Room for Art

Studio K has presented works by Finnish and international artists. The room presents a challenge for artistic experiments. It has also invited visiting curators to introduce their selections. Studio K has a special architecture: in the nine-metre-high room the viewer can look at the work both on the floor level but even from above as well. Curator Maaretta Jaukkuri and one of the visiting curators, Paula Toppila from FRAME Finnish Fund for Art Exchange, got together to discuss Studio K.

MJ>> First I found the space quite strange and difficult, but the more I have followed the activities, the more interesting it becomes. The opportunity to view the room from above was something I found appeling from the very beginning. To be able to view from two different directions changes the viewing situation.

PT>> The Studio has presented fine works of art which seen from the floor level were almost invisible, but provide you with a whole new aspect when viewed from above. The works by Simryn Gill and Polly Apfelbaum, for example.

MJ>> Polly Apfelbaum makes paintings on floor level. We chose her work specially for the first exhibition in this room. Usually, we try to provide the artist with an opportunity to see the room first, in order to be able to take the space into account. You were a visiting curator in 1999 and brought Job Koelewijn’s exhibition here. Did you find the room a problem?

PT>> I found it a challenge. In the end, the presence of the artist is more important, for it is he or she who suggests a work for it. Of course, there are always a number of possibilities to discuss. It is also the artist’s choise to define the significance of the space.

VISITING CURATORS

MJ>> Visiting curators are very important for us. They have given us insights we might otherwise have missed. Or might have missed something that we didn’t realise was topical and interesting at the time.

PT>> When it comes to Studio K, heterogeneity is really positive, especially the opportunity to invite visiting curators. I think it is important that they can take the room into account from the very beginning. It is commonplace to have exhibitions, which are first made ready for a given place and then sent off touring from one museum to another. What is special in Studio K is the fact that the works are tailor-made for this space. Sometimes I find myself thinking about different spaces and their suitability to this and that artist.

MJ>> I prefer the artist as the point of departure, leaving the space for him or her to deal with. Many artists do find the room a challenge: it is not the generic white cube.

PUTTING IT SUCCINCTLY

PT>> What all the displays at Studio K have in common is that they contribute to the museum’s program as a whole. I think that is the most important aspect of Studio K. Large-scale exhibitions tend to be heavy. You need something refreshing, something brief and focused; I often come specially to see what’s in Studio K.

MJ>> I have often thought that Studio K has become a sort of experimental space for new ways of displaying art. Take works of art with elements of performance, for example, or paintings combined with object art. Today, all works of art are not mere paintings or sculptures; they are often mixed with a video or performance, before or after. Studio K has been a good place to experiment with small-scale projects, which would not be suited to a large exhibition. Focusing on one artist or on a clearly-defined group creates the kind of precision which might be difficult to attain in a bigger event. That may have been the finest thing about Studio K.

NEW ACQUISITIONS

PT>> I recall many excellent works of art from Studio K: Carsten Höller’s Slides, Mutlu Cerkezs’ Selected works from an unwritten opera …You could organise a retrospect one day.

MJ>> Actually we have purchased quite a few works from Studio K. Simryn Gill’s work is in the collections, and we recently bought two drawings from Boris Gerrets. We also purchased Bjarne Melgaard and Eva Grubinger’s works. We purchased two large works by Cildo Meireles. Producing art is one of the basic functions of a contemporary art museum, and we have produced quite a few of the works displayed at Studio K right here.

Maaretta Jaukkuri, Kiasma
Paula Toppila, Frame