Incomprehensible...

Contemporary art is viewed and presented in many ways. Encounters between viewers and art can be facilitated in various ways, for example, by providing the viewer with the keys to approach art. It is up to individuals whether or not they use these keys, but the most important thing is to allow them the freedom of choice. What we see constitutes one level of art, while another level is our emotional thinking. We are familiar with certain specific schematic forms that can be approached by providing a certain kind of information about art, ways to explore the original source.

This is extremely important in the context of contemporary art: unlike centuries old art, there are no thought models inside the viewers' heads. People know less about contemporary art – and this poses challenges. This is not to say that the viewer should adopt a student-like relationship to art. Studying art history is an entirely different thing.

It goes without saying that we should place ourselves in the shoes of someone who has not spent half their life reading about art, viewing it, or making it. The point of departure is different: it could be likened to being in a foreign culture where everything is new and of which one knows nothing. In a situation like that we do not merely concentrate on 'being' but rather try to get in, step by step.

It is often said that contemporary art is difficult. My answer is that it is no more difficult than life! And how can you comprehend contemporary art? Why should you comprehend contemporary art? Who asks how life is lived, or whether we comprehend what life is? If one had to know what life is, I wonder how many of us would walk down these streets. Life itself is entirely incomprehensible!

Tuula Karjalainen
Director