How can you be at home, surrounded by safe frameworks, while also moving about a public space? This is the kind of experience that Denise Ziegler (b. 1986) studies in her work of art Child bike seat – at home in Movement. In a child seat, the child and the familiar adult carrying them are close to each other, and the seat conforms to the body and provides protection. The situation is safe and home-like – yet, at the same time, they are moving about in a public space.

This work of art consists of all bicycles that have a child seat attached and that are present in Helsinki’s public spaces – whether they are parked in front of a shop or an office or on their way across the city, and whether there is a child in the seat or not. The piece is conceptual and a part of Ziegler’s artistic research. The work of art is realised every time a bicycle with a child seat is present, on the move or appearing somewhere: in urban life, this happens daily. The piece can also expand from Helsinki to elsewhere in the world. It has its digital home in the HAM collection, the website for public art and the service map of Helsinki.

“The piece consists of numerous living moments, instead of reminding us of moments past like public works of art often do. In this conceptual work of art, new changing constellations of homes on the move are constantly forming,” Ziegler says.

The work of art belongs to the collection of HAM (Helsinki Art Museum).

As its title implies, Denise Ziegler’s Three Fences consists of three fences, all installed in a park in Konala. The fences are all modelled on fences found in the centre of Helsinki. One is based on a 1960s fence in the grounds of Meilahti Hospital, another imitates the functionalist style of a fence on Topeliuksenkatu in Töölö, and the third, an old type of fence with stone posts and chains, is based on a fence found in front of Kallio library.

The artist had studied fences in Helsinki and noted that their function differs in different parts of the city. Decorative fences marking flowerbeds or the boundaries of plots are more common near the centre. By contrast, fences used as screens or to prevent trespassing are more common in the suburbs. The idea behind the piece was to transplant fences from the centre of Helsinki towards the periphery.The materials used in the work are stainless steel, wrought iron, chainlink mesh, concrete and stone. The artist has sited the three fences in selected places in the lawn area of Hilapelto park.

During the construction of the work, the Helsinki Art Museum contacted the local residents’ association in Konala and organised an educational project on the theme of fences for students in the local Hilapelto (nowadays Konala) Primary School. Denise Ziegler’s Three Fences was officially unveiled in Hilapelto Park on Monday, 11 October 2010. In February 2011, the Finnish Foundation for Environmental Art awarded the work its 2010 Environmental Artwork of the Year honorary diploma.

The work belongs to the collections of the Helsinki Art Museum. Another work by Denise Zeigler, Concerto for Laakso, can be found in the vicinity of Töölö Football Stadium.

The work belongs to the collections of the Helsinki Art Museum.

Denise Ziegler’s piece consists of eight cast-iron manhole covers in different locations in the city centre. Each round cover has a short epigrammatic poem or message for passers-by.

The short poems, or messages, comment on the situation and location of the reader. The aim is to reinforce the status of pedestrians as important individual elements of the urban environment. These ‘memorial plaques’ can be found on pavements in streets around the City centre such as Pohjoisesplanadi, Mannerheimintie, Simonkatu, Eteläranta,Yliopistokatu and in the Kampintori square.

EPIGRAMS;

1. THIS ROAD TAKES YOU NORTH PAST MONUMENTS AND BUILDINGS.
Mannerheim square, in front of Kiasma Museum of Contemporary art.

2. I WAS PLACED AT THE EDGE OF THE PARK. PASSER-BY, WALK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD.
Pohjoiseplanadi / Kluuvikatu, edge of the park.

3. I AM A DISTRICT HEAT COVER, A GUARDIAN OF SUBTERRANEAN TUNNELS.
Yliopistokatu, in front of Porthania.

4. IN THE BACK ROOM OF THE CITY YOU ENJOY THE VIEW OF THE SEA.
Eteläranta, behind the Old Market Hall.

5. ON THIS SPOT A WOMAN WAS WAITING, JUST AS A RED VAN DROVE BY.
Pohjoisesplanadi / Mikonkatu

6. THE LITTLE RED MAN STANDS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET, I AM STANDING HERE.
Mannerheimintie / Kalevankatu

7. THIS STREET LEADS DOWN TO THE RAILWAY STATION, YOU ARE HEADING UPHILL.
Simonkatu, square in between Lasipalatsi and Forum shopping centre (in the picture).

8. YOU ARE STANDING IN A SQUARE AT KAMPPI, A TRIANGLE SURROUNDED BY THE HUM OF THE CITY.
At Kamppi, next to the Ernst Billgren’s Meeting points.

The work of art belongs to the collection of HAM Helsinki Art Museum.

“Concerto for the Valley” by Swiss-born artist Denise Ziegler (b. 1965) is a life-size orchestra conductor’s podium. Standing on the podium gives the visitor a magnificent view of several surrounding sports arenas. The work is located on the eastern side of the Finnair Stadium, on the sloping rocky outcrop between the Töölö outdoor sports centre and the Sports Museum of Finland. The base of the podium is made of Aurora granite, the railing is solid brass.

“Concerto for the Valley” shared the first prize in a competition in which chosen artists were invited to create suggestions for public artworks for the surroundings of the new football stadium in Töölö. The work was paid for from the funds of the Helsinki City Art Museum ear-marked for public artworks, and was unveiled in the presence of the artist on 14 November 2001. The work belongs to the collections of the Helsinki Art Museum.

The artist describes the work in these words: “Concerto for the Valley is an orchestra conductor’s podium. The orchestra consists of the sights and sounds of the surrounding area: the curving architecture of the stadium and the ice-hockey arena, trees, old residential blocks on Urheilukatu street, PA equipment, clouds, birds, lighting, and people. Together they form a concerto, which the spectator standing on the podium can ‘conduct’. The view from the highest point on the hill is magnificent both to the south and the north. One of the goals of the work was to open these vistas to the public. With Concerto for the Valley, I want to encourage passers-by to step on the podium, to listen and look around.”