CASE, TRACE, SPIRIT

Joint exhibition of Pori Art Museum and Satakunta Museum

Satakunta Museum

(27 April 2023–28 January 2024)  

The joint exhibition of the Satakunta Museum and the Pori Art Museum marks the 50th anniversary of the Satakunta Museum building and the 135th anniversary of the museum itself. Four artists have been invited to create works that draw inspiration from the collections of the Satakunta Museum. The exhibition explores that process of building the museum collection and the various meanings behind the museum objects. The exhibition also challenges the viewers to consider their experiences and relationships to the museum objects. Through new interpretations presented by the artists, the viewer’s gaze is directed to both the present and future.

In this exhibition, museum professionals and the artists invited by the Pori Art Museum – Antti Oikarinen, Vappu Rossi, Azar Saiyar and Perttu Saksa – approach the cultural historical collection from various angles. This leads to questions about the role of museums as an institution and their relationships with the construction of scientific and empirical knowledge. The works produced by the artists draw attention to the potential of art in this relationship and process.

New works have been commissioned from artists for the exhibition based on their research into the Satakunta Museum collections, from which they have identified objects or series of items to serve as reference points for their artistic processes. Antti Oikarinen will create a series of miniature sculptures to be positioned in dialogue with the objects selected by the museum for display. Vappu Rossi’s three large-scale drawings represent the arc of life, partly inspired by Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s sketches for the Juselius Mausoleum frescoes. Azar Saiyar will produce a single-channel video work based on the museum’s picture archives. Perttu Saksa will provide a series of photographs with the museum’s extensive prehistoric object collection as its starting point.

Antti Oikarinen (b. 1974) is known for his conceptual works that fall somewhere between the two- and three-dimensional. Oikarinen uses the methods of sculpture, such as carving and casting, in placing the material and form of the work under scrutiny. The meanings carried by the choice of materials form the core of Oikarinen’s work. Oikarinen’s works appear in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki Art Museum HAM, Sara Hildén Art Museum and Wihuri Foundation. He was awarded a Raimo Utriainen Foundation grant in 2012.

Vappu Rossi (b. 1976) is known as a developer of contemporary drawing and a driving force behind numerous projects that combine art and science. Her body of work spans a wide range of media, from drawing to painting, animation, installation, lightboxes and print. Alongside her artistic work, Rossi serves as the Drawing Master of the University of Helsinki Art Room. Rossi’s works have appeared in various galleries, museums and festivals around the world since the 1990s. Her works are included in many of Finland’s most important art collections.

Azar Saiyar (b. 1979) is a Helsinki-based film maker and media artist. She utilises various archive materials to draw attention to the acts of viewing, remembering and storytelling. Azar Saiyar’s works have been shown at international film and media art festivals, galleries, museums and television. She is the recipient of the 2022 AVEK Award for Moving Image. Saiyar’s works are included in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma and Helsinki Art Museum HAM. 

Perttu Saksa (b. 1977) is a photographic artist and sculptor from Raasepori. Saksa’s work focuses on the relationship between the human and the environment. Saksa won the Fotofinlandia award in 2014 and was presented with the prestigious Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland in 2019. His works are included in several public collections, such as those of the EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. Saksa was shortlisted for the Ars Fennica Award in 2017. His proposal won the design competition for

President Mauno Koivisto’s monument in 2018. His most recent photographic book, Dawn Chorus, was published in autumn 2022 by Garret Publishing.