Art Realm ’24 Biennal
For the inaugural Art Realm ’24 biennial, we invited artists to imagine the future. What they discovered was everything from dystopian visions to hopeful predictions.
Art Realm ‘24 will take over the entire Hämeenlinna Art Museum and make its presence felt across the city centre too. The biennial is a collaboration between Hämeenlinna Art Museum, the Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva and Tampere Art Museum. More information at taidevaltakunta.fi
The artists and art works
Johanna Ilvessalo
Handle with Care
metal, glass, textile, moving water
2020
In Handle with Care, flowing water separates the now from other less recognisable realities beyond it. We cannot foresee the future, but art can help us make sense of its randomness and indeterminacy.
Johanna Ilvessalo (b. 1964) creates spatial sculptures using movement, images, light and shadow.
Lotta Blomberg
Blind Spot
tapestry
2022
This tapestry mimics the eye’s anatomy to reveal the blood vessels responsible for our sight and our blind spot. Inspired by Percival Lowell, who looked at Mars but saw only himself, Blomberg challenges photographic convention to explore the act of seeing.
Lotta Blomberg (b. 1990) works with photography and tapestry.
Laura Lilja
Cargo Glow
discarded ratchet straps
2024
In Cargo Glow, discarded ratchet straps create a classic sunset scene. The incongruity between the subject matter and the material highlights the unsustainable impact human activities have on the natural world.
Laura Lilja (b. 1975) uses recycled, borrowed and foraged materials to interrogate social and political themes.
Sofi Häkkinen
I Want to Believe (You)
digital performance, sculpture and print publication
2024
Part performance, part sculpture, part pseudo-scientific journal, issues of which will be offered to visitors, I Want to Believe (You) revels in noughties online surveys and examines the power inherent in statistics and data.
Sofi Häkkinen (b. 1990) works with sculpture, video and performance.
Heli Huotala
Under the Same Sky
oil and acrylic on canvas
2023
The landscape in Under the Same Sky doesn’t actually exist. But, if we fail to take action on climate change, it might one day. Heli Huotala’s work has, for many years, focused on our planetary future and the environmental threats facing us.
Heli Huotala (s. 1968) works with oils and acrylics on canvas.
Leena Lehti
Existence
single-channel video
2023
Dedicated to pollinators and to life, Existence is an abstract and lyrical video artwork. “Insects sustain life, it’s time we give them the respect they deserve,” the artist says.
Leena Lehti (b. 1979) is a media artist whose work charts the complex relationship between humans and the natural world.
Mari Järventausta-Lindertz
Plants – Hatched, Matched and Dispatched
India ink
2023–2024
Plants shows a snapshot of 2050; a green wall with almost no green. The plants’ organic shapes have survived the dystopia, however, evoking memories of past diversity and connection. Mari Järventausta-Lindertz’s (b. 1979) works with India ink, exploring ecodystopias and nature loss.
Pirjetta Brander & Janne Laine
Hybrid Garden
2024
Handbound Artists’ Book, Meadow
drypoint, photo etching, polymergravure, 2024
Handbound Artists’ Book, Thicket
drypoint, photo etching, polymergravure, 2024
Art Print Mythago Wood
drypoint, photo etching, polymergravure, 2024
Two artists have joined forces to explore the future of our flora in the age of human-made climate change. Their message is one of hope: nature will always find a way.
Pirjetta Brander (b. 1970) is an artist working with drawing, animation, sculpture and more. Janne Laine’s (b. 1970) work combines photographic and print methods.
Hanna Oinonen
Wallpaper (Jellyfish)
installation
2021 (1st version)
Wallpaper (Jellyfish) is a commentary on digital addiction and a world drowning in rubbish. Chargers and other discarded items slither like jellyfish tentacles across the gallery space.
Hanna Oinonen (b. 1971) works with a variety of techniques and materials to temporarily transform spaces into something sad, beautiful or strange.
