21.9.2022 - 24.9.2022

Olivia Viitakangas: On going 06-08/22, items, clues and hearings

Itikka

Free Admission

Book Release Party at 21th of September

The summer artist Olivia Viitakangas will hold a book release party on the 21th of September at 5-7 pm at Itikka space in Kalevan Navetta. Viitakangas did her artistic research project during the summer of 2022 as part of the summer artist project of Kunsthalle Seinäjoki. The City of Seinäjoki has hired a newly graduated professional visual artist or visual art student to work as the Summer Artist since 2017. The Summer Artist, “Kesäkuvataiteilija” in Finnish, works during the summer with their own independent artistic project. The idea is to create something that is visible to the local community and has participatory elements.

 “Vireilla 06-08/22, esineet, vihit, kuulennat” (“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. The work suggests the idea of ​​archiving the park by collecting and structuring objects and stories related to the place into a poetic form. Under close supervision, the so-called “ordinary” suburban park became an arena for various events. By archiving them as an art practitioner, Viitakangas discusses the character of the park as a place and misplace, as well as the archiving as an act of art.

The book is published by Utu Press, a small publishing house in Helsinki specializing in photographic art. The text fragments in the book have been compiled by Helmi Nöjd. The text draws from conversations that Viitakangas had with a person who had their childhood home next to the park and is still living near the park. Peppi-Lotta Heinonen has done the graphic design of the book.

Exhibition 22-24th of September

Viitakangas has also used the Itikka space as a studio during the summer. She has made an exhibition that includes the book and site-specific installation that is built around the book. The installation continues with the topics of discovery and structuring information. The installation consists of the structures of the office desks belonging to the space, as well as objects found in the park and related to archiving.

The exhibition is open from Wednesday 21th to Saturday 24th of September. Free admission.