LINER (VIIVAIN) – Tommi Grönlund & Petteri Nisunen
Liner is an installation, which is constantly reacting to the weather conditions and the circadian rhytm.
MEDIA RELEASE
TOMMI GRÖNLUND & PETTERI NISUNEN, VIIVAIN
07.06.2013 – 08.09.2013
The artist-architect duo Tommi Grönlund and Petteri Nisunen is known for their artwork that incorporates solutions based on natural sciences and technology. This internationally recognized Helsinki-based pair created a work specifically designed for the Sculpture Courtyard at Pori Art Museum in 2006. The piece was named VIIVAIN.
The sculpture courtyard, designed by architect Kristian Gullichsen, was opened in 2000 and is located behind the museum building, on the former Pakkahuoneen street. Above the courtyard, enclosed by glass corridors and an old stone wall, rises the Pori Town Hall, designed by C.L. Engel and completed in the early 1840s.
The duo constructed a 21-meter-long and 10-centimeter-wide reflective element with a triangular cross-section that slowly rotates around its longitudinal axis, powered by a motor. The piece is characterized by meticulous technical finishing, with the structure made of anodized aluminum or stainless steel. True to the artists’ creative philosophy, all details and elements of the artwork are directly related to the function of the piece. The overall design is defined by extreme functionality.
Grönlund & Nisunen’s projects often feature minimalist elements that draw on or reference the tradition of minimalism, with restrained and carefully considered technical components. However, what has been most significant in their work is the spatial and event-based nature of their art. Most often, their works utilize the fundamental laws of physics. In VIIVAIN, the combination of the reflective element and the viewer’s movement allows the piece to reflect its surroundings in a way that links space and time. As the sun moves across the sky from east to west during the day, the reflections in the mirrors shift from west to east in response. The central focus of the piece is the rotation of the mirrors, which produces a sharp beam of light—a line—that projects into the environment, with the rotational speed increasing in relation to the increasing distance.
The massive and somber stone wall, the late 19th-century neo-Renaissance architectural decoration of the art museum building, the plantings on the Town Hall plot, and the classicism of the Town Hall with its towers built after the city fire are all read layer by layer in a way reminiscent of modern imaging techniques.
From the viewer’s perspective, the light reflected by the mirrors functions both as a tool and a medium that helps the viewer observe their surroundings. At the same time, the viewer becomes aware of their own role, their way of reading and interpreting the reality they are observing. Sculptor Jyrki Siukonen has stated that Grönlund & Nisunen’s works operate in a way that transforms “sculpturality into poetry.”
Tommi Grönlund & Petteri Nisunen, VIIVAIN, 2006.
The artwork is part of the collection of the Pori Art Museum.
Translated with ChatGPT