Juhana Moisander
Sermon II
video and sound
2024
Sermon II is a fable about genetic manipulation. Narrated in song by the horrific figure of a skinned hog, it is a reminder of the intrinsic value of every life form.
Juhana Moisander’s(b. 1977) work draws its substance from art history and literature as well as human endeavours and behavioural models.
Jussi Lautu
IN/VISIBILITY, series
pigment print on aluminium (117)
2020–2024
IN/VISIBILITY is a series of more than 100 self-portraits presented alongside Google Street View glitches. This collaborative work aims to create a future where non-binary identities are accepted without exception.
Jussi Lautu (b. 1985) is a photographer pursuing a PhD in gender studies.
Noora Schroderus
School Memory
brass
2024
School Memory is based on a rule faithfully followed at the artist’s primary school. Though long baffled by it, she’s latterly begun to wonder if the rule was actually just ahead of its time.
Noora Schroderus (b. 1982) experiments with materials and scale, challenging hierarchies through playful insights.
J. Saari
Burn, Burn, Burn
modelling wax, untreated wood, metal objects, office stationery, theatrical lighting
2023
Burn, Burn, Burn comprises a series of wax heads placed under a heat lamp. As they melt, they form a new random sculpture that brutally mimics how the demand for hyperproductivity overwhelms the individual.
J. Saari (b. 1983) works mostly in 3D, exploring the role of nature and the individual within society.
Marko Lampisuo
Works from the Camouflage Landscapes series
photo etching, photogravure, monotype
2022–2024
Camouflage Landscapes shows nature trying to protect itself against human-driven destruction. These monotypes are made with previously used printing plates that are combined here in new and unexpected ways.
Marko Lampisuo (b. 1970) is a print and video artist with a slow and labour-intensive practice.
Anssi Taulu
Wishing Well
distressed concrete, steel
2024
Selected works from the Concrete Composition series
concrete
2023
Frame Story
distressed concrete
2024
Sculptor Anssi Taulu brings several concrete artworks to Art Realm 24. His Wishing Well reminds us that the climate crisis is a water crisis, while the Concrete Composition series explores organic architecture, decomposition and renewal.
Anssi Taulu (b. 1969) is a sculptor who works with multiple media.
Sauli Suomela
Wishing Well
pigmented epoxy resin paint on mirror, AI animation
2024
Wishing Well takes a deep dive into how our thoughts, fears and wishes shape our lives, as AI-generated animations, glimpses of our possible futures, reflect off its surface. This is a decidedly 21st century take on fortune telling.
Sauli Suomela (b. 1969) is a Helsinki-based artist and designer.
Sanna Kannisto
Works from the Observing Eye series
pigment print
2019–2023
This series shows wild birds captured in an outdoor field studio and presented for us to view at our leisure. Through her work, the artist seeks to contribute to the debate on diversity and nature loss.
Sanna Kannisto (b. 1974) uses photography to explore the richness of the natural world.
Anni Honkajuuri
Diversity of Nature
ceramic installation
2024
Based on foraged materials like seeds and petals, Diversity of Nature resembles a wildflower meadow, only one made of ceramic and glaze. Is this soundless, scentless, lifeless place what lies ahead for us?
Anni Honkajuuri (b. 1979) is a materials-driven artist, with a focus on clay, pigment and glazes.
Outimaija Hakala
String of Pearls
rock salt lumps
2024
This sculpture, comprising a string of rock salt pearls, is a collaboration between the artist and wild animals. It is a meditation on our relationship with other living beings and an attempt to envisage a more sustainable future.
Outimaija Hakala (s. 1983) works with sculpture and woodcut.
Mäki-Nevala-Mottisenkangas
PastureG28: Other Visitor Attraction
documentary video installation (12 min)
2023
A highly personal work, this video installation is a lovingly crafted farewell to a childhood landscape and an exploration of inescapable change.
Saija Mäki-Nevala (b. 1978) and Soile Mottisenkangas (b. 1971) focus our gaze on the voiceless among us, revealing worlds within our world.
