Tourists in the Landscape of Contemporary Art

Kiasma is a popular stop for tourists visiting Finland. We asked what kinds of thoughts the Landscape in Kiasma's collections exhibition raises about Finland and contemporary Finnish art.

Diving into Finnishness

"Typical!" exclaims Jean-Jaques Gabas when he sees Taneli Eskola's photographic work Lusikkaniemi during the Polar Night. In Gabas's view, the Aulanko Park photograph represents Finnish nature photography as a Frenchman visiting Finland expects to see it. Mrs Gabas agrees; after all, the photograph represents an icy lake view bathing in grey light. The thick layer of snow on the branches of pine trees creates a cold but beautiful atmosphere. "It's just like a postcard!"

Mr and Mrs Gabas came to Helsinki to take part in the seminar of the European co-operation and development network. In between lectures and meetings there is time to acquaint oneself with local cultural offerings. Kiasma was their first stop because they enjoy visiting art museums on their trips. Moreover, the Gabas, who were visiting a museum of contemporary art for the first time, found Kiasma's architecture delightful. "We have an impression that you are very self-sufficient here in Finland. You have a very unique style that is particularly evident in design and art. It's very good," say the Gabas in the beginning of their tour.

There are several works in the exhibition that examine environmental issues and pollution. Tuula Närhinen's work Senne follows the pollution load in a Belgian river. The closer the river flows to Brussels the more interesting the small watercolours painted by Närhinen from the water samples become because there is more to represent in impurities. "Here in Finland you have less pollution than there is in Continental Europe. Mind you, when we were here the last time, 30 years ago, there was air pollution. Now there isn't, or at least not as much. You also have fewer people living here, so maybe that is the reason. We visited the Suomenlinna fortress yesterday and noticed how many rubbish bins there were. People use them and do not discard their rubbish. Finland also emphasises sustainable development, isn't that right?" say the French guests.

Changing seasons

Larissa Cox from Australia has also paid attention to the purity of Finnish nature. The white and grey shades of Jukka Mäkelä's large-scale paintings speak of the long winter, whereas the glimmer of blue is reminiscent of the clear and clean sky. Cox is visiting for the third time her mother, who lives in Finland. Previously, she has been in Finland in the winter, when the snow and darkness left a lasting impression. "The greatest difference to Australian nature must be that the four distinct seasons mean that nature varies more in Finland. When you're flying over Finland and you see all the frozen water and only some trees that are green, they must be pines, whereas there are no leaves on birches. I've seen pictures taken in summer, and nature looks very different in them."

Santeri Tuori's work Waterfall reminds Larissa Cox of northern winter's darkness and snow. What did Cox expect of the Finnish winter? "I was here just before Christmas, and I knew that the winter was at its harshest and that the days were very short. Even though my mother had told me about this, the brevity of the day was quite a shock. I'd come from the sunny Australian summer where the sun sets at nine. Here it was pitch black at seven in the morning and the sun sets again at around four in the afternoon. Luckily there is snow here reflecting the winter light. And then the summer nights here are bright," Cox reminisces. The flowing waterfall in Tuori's work is present also in the form of a low soundscape. "The sound in this work is menacing. Isn't there a lot of alcoholism in Finland? This darkness must make people's lives difficult. That's the image I get from this work."'

"This is great!" exclaims Cox at Heli Hiltunen's nine-part work Peas in Front of the Eyes "This is like a transition from summer to winter ... and this part reminds me of a visit to Sibelius' home in Järvenpää. There was a lake there around which other artists lived as well, if I'm not mistaken. We stopped by the lake to look at the sunset, leafless trees reflected on the surface of the lake and the colours were a gorgeous purple. It was very beautiful."

A tourist encountering contemporary art

Is there something in the Landscape exhibition's works that makes them recognisable as contemporary Finnish art? "I think, I would have to see more works in order to recognise them as Finnish. Four years ago I visited the Ateneum Art Museum to look at older Finnish art and I'm returning there tomorrow. Maybe I should have gone there before I came here!" Cox laughs. "Contemporary art can be so many things ... but yesterday I bought some Marimekko fabric for a bedspread and to me it looks very Finnish. There are birches in it; black, white and shades of blue that remind me of Finland."

Two film students from St Petersburg, Ekaterina Potekhina and Anna Kudnyavtseva, are contemplating the special characteristics of contemporary Finnish art as well. They took part in a short film festival held in Helsinki. Potekhina thinks contemporary art differs from older art. "There is a lot of thinking about problems and words, the work of art is not merely there to be looked at. It is very urban."

"We have seen many short films by Finnish students and their subject matter tends to be very depressing. They only represent problems but now we can see that Finns think a lot with their hearts. That is very nice," the girls say while viewing Tuula Närhinen's work Windtracers. In the work, Närhinen has attached pencils onto tree branches that draw the movement of the wind on paper and record the movements of a lamp swaying in the wind in photographs with a long exposure time. "We often have the same problem, how to represent the movement of the wind in animation. This is a very good idea. The pictures are strange but beautiful!"

"Why are there two copies of the same picture here?" Kudnyavtseva asks while looking at Marko Vuokola' s work The Seventh Wave and soon notices that in fact the pictures are not identical after all. "The location is the same but the pictures have been taken at different times ... nature changes all the time." "You have to think about the work ... I never knew Finnish art was this serious!" Ekaterina Potekhina laughs but remarks then: "Russians also like to escape the big city in the pure air of nature."

Teuri Haarla's works hanging on the adjacent wall get Potekhina and Kudnyavtseva excited. The artist has photographed seasonal changes in the field he has made behind his house. There are plants growing in the field but also colourful fabrics and rocks. "A really interesting idea. Finnish people have a very free imagination. People in touch with nature create beautiful images!" Potekhina reiterates her ideas on the Landscape exhibition.

-Päivi Matala