the thought of a human as an entity that is separate from nature, where everything else is available for them to use as resources and opportunities. For a long time, this view has entitled humans to see other organisms, especially plants, as a green mass. In his work Saarinen explores what happens when an individual plant is subjected to cruel control and is placed on display at the gallery. Will the sadistic-looking activity change the way we see and feel about the distress of an individual plant?
Raimo Saarinen: Risk of Crushing
Risk of Crushing explores the boundary between artificial and natural. What is natural and are we able to distinguish the “nature” unaffected by human activities and does it even exist anymore? The human impact on nature is so great that it reaches every corner of the world. Plastic, climate change, pollution and man-made chemicals have found their way everywhere. What will happen when nature as we now know it is gone? What if the rocks shaped by nature became so rare and sought-after that it would make sense to start copying them?
Arja Kärkkäinen (b. 1986) lives and works in Helsinki. She earned a degree in fashion design from the Lahti Institute of Design and is currently finishing her Master’s studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. Kärkkäinen mainly works with video and sculptures, but it is an essential part of her approach to utilize a wide range of techniques. Her works explore social themes such as involvement and unspoken agreements within society and between people.
Raimo Saarinen (b. 1984) lives and works in Helsinki. He earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2017. Saarinen works mainly with sculptures and installations and the key themes in his works are the problematic view of nature in the western world and people’s relationship with the environment.
Exhibition supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland
Contacts
Arja Kärkkäinen
E-mail: arja.karkkainen(at)gmail.com
Homepage: cargocollective.com/arjakarkkainen
Raimo Saarinen
E-mail: raimoaleksi.s(at)gmail.com
Homepage: www.raimosaarinen.com
