21.9.2022

Exhibition Opening: Liminal Space

Exhibition Opening  21.9. at 5 pm to 7 pm

Ida Sofia Fleming and Vesa Rahikainen: Liminal Space

Exhibition space Vintti, free entrance

Kunsthalle Seinäjoki is opening a new exhibition, all are welcome to the opening event! The focal point of the Liminal Space exhibition by Ida Sofia Fleming and Vesa Rahikainen is a spatial metal and sound sculpture. The resonant surface is formed of rusty metal plates, which have gone through their own cycle to become part of the finished piece. They have been burned by fire and dragged through the ground. They have been at the mercy of the weather. Partly they are shaped by nature, partly by human. Their surface has been processed by ritual-like working methods using self-made tools. All this has left visible traces and hidden layers in them. The piece invites the viewer to a meditative atmosphere by approaching the liminal space, timespan between life and death, from the Buddhist and other old traditions of wisdom.

Program

Vintti, 3rd floor

beginning at 6 pm

Opening words by art curator Sanna Karimäki-Nuutinen

Artist interviews: Ida Sofia Fleming & Vesa Rahikainen

Music performance: Kielo Kärkkäinen

Kielo Kärkkäinen is known for his deep and touching voice. He has released three solo albums of new age songs combining folk and jazz, as well as two albums with the world music group Belize. Pauli Kallio of Soundi magazine compared the atmosphere created by Kärkkäinen to the productions of Joni Mitchell , Joan Baez and Violeta Parra .

In addition there will be the summer artist Olivia Viitakangas’ book release party at itikka space, 2nd floor. “Vireilla 06-08/22, esineet, vihit, kuunnelmat” (“On going 06-08/22, items, clues and hearings”) is a book combining photographs and text. The name refers to the period that Viitakangas spent working with Seinäjoki’s Kalevalanpuisto (Kalevala park), examining its condition, events and past.

Ida Sofia Fleming is a sculptor and performance artist, also works as an actor and musician. Has participated in several exhibitions in Finland and abroad with his spatial sound sculptures and performances. The theme of his works is focused on spatial sculptural installations dealing with holiness, conveying a physical experience to the viewer. The materials are rusted metal plates, sound, and performance. In his work, it is customary to build the works by reflecting with the space, so that the work is in an architectural dialogue with the space. The rusted metal sheets travel along again and again in different forms in new exhibitions, but between exhibitions they are buried in the ground and nature.

Vesa Rahikainen has focus on his artistic practise on material- and technique-oriented making that explores the basic nature of things. His interest in sculpture is in the expressive process and the examination of the essence of the material, as well as pondering the bodily aspects of making and experiencing art. In addition to art, his interest in fitness manifests itself through the practice of taiji and qigong, which he practices and teaches. Rahikainen works at the Art University, Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki as a technician and teacher of metalwork and sculpture, and is the quiet background support to help many young sculptors. Regarding exhibitions, Rahikainen has focused on group exhibitions and working in collective projects.