Remix, rethink, recycle art

Fiskars exhibition challenges viewers to find new uses for objects and ideas

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By Marja-Terttu Kiviranta
     "Remix" is a term familiar from music, and suggests recycling. At the Remix exhibition which just opened in Fiskars, it is seen to have many different meanings in both art and design. In addition to sound and materials, there are also objects, ideas, or phenomena that can be reused.
     Old textiles can be used as raw material for a traditional rag rug, like textile artist Eeva-Kaisa Aula does in her Kaisla weavings. Used clothing can be turned into luxury garments, such as the inventive outfits of the young Finnish designers of the Globe Hope group.
     "The starting point is to give birth to something new out of that which already exists, which has already been used, and to combine things that are already made. This way it is possible for more things to emerge than what the original object represents", says painter Ron Nordström, a member of the exhibition working group.
     Toy animals and the public also interact in the work Adoption by textile designer Erika Kelter. It contains broken soft toys that have been discarded by flea markets.
     A work by artist Anna-Kaisa Ant-Wuorinen is also a reminder of the communal nature of art. Photographs and video document her work which was vandalised by people in an exhibition of environmental art in Helsinki's Central Park last summer.
     Some of the 42 artists or groups of artists were invited to take part, while other works were chosen by a jury. Invited participants include the design groups Anteeksi ("I Apologise"), from Finland, and Freitag.lab.ag from Switzerland, and the individual artists Kari Cavén, Anu Tuominen, and Seppo Renvall, as well as Hans Hoogerbrugge of The Netherlands and Laurent Pernot from France.
     Freitag.lab.ag, which has operated since 1993, produces objects out of industrial materials such as canvas covers of lorries, bicycle inner tubes, or safety belts.
     The works were made of Ikea metal cups and children's play houses, whose prototype Cavén bought in St. Petersburg. He built two others himself and illuminated them.
     When a used wooden doll's pram is filled with willow catkins, the result is a work called Cool Summer Day. Orange objects collected in an orange toolbox is a Farmer's Toolbox.
     "This is an extremely childish angle on this crazy world and on how the media, cartoons, and TV movies affect the psyches of our children."
     Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 15.5.2006

More on this subject:
 FACTFILE: Don't forget these summer exhibitions

Links:
  Fiskars Village - Remix Rethought exhibition until October 1. Open daily 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM

MARJA-TERTTU KIVIRINTA / Helsingin Sanomat
marja-terttu.kivirinta@hs.fi