A Dream in Four Colours
2026-2027
Kiasma Collection Exhibition
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma,
Helsinki (FI)
Curated by Satu Oksanen,
Saara Hacklin, and Saara Karhunen
Exhibition artists:
Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Uzair Amjad, Riikka Anttonen, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Milla Aska, Dara Birnbaum, Dineo Seshee Bopape (Raisibe), Louise Bourgeois, Taru Happonen, Pakui Hardware, Åke Hellman, Ingela Ihrman, Appu Jasu, Alice Kaira, Antero Kare, Shoji Kato, Marjaana Kella, Minjee Hwang Kim, Jussi Kivi, Ville Laurinkoski, Iisa Lepistö, Leena Luostarinen, Olli Lyytikäinen, Kaari Martikainen, Elina Merenmies, Henry Moore, Pasi Myllymäki ja Risto Laakkonen, Marika Mäkelä, Bruce Nauman, Minh Ngọc Nguyễn, Frans Nybacka, Nam June Paik, Laila Pullinen, Sepideh Rahaa, Heli Rekula, Jani Ruscica, Oskari Ruuska, Hermanni Saarinen, Cindy Sherman, Marianna Simnett, Päivi Sirén, Frank Stella, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Mari Sunna, Jenna Sutela, Jenni Toikka, Osmo Valtonen, and Annu Vertanen
Installation photo:
Finnish National Gallery / Petri Virtanen
Artwork photos: Angel Gil
2026-2027
Kiasma Collection Exhibition
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma,
Helsinki (FI)
Curated by Satu Oksanen,
Saara Hacklin, and Saara Karhunen
Exhibition artists:
Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Uzair Amjad, Riikka Anttonen, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Milla Aska, Dara Birnbaum, Dineo Seshee Bopape (Raisibe), Louise Bourgeois, Taru Happonen, Pakui Hardware, Åke Hellman, Ingela Ihrman, Appu Jasu, Alice Kaira, Antero Kare, Shoji Kato, Marjaana Kella, Minjee Hwang Kim, Jussi Kivi, Ville Laurinkoski, Iisa Lepistö, Leena Luostarinen, Olli Lyytikäinen, Kaari Martikainen, Elina Merenmies, Henry Moore, Pasi Myllymäki ja Risto Laakkonen, Marika Mäkelä, Bruce Nauman, Minh Ngọc Nguyễn, Frans Nybacka, Nam June Paik, Laila Pullinen, Sepideh Rahaa, Heli Rekula, Jani Ruscica, Oskari Ruuska, Hermanni Saarinen, Cindy Sherman, Marianna Simnett, Päivi Sirén, Frank Stella, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Mari Sunna, Jenna Sutela, Jenni Toikka, Osmo Valtonen, and Annu Vertanen
Installation photo:
Finnish National Gallery / Petri Virtanen
Artwork photos: Angel Gil
Works included
Exhibition text
(EN)
A Dream in Four Colours presents curated selections from the Finnish National Gallery’s collection of approximately 43,000 works. This exhibition departs from a single unifying theme, instead inviting visitors to approach art intuitively, without seeking to explain or define it. Meanings shift and shimmer, evoking ineffable experiences that resist explanation and linger beyond words.
The exhibition brings together many works that have not been on display at Kiasma for many years. In total, works by 49 artists are included.
(FI)
Näyttelyä voi katsoa kuin unta. Merkitykset liukuvat ja muuttavat muotoaan, kuten unissa, joissa koettua on vaikea sanoilla tavoittaa.
Nelivärinen uni esittelee teoksia Kansallisgallerian 43 000 teoksen kokoelmasta. Kahteen kerrokseen levittäytyvässä näyttelyssä on mukana 49 taiteilijaa. Esillä on teoksia, joita ei ole pitkään aikaan nähty Kiasmassa.
Näyttelyn kantavana ajatuksena on innostaa lähestymään taidetta ilman pyrkimystä selittää sitä: kohtaaminen nykytaiteen kanssa voi olla merkityksellinen silloinkin kun kokemusta ei osaa pukea sanoiksi.
(EN)
A Dream in Four Colours presents curated selections from the Finnish National Gallery’s collection of approximately 43,000 works. This exhibition departs from a single unifying theme, instead inviting visitors to approach art intuitively, without seeking to explain or define it. Meanings shift and shimmer, evoking ineffable experiences that resist explanation and linger beyond words.
The exhibition brings together many works that have not been on display at Kiasma for many years. In total, works by 49 artists are included.
(FI)
Näyttelyä voi katsoa kuin unta. Merkitykset liukuvat ja muuttavat muotoaan, kuten unissa, joissa koettua on vaikea sanoilla tavoittaa.
