Triennial jubilee for Kirpilä Art Collection – exhibition to open on 3 June

The anniversary exhibition is curated by Mariliis Rebane, and includes newly commissioned works from artists Freja Bäckman, Shia Conlon, August Joensalo, Minjee Hwang Kim, Iona Roisin, Emmi Venna, and Bogna Luiza Wiśniewska.

Comprising site-specific works of various mediums—some of which are disguised as everyday objects—the exhibition becomes inseparable from the domesticity of the museum space. The homelike environment of the Kirpilä Art Collection thus forms a foundation for questioning time as a linear entity. The exhibition aims to challenge strict delineations between past, present, and future. The linear development of a life path, from dependent childhood into independent reproductive adulthood, is also being questioned.

By taking the idea of queer time as its starting point, the exhibition seeks to centre pleasure while suggesting a pace of existence that is measured by pulsation rather than the ticking of a clock.

“Juhani Kirpilä acquired the kind of artworks he wanted to live amongst. The collection contains various portraits and depictions of people that represent a wide spectrum of humanity. At the Kirpilä Art Collection, the dialogue between past and present is deeply tangible, and the jubilee exhibition further emphasises this,” says museum director Olli Vallinheimo. 

In addition to the artworks exhibited at Kirpilä Art Collection for the duration of the exhibition, a video by August Joensalo will be later published online. The exhibition also includes vinyl listening sessions by Freja Bäckman, and works choreographed by Emmi Venna.

The Kirpilä Art Collection is open to the public on Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m., and for group visits by special request. During the first week of the exhibition, the museum will be open exceptionally on Friday 3 June from 2–8p.m. and Saturday 4 June from noon to 4 p.m.