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Many of the works in Due North deal with the phenomena of place or space. This concept is approached through socio-political as well as philosophical and aesthetic investigation. As well as their high levels of achievement as professional artists, all exhibitors in this show share a close relationship through their engagement with the emerging field of artistic research. Svenungsson, a Swedish artist based in Berlin also functions as an adjunct professor of artistic research at The Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. Rekula, Kekarainen, Pekka Kantonen, Van Ingen and Lecklin are all currently preparing their practice based Fine Arts Doctorates at the same Academy. Lea Kantonen became Doctor of Arts at The University of Art and Design (Helsinki) in 2005. The Artists Pekka and Lea Kantonen (b.1955 and 1956)
show a large series of photos dealing with the favorite places of a
group of indigenous teenagers from different countries. Concerned with
the socio-political reality of many minority groups in the developing
world, the Kantonens explore theses young peoples relationship with the
land as the source of origin and identity. The Kantonens belong
to the first generation of Finnish performance, video, and
community-based art. In the mid-1980s, they spent two years studying
indigenous cultures in Mexico and Guatemala and have since returned to
Mexico and Central America several times for field work and art
projects.
More information at www.kantonenart.com Pertti Kekarainen (b. 1965) explores the mystery of space and the subjects perception or memoryof it. Kekarainen’s works are often formal investigations of the conceptual nature of space, using linguistic, philosophical and aesthetic parameters to question photographic truth. Since the early 90’s he has exhibited extensively in Finland, Sweden, Germany, Holland and Japan with works in the major collections of all these countries. He is currently also a professor at The Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. More information at... www.anhava.com/exhibitions/kekarainen/index-a.html Johanna Lecklin (b. 1972) will present ‘Story Café’. Using an installation environment the artist will show a three-screen video-work documenting an ongoing project built on the simple concept, “tell a story to the camera, get a free coffee.” Lecklin has later re-constructed these stories, gathered at various locations, in different countries using professional actors. Lecklin works mainly with video installation and photography. She received the Finnish Artists Union annual award in 2001and The Finnish Cultural Institutes NY residency in 2006. Her works have been screened at a variety of international film festivals including: Videolab Lagos Portugal, Recontres Internationales Paris, Raindance Film Festival London, Kasseler Dokumenta film & videofest Kassel, Cetinje IV Biennale Montenegro and Parnu 7th International Video and Film Festival Estonia. More information at www.re-title.com/artists/johanna-lecklin.asp Heli Rekula (b. 1963), a regular visitor to Ireland, is showing large-scale photographs based on the Irish landscape. Some of these images were taken during Rekula’s earlier stays in Ireland, some were created this summer during a short residency at Burren College of Art. Unlike Rekula's more controversial body-based works, these images are quiet and contemplative. They explore the artists relationship to a landscape and environment experienced for the first time. Rekula’s works have over the past 17 years been exhibited extensively in both Finland and abroad. She participated in the 2001 Venice Biennale, the main exhibition Plateau of Humankind, curated by Harald Szeemann. She was the recipient of the 2002 Ars Fennica Award. Her extensive retrospective exhibition DESERT, works from 1989-2004, was on display in 2005 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. The same year she was awarded the State Prize for Photography. She currently lives and works in Helsinki, Finland. More information at www.kalhamapiippo.com Jan Svenungsson (b.1961) presents a series of photographs representing chimneys he has constructed in several countries beginning in 1992. These chimneys are, in spite of their form and structure, not regular functional industrial smoke stacks, but sculptures built directly onto the ground, or into the water. They transform space, sabotaging its reading, through suggesting an impossible or accidental interjection into the architecture of location. He describes this as the creation of an illusion or ‘mirage’, which often cannot be approached, except through the photographic trace. As well as exhibiting widely internationally in both group and solo shows, he has created site-specific commissions for public spaces in Sweden, Germany, Finland and South Korea. He was nominated for the Carnegie Art Award in 2000. More information at www.jansvenungsson.com Sami van Ingen (b.1964) an experimental film-maker is showing a video-piece, in which he and his grandmother return to the place where her father Robert J. Flaherty lived during the filming of ‘Man of Aran’. This work has been created for the Due North exhibition and this will be its first screening. One of the main features of Van Ingen’s work is the examination of the cinematic apparatus itself and the boundaries inherent to it. He has participated in a wide variety of international film events including; Bankok Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives NY, New Visions Glasgow, Sydney Film Festival, Viva 8 Festival London and CineCycle Toronto. Collaborators have included filmmakers Philip Hoffman and Bruce Baillie as well as composer Petri Kuljantausta.
The Curators:
Jan Kaila (b. 1957) is a photographer and professor of Post-Graduate Studies at The Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki. He has exhibited widely since the early 80’s, with group shows in Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Germany, Japan, Greece and Italy. He has presented solo shows at several important venues in Finland, including The Amos Andersson Museum, Galleria Anhava and Krista Mikkola Gallery. He is represented in Finnish and Swedish state collections, as well as the Museum of Modern Art, Bosnia and the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. Martina Cleary (b.1970) is a visual artist, currently Head of Photography and exhibitions director at Burren College of Art. She has worked and exhibited in both Ireland and Finland since the early 90’s. Recent shows have included EV+A 2008 at Limerick City Gallery, G126 at Catalyst Arts Belfast and The Galway Arts Centre, Sommerwende International Arts Festival, Berlin and Lasipalatsi Media Centre Helsinki. She is represented in collections in Finland, Iceland, Portugal and Ireland.
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