Nelivärinen uni esittelee teoksia Kansallisgallerian 43 000 teoksen kokoelmasta. Kahteen kerrokseen levittäytyvässä näyttelyssä on mukana 49 taiteilijaa. Esillä on teoksia, joita ei ole pitkään aikaan nähty Kiasmassa.
Näyttelyn kantavana ajatuksena on innostaa lähestymään taidetta ilman pyrkimystä selittää sitä: kohtaaminen nykytaiteen kanssa voi olla merkityksellinen silloinkin kun kokemusta ei osaa pukea sanoiksi.
Beyond Matter
2025, group exhibition
Gaa Gallery, New York (US)
Artists: Taru Happonen, Johanna Härkönen, Emma Jääskeläinen, Eeva Lietonen, Frans Nybacka, Kerttu Saali, Teemu Salonen, and Eetu Sihvonen
Installation photos: Matthew Sherman
Artwork photos: Angel Gil
Text: Sabrina Tamar
2025, group exhibition
Gaa Gallery, New York (US)
Artists: Taru Happonen, Johanna Härkönen, Emma Jääskeläinen, Eeva Lietonen, Frans Nybacka, Kerttu Saali, Teemu Salonen, and Eetu Sihvonen
Installation photos: Matthew Sherman
Artwork photos: Angel Gil
Text: Sabrina Tamar
Works included
Exhibition text
(EN)
Gaa is delighted to present Beyond Matter, a group exhibition of Finnish artists centered around the themes of nature and mysticism, exploring the intersection of material transformation, natural phenomena, and the unseen spiritual dimensions embedded in physical form. Here the boundaries between the material and immaterial dissolve. Including the work of Taru Happonen, Johanna Härkönen, Emma Jääskeläinen, Eeva Lietonen, Frans Nybacka, Kerttu Saali, Teemu Salonen, and Eetu Sihvonen, Beyond Matter seeks to reveal nature as both presence and process — a space where matter carries memory and spirit.
Within the Kalevala (the Finnish national myth) the element of the sampo bears a trivalent meaning. A pillar to the cosmos, an ascending anchor of heaven’s vault; a wellspring from which boundless creations flow; or perhaps, most widely-recounted, a mill crafted by Ilmarinen, the god of air and sky, its three sides alchemizing salt, grain, and wealth from particles of nothingness.
Bestowing prosperity to any in its possession, legend states this amorphous object was stolen from its mountainous stronghold, only to be broken and lost to the sea. Its remnants washed ashore, interspersed in the soil, scattered and fecund, yielding to the natural lushness of the land’s forests and fields. Coveted, imbued with mystical faculties, the sampo was so powerful that even when broken, its shards still provided, reaped and sowed. Sought by all, within all, but never found — a metaphor for desire’s impetus: generative of output, evasive of definition, and ultimately, beyond matter.
These remnants of the sampo, their shapeshifting form and abundance so integral to Finnish mythology, find themselves here within the artistic medium. On Kerttu Saali’s canvases, color catapults as an energetic field, exalting the otherworldly within earthen phenomena. At other times the palette emerges as subdued hues, as within Eeva Lietonen’s paintings that rest on the brink of figuration and abstraction, wavering allusions to the domestic and the divine. Frans Nybacka transforms mundane likeness into worlds unmanifested, existing only at imagination’s edge. A familiar landscape belies an ominous, yet ethereal atmosphere. Substances of earth and of man — sanded wood, pulverized metal, powdered marble and glass — become dystopically surreal; these are Taru Happonen’s configurations on linen that yield a codified, pliant corporeality. Materiality becomes a vibrant conduit for the intangible, rather than a foundation or container.
Beyond Matter unfolds as both invocation and inquiry — a contemplation of how the physical might hold the metaphysical and how nature offers a mirror for the unseen. Symbols are built to be shattered — a promise of another realm, a promise disintegrating upon attainment. In its wake, from the invisible fragments, something ineffable and unassuming emerges, returning anew, again and again.
Sabrina Tamar
Beyond Matter is organized in collaboration with The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York and the Consulate General of Finland in New York through their partnership with the New Art Dealers Alliance. This collaboration is made possible with additional funding from Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, Finlandia Foundation National, and The Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland.
(EN)
Gaa is delighted to present Beyond Matter, a group exhibition of Finnish artists centered around the themes of nature and mysticism, exploring the intersection of material transformation, natural phenomena, and the unseen spiritual dimensions embedded in physical form. Here the boundaries between the material and immaterial dissolve. Including the work of Taru Happonen, Johanna Härkönen, Emma Jääskeläinen, Eeva Lietonen, Frans Nybacka, Kerttu Saali, Teemu Salonen, and Eetu Sihvonen, Beyond Matter seeks to reveal nature as both presence and process — a space where matter carries memory and spirit.
