2.6.2026
The Contamination of Time exhibition unsettles familiar notions of time
The Contamination of Time group exhibition is showing a diverse range of installations with sculpture, objects, realtime data, sound, video and painting. The exhibition is open 13.6.2026 — 9.1.2027 in the Halli exhibition space of the Kunsthalle Seinäjoki.
Artists included in the exhibition are: Petri Ala-Maunus (FI), Laura Beloff (FI), Andy Gracie (UK), Katri Naukkarinen (FI) and Aurora Del Rio (IT), Elsa Salonen (FI) and Emilia Tikka (FI) Oula A. and Leena Valkeapää (FI). The exhibition is curated by Erich Berger (FI/AT).
Exploring Temporalities Through Art and Science
In the exhibition The Contamination of Time visitors are invited to embark on a journey that transcends the boundaries of the present and to navigate the uncharted territories of the future through the lens of art. The exhibition brings human and non-human temporalities such radioactive ash, meteorite dust and broiler chicken into dialogue, presenting an expansive temporal arc of 4.3 billion years.
The artworks within the exhibition serve as reminders of the profound responsibility inherent in inhabiting a world that is shaped not only by human actions but also by the intricate interplay of ecological, geological, and cosmic forces.
A journey through time spanning 4.3 billion years begins in the Kurikka Valley
Exhibition’s timespan is framed by a reimagining of the formation of the Kurikka Grand Canyon 1.5 bill years ago (Ala-Maunus) and a sculpture marking the end of all life 2.8 bill years into the future (Gracie). In between, the remaining works explore broiler chicken bones as future type fossils (Beloff), a quest for knowledge after the collapse of the AMOC (Tikka with Valkeapää), radioactivity imagined as a goddess (Del Rio and Naukkarinen), and our origins in the stars (Salonen).
The title of the exhibition, The Contamination of Time, suggests that future is shaped by actions in the present; what is to come is already contaminated by what is at hand. The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on how their actions are entangled with time and environment, and to recognize their agency in shaping possible futures. If we can imagine countless catastrophes and the end of the world, why shouldn’t we also imagine a world we wish to live in.
Exhibition is supported by Museum Heritage Agency and The Finnish Cultural Foundation’s South Ostrobothnia Regional Fund.
A heard of reindeers are swimming towards the land in the video clip. Johtingeaidnu – The Path Within ©Emilia Tikka, Oula A Valkeapää ©filmed by Jan Helmer Olsen
The opening event
Opening event of the exhibition The Contamination of Time will take place at the exhibition space Halli of the Kunsthalle Seinäjoki. The opening event takes place on the 12th of June at 5-8 pm. You are warmly welcome! The event is free for everyone. The Kunsthalle Seinäjoki Art Exhibition Opening events are free of charge and open to all. In the opening events you will be among the first to experience the new art exhibition. You will also get the chance to meet the artists and other exhibition creators. The opening evenings are usually combined with the Kalevan Navetta event days: the house will then be full of varied programme activities organized by the many actors of the culture centre.
Press photos Google drive link
Kalevan Navetta, photo Tuukka Kiviranta
Contact info
Laura Laukkanen, art curator
laura.laukkanen(at)seinajoki.fi
+358 774 8560
photo: Andy Gracie, 2.8B420K
