Collection Cuckoos!: New Zealander and Finnish Art Meet at the International Urban Art Exchange Project in Turku | 當紐西蘭人遇上芬蘭藝術國際都市藝術交流計畫在圖爾庫

Sirpa Särkijärvi, Pink Sunset, 2009, acrylic on canvas.
Turku City Art Collection. Photo: Martti Puhakka.

In January 2020, a digital exhibition displayed artworks by both New Zealander and Finnish artists together in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. In July 2020, the same set of art is showcased in Finland, on the large screen outside the Turku City Theatre.

This digital exhibition created as the result of an international co-operation is very appropriate form of cultural exchange during a pandemic. It connects people living on different sides of the world, despite the physical distance and social distancing. The project takes art to the streets and diversifies its use on public space media platforms. Altogether 240 pictures of artworks and three pieces of video art are displayed in the exhibition.

The partners in the International Urban Art Exchange project are the Museum Centre of Turku, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, the Video Art Festival Turku (VAFT) and the New Zealander partner Urban Art Foundation that is also the creator of the concept.

Works belonging to the Turku City Art Collection and the video art curated by the VAFT were presented together with the New Zealander art on digital advertisement displays in the cityscape, in 18 shopping malls across New Zealand and in the gallery space of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington from the 18th of January to the 9th of February. This summer, Finnish people have an opportunity to see the same set of art on the large screen outside the Turku City Theatre from the 29th of June to the 12th of July. The screen is in operation on weekdays from 7.30 am to 5 pm and at weekends from 10 am to 5 pm.

The photographs of Finnish artworks are mainly contemporary art made by Turku-based artists, from the early 2000s to this very day. The display includes works from artists such as Annika Dahlsten, Markku Laakso, Minna Sjöholm, Sirpa Särkijärvi, Sampsa Sarparanta, Ulla-Maija Kallinen, Kati Immonen and Heikki Marila. Works by Wäinö Aaltonen, Jussi Mäntynen and Manno Kalliomäki represent classics of the art collection from the early 20th century to the 1980s.

Sampsa Sarparanta: Guardian of All Things Good, 2013, oil on plexiglass.
Turku City Art Collection. Photo: Mikko Kyynäräinen.

Themes of artworks from the Turku City Art Collection range from the images of everyday life to depictions of nature, the Finnish mentality and social issues. For instance, Sirpa Särkijärvi’s painting Pink Sunset (2009) is a portrayal of friends at the heart of Turku during sunset. Sampsa Sarparanta’s works Guardian of All Things Good (2013) and Angry Birds (2013) depict present-day childhood in an original way.

Video artworks presented by the VAFT are Artor Jesus Inkerö’s Swole (2017), where he continues his ongoing 'holistic bodily project', examining bodybuilding and bodily transformations, Laburo (2017) by Henrik Malmström which documents workers and work in Buenos Aires and We Shoot Footage III (2019) by video collective SUOMINEN/TOIVANEN which is a semi-documentary modern period piece with a poetical charge.

A still from Artor Jesus Inkerö’s video artwork Swole (2017).
In the artist's colletion. Photo: VAFT.

The section of the New Zealander artists has been curated by the Urban Art Foundation and the works come from different galleries and artists' own collections. These include works from artists such as Sara Hughes, Grant Sheehan, Derek Cowie, John Pule and Heather Straka, among others. The topics vary from abstractions to interiors, still lifes and portraits.

The works offer a look into diverse manifestations of contemporary art in New Zealand. The nature is also present: in the art of Paul Martinson, the colourful fish and birds remind of Oceania. The oldest works from New Zealand are from the 1970s as the newest are from a past few years.

Writer:

Ringa Takanen

Researcher / Curator

Collections

Museum Centre of Turku

THE ARTISTS

Finland

Turku City Art Collection

Aaron Hiltunen

Annika Dahlsten

Elina Ruohonen

Erika Adamsson

Heikki Marila

Heli Kurunsaari

Henna Aho

Jaana Paulus

Jari Silomäki

Jorma Hyttinen

Jussi Mäntynen

Kati Immonen

Kristina Isaksson

Manno Kalliomäki

Markku Laakso

Markus Henttonen

Merja Pitkänen

Minna Sjöholm

Sami Korkiakoski

Sampsa Sarparanta

Sirpa Särkijärvi

Susanna Majuri

Tiina Vainio

Ulla Jokisalo

Ulla-Maija Kallinen

Veronika Ringbom

Ville Laaksonen

Wäinö Aaltonen

Wilma Touru

VAFT – Video Art:

Artor Jesus Inkerö

Henrik Malmström

SUOMINEN/TOIVANEN

New Zealand:

Derek Cowie

Dick Frizzell

Graham Fletcher

Grant Sheehan

Heather Straka

John Crawford

John Drawbridge

John Pule

John Walsh

Karl Maughan

Liam Barr

Paul Martinson

Sara Hughes

當紐西蘭人遇上芬蘭藝術國際都市藝術交流計畫在圖爾庫

斯柏‧ 薩奇也菲(Sirpa Särkijärvi): 《粉紅夕陽》(Pink Sunset), 2009, 塑膠彩布本, 圖爾庫城市藝術典藏 / 圖：馬提‧ 布夏卡(Martti Puhakka)

