PHENOMENA

The exhibition Phenomena at the Pori Art Museum showcases artists from five different countries. The aim of the exhibition as well as the exhibition publication is to discuss and question a number of phenomena in affluent societies today. The phenomena can be as simple as light, seeing, hearing or as complex as morality, nature or youth. It is characteristic of our time that we have to learn to accept change, but there is also the dichotomy of the importance of national identity and the need for cosmopolitan thinking and global tolerance. People in the welfare societies of the Nordic countries find themselves in a conflict between the Third World on one hand and overflowing wealth on the other.

Many questions are being asked. How are we to handle all the phenomena that spring from global warming, new technology and increasing poverty? There is also a lack of understanding of the changes that are taking place in the present. Often enough, seeing things at a close distance is more difficult than being open-minded. We want to know what is happening in our world, but at the same time we struggle with the guilt of our own ineptness. The Phenomena exhibition gives the audience an invisible magnifying glass with which to observe the phenomena around them as well as the effects of those phenomena from various distances.

Publications:

ISBN 978-952-5648-09-6
PHENOMENA exhibition publication
Pori Art Museum Publications 90

ISBN 978-952-5648-10-2
Hanna Haaslahti: Media Art (2000-2007)
Pori Art Museum Publications 91