Within the Kalevala (the Finnish national myth) the element of the sampo bears a trivalent meaning. A pillar to the cosmos, an ascending anchor of heaven’s vault; a wellspring from which boundless creations flow; or perhaps, most widely-recounted, a mill crafted by Ilmarinen, the god of air and sky, its three sides alchemizing salt, grain, and wealth from particles of nothingness.
Bestowing prosperity to any in its possession, legend states this amorphous object was stolen from its mountainous stronghold, only to be broken and lost to the sea. Its remnants washed ashore, interspersed in the soil, scattered and fecund, yielding to the natural lushness of the land’s forests and fields. Coveted, imbued with mystical faculties, the sampo was so powerful that even when broken, its shards still provided, reaped and sowed. Sought by all, within all, but never found — a metaphor for desire’s impetus: generative of output, evasive of definition, and ultimately, beyond matter.
These remnants of the sampo, their shapeshifting form and abundance so integral to Finnish mythology, find themselves here within the artistic medium. On Kerttu Saali’s canvases, color catapults as an energetic field, exalting the otherworldly within earthen phenomena. At other times the palette emerges as subdued hues, as within Eeva Lietonen’s paintings that rest on the brink of figuration and abstraction, wavering allusions to the domestic and the divine. Frans Nybacka transforms mundane likeness into worlds unmanifested, existing only at imagination’s edge. A familiar landscape belies an ominous, yet ethereal atmosphere. Substances of earth and of man — sanded wood, pulverized metal, powdered marble and glass — become dystopically surreal; these are Taru Happonen’s configurations on linen that yield a codified, pliant corporeality. Materiality becomes a vibrant conduit for the intangible, rather than a foundation or container.
Beyond Matter unfolds as both invocation and inquiry — a contemplation of how the physical might hold the metaphysical and how nature offers a mirror for the unseen. Symbols are built to be shattered — a promise of another realm, a promise disintegrating upon attainment. In its wake, from the invisible fragments, something ineffable and unassuming emerges, returning anew, again and again.
Sabrina Tamar
Beyond Matter is organized in collaboration with The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York and the Consulate General of Finland in New York through their partnership with the New Art Dealers Alliance. This collaboration is made possible with additional funding from Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, Finlandia Foundation National, and The Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland.
Once We See It
2025, group exhibition
Gallery Bässen, Raasepori (FI)
Artists: Taru Happonen, Riikka Anttonen, Ida Koitila, and Eetu Sihvonen.
Curated by Inna Schwanck and Polina Joffe.
Installation photos: Ahmed Alalousi
2025, group exhibition
Gallery Bässen, Raasepori (FI)
Artists: Taru Happonen, Riikka Anttonen, Ida Koitila, and Eetu Sihvonen.
Curated by Inna Schwanck and Polina Joffe.
Installation photos: Ahmed Alalousi
Works included
Exhibition text
(EN)
The summer 2025 exhibition at Gallery Bässen brings together a group of artists who explore material, texture and form, balancing structure and fluidity, rawness and precision. Through surprising and at times uncanny approaches to familiar elements, the works create a powerful dialogue between the organic and the constructed, lightness and weight, presence and absence.
Each of the four artists – Riikka Anttonen, Taru Happonen, Ida Koitila and Eetu Sihvonen – brings a distinct approach to materiality, yet in the roughness of the space, the elements in each work begin to move through and toward each other. What feels heavy begins to float; the immaterial takes shape. The line between real and imagined, fantasy and history, begins to blur, opening up new ways to explore and inhabit space.
The exhibition engages with and against the gallery space and the surrounding nature that’s constantly trying to creep in through the windows and cracks in the ceiling. It reflects on our human impulse to control nature, confine the flowing, contain the ephemeral, through a lens that is playful, but tinged with melancholy.
(EN)
The summer 2025 exhibition at Gallery Bässen brings together a group of artists who explore material, texture and form, balancing structure and fluidity, rawness and precision. Through surprising and at times uncanny approaches to familiar elements, the works create a powerful dialogue between the organic and the constructed, lightness and weight, presence and absence.
Each of the four artists – Riikka Anttonen, Taru Happonen, Ida Koitila and Eetu Sihvonen – brings a distinct approach to materiality, yet in the roughness of the space, the elements in each work begin to move through and toward each other. What feels heavy begins to float; the immaterial takes shape. The line between real and imagined, fantasy and history, begins to blur, opening up new ways to explore and inhabit space.
The exhibition engages with and against the gallery space and the surrounding nature that’s constantly trying to creep in through the windows and cracks in the ceiling. It reflects on our human impulse to control nature, confine the flowing, contain the ephemeral, through a lens that is playful, but tinged with melancholy.