Contemporary art meets a new challenge

Art that exists on the fringes and even outside the field of mainstream art has for a long time now been studied and shown in extensive exhibitions; there are even museums dedicated to this form of art. In Finland contemporary folk art, known as ITE Art, which translates as the art of self-made life (DIY Art), has attracted a lot of attention lately. Kiasma’s exhibition In Another World presents a wide spectrum of Outsider Art, now from the perspective of contemporary art.

Museums in general, and in this case Kiasma, form a frame of reference for all the work displayed there. At the same time they affect opinions on what is considered to be art. The exhibition In Another World contains a discourse between the institution of contemporary art and art that exists outside the sphere of contemporary art. Through this dialogue we highlight pertinent questions on the nature, practices and possible limitations of contemporary art and in a wider sense also the definition of art. At the same time we try to untangle the assumptions that define the notion of art.

Visual art can no longer be considered an island that is not affected by other phenomena. The boundaries between art and popular culture have become hazy; the artist encounters the visual world of commercials and mass media just as he or she does the heritage of high culture. Making art means the creative observation of the world, even creative madness, which perhaps in its most unharnessed form is expressed in the art of those who work outside the sphere of mainstream art.

As Outsider Art, of which Art Brut and contem-porary folk art are a part, has established itself in the international arena, in Finland its emergence only started a few years ago with the ITE project. In this extensive project organised by the Union for Rural Culture and Education charted the sphere of contemporary Finnish folk art – self-made life – and introduced this area of art to the general public.

We are now facing a new challenge. In Another World links Outsider Art with the context of contemporary art and positions contemporary Finnish folk art as parallel to international Outsider Art. The result is a combination of imagination, insightful humour and fantasy, but also sharp social critique, isolation and universal Weltschmerz.

The President of the Republic, Tarja Halonen, has kindly promised us to act as the patron of the exhibition, and a sizeable work portraying her will be situated outside Kiasma. Other works of the exhibition will also be placed outside the museum for the enjoyment of the general public. The ITE Sculpture Park at Töölönlahti, created in cooperation with the Union for Rural Culture and Education and Helsinki City Public Works Department, brings an added dimension to the exhibition.

Tuula Karjalainen
Museum Director