Scan Magazine | Attraction of the Month | Finland
LEFT: Artist Adel Abidin sitting in the middle of his sound installation titled Court Room. Abidin, one of Finland’s most internationally-acclaimed visual artists, had an exhibition at Muu Gallery in August 2014. ABOVE RIGHT: Still image from a video performance titled Trambo, by Finnish artist Marja Helander. The piece from 2014 is a part of Performance Voyage 4, a series of international video performances. BELOW: Tom of Finland (Touko Laaksonen, Finnish, 1920-1991), Untitled (From Mike “In the Park", Pt. 1), 1975, Pen & ink on paper, Tom of Finland Foundation Permanent Collection #75.01, ©1975 Tom of Finland Foundation.
Attraction of the Month, Finland
Art that dares to be different Artists with a bold, inventive, experimental and future-forward point of view make up the diverse artist collective that is Muu Gallery. The Helsinki-based gallery takes pride in presenting new visions and innovative artistry. By Nina Lindqvist | Photos: Courtesy of Muu Gallery
Muu, the artist association behind Muu Gallery, was founded in 1987 by a group of prominent Finnish forerunners working in the new fields of visual arts, who felt that an association representing their point of view was missing on the Finnish art scene. Today, the association and gallery have remained true to the founders’ vision, as Timo Soppela, executive director at Muu Gallery, explains. “The most important task of the gallery is to represent and promote new and experimental forms of art, such as installations, video art, audio pieces and performance exhibitions. The gallery hosts both new artists still unknown to the public and acclaimed representatives of experimental art.” The gallery, along with its sister gallery, Muu Kaapeli, also located in Helsinki, is the most visible part of the art association’s activities and one of the most renowned art venues in Helsinki. The name is a direct reflection of the nature of
the artists the gallery represents. ‘Muu’, which translated into English means ‘other’, refers to the artists that do not represent traditional forms of art, such as painting and sculpting. The heterogeneous blend of artistic expression is an essential part of the Muu philosophy. “Muu Gallery is the place for interesting and innovative contemporary art. Previous merits and commercial appeal are not the most important factors for us,” Soppela emphasises. Comics and performances take to the stage The exhibitions hosted at the gallery change frequently and offer a wide range of different artistic styles and forms. September is the month of comic art at the gallery, with the arrival of the much anticipated Dirty Frames exhibition by Tom of Finland. The homoerotic comics, created decades ago by the late Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen, will also grace a collec-
tion of stamps set to be released this month. “Tom of Finland fits our profile. We like to embrace different and bold approaches instead of going for the easily approachable art that you see in the mainstream galleries,” Soppela says. Performance art is an essential part of Muu Gallery and the artist association as a whole. The 2014 edition of Performance Voyage, an annually compiled thematic series of video performances, is touring internationally in 14 different countries this year. In October, the international performance art festival Amorph!14, organised by Muu, takes over the city of Helsinki.
For more information, please visit: www.muu.fi
Issue 68 | September 2014 | 85