TRIBUTE: Feels Like Home, Part II

The Finnish National Gallery’s contemporary art collection comprises around 8,800 works dating from the 1970s to the present day. Kiasma’s collection exhibitions are extensive curated displays that place newly acquired works within a broader historical context. The themes chosen for these exhibitions reflect the issues of the day and highlight the latest developments within contemporary art (Part I).

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Kiasma Archive

The Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma is part of the Finnish National Gallery, along with the Ateneum Art Museum and the Sinebrychoff Art Museum. The Finnish National Gallery is Finland’s largest art museum organisation. Its activities are governed by the National Gallery Act. Kiasma organises exhibitions, performances and events. Public programming in Kiasma makes contemporary art accessible to everyone. Its services range from color play for toddlers to art workshops for grownups to guided tours and events. Kiasma’s extensive educational programming integrates contemporary art into schoolwork. The exhibition “Feels Like Home” reflects on the theme of home and belonging through contemporary art. Belonging is linked to identity – to who we are and where we come from. The featured artworks show that home can be a physical place, a community, or a state of mind. Home can also be found in a language or culture. But how does it feel not to belong? The exhibition shares experiences of how it feels when home is lost or far away, whether by choice or force of circumstance. War and exile can sever ties with loved ones and beloved places. Loss and longing can be passed down through generations. As the artworks show, individual experiences are intertwined with social change and broader historical events. Home and belonging are important topics of discussion in today’s Finland. Many of us are touched on a personal level by migrations and diasporic transitions. Finland has grown more diverse, and Finnish artists, too, come from a growing variety of cultural backgrounds. A museum is a place for coming together and understanding each other, and art can offer a means of understanding the past and imagining the future. The exhibition has been drawn from the Finnish National Gallery’s collections and features works by 49 artists, including well-known names like Cildo Meireles and Kalervo Palsa. It will also present recent acquisitions by artists such as Samira Elagoz and Z Walsh, Olof Marsja, Jaakko Pietiläinen, Sepideh Rahaa, Anastasia Sosunova, Mona Hatoum and Jannis Kounellis. The exhibition also comprises two brand new commissions. Essi Kausalainen’s performative work titled “They whistled and walked from room to room” (2024) will be realised in collaboration with Kiasma’s museum guards, while in Joonas Hyvönen’s web-based and gamified “Mehen” (2024), the viewer is joined at the gates of death by a group of long forgotten avatars and tasked with navigating their way across a digital afterlife.

Featured artists: Titta Aaltonen, Petri Ala-Maunus, Ahmed Al-Nawas, Farah Al Qasimi, Elina Brotherus, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Otto Byström, Samira Elagoz & Z Walsh, Veli Granö, Marjatta Hanhijoki, Mona Hatoum, Maarit Hohteri, Henna Hyvärinen, Joonas Hyvönen, Inka-Maaria Jurvanen, Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, Essi Kausalainen, Hertta Kiiski, Elle Klarskov Jørgensen, Jannis Kounellis, Mikko Kuorinki, Raakel Kuukka, Runo Lagomarsino, Jouni S. Laiti, Jouko Lehtola, Niina Lehtonen Braun, Henrietta Lehtonen, Susanna Majuri, Olof Marsja, Cildo Meireles, Anneli Nygren, Frida Orupabo, Kalervo Palsa, Anu Pennanen, Emma Peura, Jaakko Pietiläinen, Tiina Pyykkinen, Sepideh Rahaa, Bita Razavi, Jani Ruscica, Azar Saiyar, Anastasia Sosunova, Kaarlo Stauffer, Nestori Syrjälä, Lesia Vasylchenko, Danh Võ and Laura Wesamaa.

Performances by: Mara Oscar Cassiani, Maria Metsalu, Maija Nurmio, Liisa Pentti + Co & rendezvous, Adam & Amina Seid Tahir, Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser, Gaya de Medeiros, Superstar-kollektiivi.

Photo left: Cildo Meireles, Babel, 2001, Finnish National Gallery, Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Petri Virtanen. Photo right: Essi Kausalainen, They whistled and walked from room to room, 2024, Finnish National Gallery, Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Pirje Mykkänen

Info: Curators: Saara Hacklin, Satu Oksanen and Saara Karhunen, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Mannerheiminaukio 2, Helsinki, Finland, Duration: 12/1/2024-12/1/2025, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 10:00-20:00, Sat-sun 10:00-17:00, https://kiasma.fi/