2020年1月，紐西蘭首都威靈頓的一場數碼藝術展覽展出了紐西蘭與芬蘭藝術家的作品。2020年7月，同系列展品將在芬蘭圖爾庫城市劇院外之大螢幕展出。

在疫症時期，數碼藝術展是非常適合國際間合作的形式。儘管大家必須保持社交距離，居住在世界不同地區的人依然能藉此連結起來。此計劃將藝術帶到街頭，並多元地以公共空間之媒體作為平台。

展覽總共展出240件藝術作品之影像與3件影片藝術作品。「國際都市藝術交流」(International Urban Art Exchange) 合作夥伴有圖爾庫博物館中心 (Museum Centre of Turku) 、芬蘭藝術推廣中心 (Arts Promotion Centre Finland)及圖爾庫影片藝術節 (Video Art Festival Turku)，計劃概念由都市藝術基金(Urban Art Foundation) 發起。

在1月18日至2月9日，在紐西蘭威靈頓藝術學院畫廊、18間位於紐西蘭的購物中心以及威靈頓市區中以數碼廣告版之形式展出由圖爾庫影片藝術節策展的影片藝術作品，以及屬於圖爾庫城市藝術典藏的藝術作品。今年夏季，芬蘭民眾亦有機會於芬蘭圖爾庫城市劇院外之LED大螢幕觀賞同一系列藝術作品。展期由6月29日至 7月12日，螢幕運作時間為平日上午7:30 至下午5:00，週末上午 10:00 至下午5:00。

展出的芬蘭藝術品影像主要是由圖爾庫本地藝術家創作之當代藝術，創作時期由2000年代早期至現在。參展的藝術家包括：安妮卡‧戴斯登 (Annika Dahlsten) 、馬古‧拉索 (Markku Laakso) 、米娜‧ 舒約康 (Minna Sjöholm) 、斯柏‧ 薩奇也菲 (Sirpa Särkijärvi) 、森薩‧薩巴蘭他 (Sampsa Sarparanta) 、烏娜邁也‧ 卡烈能 (Ulla-Maija Kallinen) 、卡蒂‧ 奄莫能(Kati Immonen) 及希傑‧ 瑪利拉 (Heikki Marila)。威諾‧ 阿爾托能 (Wäinö Aaltonen) 、尤西‧ 曼都能 (Jussi Mäntynen) 及曼諾‧ 卡利奧瑪奇 (Manno Kalliomäki) 等藝術家之作品則是由20世紀早期至1980年代間極具代表性的經典藝術館典藏。

森薩‧薩巴蘭他(Sampsa Sarparanta): 《所有美好事物的守護者》(Guardian of all things good), 2013, 油畫樹脂玻璃本, 圖爾庫城市藝術典藏 / 圖：米高‧顧那拉能(Mikko Kyynäräinen)

圖爾庫城市藝術典藏的藝術作品主題廣泛，由日常生活的影像乃至探討自然、芬蘭精神性與社會問題等。以斯柏‧ 薩奇也菲 (Sirpa Särkijärvi) 的繪畫作品《粉紅夕陽》(Pink Sunset, 2009)為例，作品描繪了日落時份朋友間在圖爾庫市中心的聚會。森薩‧薩巴蘭他 (Sampsa Sarparanta)的作品《所有美好事物的守護者》(Guardian of all things good, 2013)及《憤怒鳥》(Angry Birds, 2013)則描繪出當代社會中孩子的童年。

圖爾庫影片藝術節(VAFT) 展出的影片作品為阿托‧ 耶蘇‧ 恩奇略 (Artor Jesus Inkerö) 的作品《壯》(Swole, 2017)。恩奇略在作品中繼續他的「全面身體計劃」，探索健身與身體轉化之關係。而亨利‧馬爾士創 (Henrik Malmström) 的作品《Laburo》(2017) 則紀錄了在布宜諾斯艾利斯的工人與工作。影片創作團體SUOMINEN/TOIVANEN的《我們拍攝畫面III》 (We Shoot Footage III, 2019)則是充滿詩意的半紀錄片作品。

阿托‧ 耶蘇‧ 恩奇略 (Artor Jesus Inkerö) 的影片作品《壯》(Swole, 2017), 影片擷圖, 藝術家的私人收藏 / 圖: 圖爾庫影片藝術節(VAFT)

紐西蘭方面藝術家的作品由都市藝術基金策展，作品來自不同畫廊與藝術家的私人收藏。此外還有藝術家莎拉‧ 曉治 (Sara Hughes) 、格蘭‧ 史漢 (Grant Sheehan) 、德里克‧ 考兒 (Derek Cowie) 、約翰‧ 佩奧 (John Pule) 及希瑟‧史德卡 (Heather Straka) 的作品。作品主題廣泛，由抽象到室內裝飾、靜物與肖像等等。

作品們展現出紐西蘭當代藝術的多元性。大自然亦出現其中：保羅‧馬汀森 (Paul Martinson) 的作品中色彩繽紛的魚與鳥令人聯想到大洋洲的自然風光。來自紐西蘭的作品中，最為久遠的作品來自1970年代，而最近期的作品則來自過去幾年。

撰文：
鈴嘉‧戴加能 (Ringa Takanen)
研究員 (典藏)
圖爾庫博物館中心

翻譯：楊清琳

參展藝術家:

芬蘭

圖爾庫城市藝術典藏 (Turku City Art Collection)