Taija Goldblatt
Ocean’s Skeleton
animation, multi-channel video
2024
Ocean’s Skeleton uses drawing and animation to navigate unknown waters and to chart humanity’s progress. The artist believes we must address climate change and learn to understand our place in wider ecosystem.
Taija Goldblatt (b. 1978) works with video, animation and drawing to reveal the invisible.
Johanna Rotko
Living Images
photographs, moving images, yeast, kōji and oncomgrams
2024
Living Pictures is a creative laboratory, where technology, science, microbes, yeasts and plants come together as a living and ever-evolving artwork.
Johanna Rotko (b. 1976) is an artist working with living materials, particularly beneficial microbes like yeasts and moulds more commonly used in fermentation.
Noora-Maija Tokee
Deadwood
photograph on rice paper, beeswax, hand embroidery
2023–2024
Deadwood shows a decomposing tree, reminding us that everything in nature forms part of an invisible network of shapes, clusters, connections and temporal layers.
Noora-Maija Tokee (b. 1982) is fascinated by the role artists can play in furthering our understanding about the natural world.
Jussi Nykänen
Junk Fish God I & II
metal and willow
2023
Made of recycled and found materials, these large-scale sculptures are shaped like fish bones and constitute an updated interpretation of fish totems and statues that once brought luck to fishermen. They are a call for more sustainable fishing practices.
Jussi Nykänen (b. 1985) also works with print and drawing.
Harri Pälviranta
Burn Index
archive quality pigment print and charred mdf
2024
Fire Index is a meditation on our increasingly flammable world. A series of charred images are paired alongside photographs that reveal the aftermath of a fire. Though they make no prediction or statement, the world is very much present in them.
Harri Pälviranta’s (b. 1971) practice is socially engaged.
Tuuli Autio
Journey
spruce and tempera
2024
Feel
spruce, black alder, birch, willow, aspen, pine, tempera
2024
Journey is a sculptural installation and sensory treat for your bare feet, while a wood relief titled Feel invites you to discover its shapes, textures and story by hand. The artist’s aim is to foster our connection with nature.
Tuuli Autio (b. 1974) makes wooden sculpture, working in collaboration with her medium.
Tuoma Linna
Birds
sound, bench, artist’s book
2020-22
“After my child was born, I would often find myself sitting on this particular bench. In front of me were these power lines that looked like a stave, with birds perched on them like notes. I could hear the music! That’s how this lullaby came about.”
Tuomas Linna (b. 1985) works with sound and image.
Mollu Heino
Wind and Dust
street art, Hämeenlinna
2024
The painted bubbles and splashes that make up Wind and Dust act as a red carpet to the Art Realm, interrogating painting, urban intervention and power in the public realm. Over time, they will fade and turn to dust.
Mollu Heino (b. 1967) uses ephemeral elements to explore art in the public space.
Sirpa Haapaoja
Sense
massage chair, headphones, video
2024
Sense invites you to consider the future role technology will play in society and our everyday lives. Once the brain chips are in, will we still be allowed to enjoy fresh air, roam the great outdoors, swim under the stars?
Sirpa Haapaoja (b. 1958) experiments with sound, image, text and other elements.
Liina Aalto-Setälä
Sweaty Ears, Rotting Boards
Installation (glazed ceramic, plant-dyed textiles and embroidery, wood, sound)
2024
A multi-sensory artwork exploring Finnish sauna traditions presented as a grief ritual in response to an impending ecological collapse. At the Vanai Bistro & Bastu (Mensanaukio 4, Hämeenlinna).
Liina Aalto-Setälä (b. 1990) works across disciplines seeking ways to incorporate art into people’s everyday lives.
Kimmo Ylönen
Measuring the Realm
community performance
2024
Measuring the Realm is an on-foot exploration, long-form performance and community artwork undertaken by the artist Kimmo Ylönen in the biennial’s local area ahead of Art Realm 24’s formal launch.
Kimmo Ylönen (b.1970) is increasingly transitioning towards place-specific and immaterial artistic practice.
