6.9.2024 - 7.9.2024

Summer Artist Henri Airo: ______ ennobles man

Open: fri 6.9.2024 17-22 & sat 7.9.2024 11-15

______ ennobles man is a two-day exhibition installation in the Itikka space of the Kunsthalle Seinäjoki, where Henri Airo, Summer Artist of the City of Seinäjoki, presents the material of a research project he has been working on during the summer. During the summer, Airo has been researching the history of the statue of the Entrepreneur Jussi (Matti Peltokangas and Aarne Hakala-Rahko, 1984), which has been moved to Seinäjoki’s central square, and the meanings it has acquired in Seinäjoki’s urban space. The exhibition, consisting of archival material, photographs, collages and the answers to a survey conducted in the Central Square, brings together the eventful past of the Entrepreneur Jussi, while asking: which kind of human traits are worthy canonising?

The event is part of the city’s Night of Phenomena (Ilmiöiden yö).

Since 2017, the City of Seinäjoki has hired a professional artist or arts student as a Summer Artist. The Summer Artist makes artistic work that in some way is visible to or engages the city’s residents. The Summer Artist is based at the Kunsthalle Seinäjoki.