The »Secret Rooms« event will step into a frozen moment in time, exploring forgotten and closed spaces in Jakobstad and Nykarleby, Finland. Both towns are old, with many unique buildings, that reflect the present, but also the needs of previous generations, through different building materials, styles and locations. Many rooms and houses have been renovated and given new uses, while there are mysterious facilities, empty and abandoned.
»Secret Rooms« is curated by Rita Leppiniemi, and produced by OUR AIR.
The main collaboration partner is City of Jakobstad / Pietarsaari
and City of Nykarleby Kultur och Fritid / Uusikaarlepyy Culture and Leisure time.
INIVITED ARTISTS
ROBERT BACK (Finland)
The Construction of the world / Verldsbyggnaden
A series of information signs based on quotes by the Finnish author Topelius and animals in the garden of his childhood home Kuddnäs. Our surroundings, the biosphere, is filled to the brim with life. It hides in and behind the smallest creases and folds. Filtered through Topelius and more contemporary knowledge, “Verldsbyggnaden” attempts to glimpse onto a tiny fragment of our fellow planetary organisms. We peek through the keyhole trying to see the infinite and complex fabric of still mostly unknown and secret rooms. The known unknowns. In this contemplation, the question of our anthropogenic footprint is raised as well. Artist interview and more images.
MATTHIAS BECKMANN (Germany)
Drawing Secret Rooms, series of documentary drawings
You may have seen a man sitting on a stool and drawing in Nykarleby? It is the Berlin based artist Matthias Beckmann who have been documenting hidden rooms that often are overlooked in public places. His project “Drawing Secret Rooms” is accompanied by a series of 10 postcards, which are available to take away at various locations. In the tool shed of the Kuddnäs Museum he shows more than 50 drawings on a screen. Artist interview and more images.
JEFF BIZIEAU (France)
A Strange Midsummer
In the Northern part of our planet, Midsummer is very important for human and nonhuman beings. After a long dark winter and a short spring, rebirth is everywhere. The performance that Jeff Bizieau created in Jakobstad is mixing contemporary dance, visual arts, electronic music and theatre. For “Secret Rooms” he decided to propose an installation like a conceptual garden, inside the former school at Ristikari, where the performance will be played. Jeff Bizieau is dancing on soil, using flowers, together with his partner Pascal Renault. During about 25 minutes the audience will be invited to follow their bodies in a kind of storytelling, and accompany two strange characters to a unique and unknown place. Artist interview and more images.
SALLY KIDALL (Australia)
Secret Network
Sally Kidall’s subterranean intervention weaves together fictional narratives. She recounts tales of forgotten underground passageways and concealed rooms scattered across Nykarleby. Visitors can only view this hidden network through a single entry point in the cellar of Kuddnäs Museum, while the central surveillance hub, located in the town hall, is viewable via a video feed. Artist interview and more images.
ANNI LAAKSO (Finland)
Visitor
The empty Ristikari School invites new life. Visitor is a temporary work that seems to invade the school lobby through holes in the old walls. It snakes across the floor, forming a cocoon-like space that other visitors can also enter. The sculpture is hand -built from pieces of recycled wood found in surrounding area. Artist interview and more images.
SACHIKO MIKI (Japan)
YUMEBITO夢人- A person who misses you so much that you meet them even in your dreams is called Yumebito in Japanese classic literature
Sachiko Miki brought two heads from Japan. She was planning to look for the body in Nykarleby. While searching for materials, she found a lot of thick paper made from compressed pulp. Finland is a developed country in forestry. Like Japan, it has an abundance of wood and water. Sachiko Miki chose an old house in Juthbacka as her secret room, because it has natural light, old news paper on the wall, old chairs, fire place, shabby table…and she felt intimacy, warmth, and love, from them. Those are essential to humans. She was thinking that this could be the key to opening the secret room in each of our hearts, beyond the time, culture, and technology. Sachiko Miki wanted to create something pure, delicate and fragile, something like first love. Artist interview and more images.
HARRI PIISPANEN (Finland)
Barn Landscape / Latomaisema
Barns are wooden structures that were used to store hay, grain or animal feed. Barns have been common all around Europe. In the 1960s in Finland there has been estimated to have been over a million barns. But used to be a common sight especially in the fields of Ostrobothnia is now becoming rare since the modern way to store hay is to plastic wrap it in round bales that can be stored outside. In Barn Landscape, the barn comes alive. It rises from the lake to experience Nykarleby once more. During the Culture Night the barn will be travell as a performance from the square to Kuddnäs museum. Artist interview and more images.
PASCAL RENAULT (France)
The Special Life of a School Ghost
Ristikari School has been there for more than 80 years. Filled with memories. Laughter, joys, sorrows and a wonderful adventure to start a life. The school is closed, but the memories are still there, and the place is very inspiring for artists. In Pascal Renault’s short film, he wants to bring the place back to life, by featuring a ghost, who still walks the empty place, wandering from room to room, repeating the same routines every day as not to forget. He also sometimes escape outside. The ghost is covered with a blue sheet and two holes for eyes, just like in children stories. It takes us back to our childhood, and to imagine and think about our world. Artist interview and more images.
JUVANA SOLIVEN (Hawaii)
Lives Like Shadows After the Blast
Once a school, once a wartime hospital — where life begins, where it’s nurtured, and where it ends. Then what remains after the living? Perhaps, all is gone and forgotten after humanity has succeeded at destroying itself. Perhaps, they persist as inconsistent, inaccurate memories and retellings, as much in flux as a shadow cast by an ever-moving sun across the sky. Perhaps, like the dandelion, they recover, proliferate, and bloom another season. Artist interview and more images.
The press is talking about us
Österbottens Tidning, June 26th, 2024
(Jeff Bizieau, Anni Laakso, Pascal Renault, Juvana Soliven)
Pietarsaaren Sanomat June 19th, 2024
(Jeff Bizieau, Anni Laakso, Pascal Renault, Juvana Soliven)
Österbottens Tidning, August 18th, 2024
(Robert Back, Matthias Beckmann, Sally Kidall)
Österbottens Tidning, August 22th, 2024 (Harri Piispanen)
Österbottens Tidning, August 2th, 2024 (Sachiko Miki)
PROGRAM
JUNE 2024, JAKOBSTAD / PIETARSAARI
Shown only on Wednesday the 26th of June 2024
Ristikari, Alholmsv. 45, Jakobstad / Pietarsaari
Door opens at 4 pm
Jeff Bizieau, Anni Laakso, Pascal Renault & Juvana Soliven
Video and installation by Pascal Renault 5:30 pm
Performance by Jeff Bizieau at 6:30
AUGUST 2024, NYKARLEBY / UUSIKAARLEPYY
Monday 19th of August 2024, 18:00-19:00 – Kuddnäs, Nykarleby
Matthias Beckmann & Harri Piispanen
Tuesday 20th of August 2024, 18:00-19:00 – Kuddnäs, Nykarleby
Robert Back & Sally Kidall
Wednesday 21th of August 2024, 18:00-19:00 – Juthbacka, Nykarleby
Sachiko Miki
Night of the Culture, Thursday 22th of August, 2024, Nykarleby
Harri Piispanen’s performance starts at the market square at 18:10
All the artists are present at their artworks between 19:00-21:00
Secret Rooms 2024, is supported by:
Central Ostrobothnia Regional Fund, Konstsamfundet, KulturÖsterbotten, Stiftelsen Emilie och Rudolf Gesellius fond, Svenska Kulturfonden, Harry Schaumans stiftelse and William Thurings stiftelse.
