Light Signal from the Shore

Tatu Tuominen’s (b. 1975) two-part work Light Signal from the Shore examines the local history of Kalasatama and adjacent areas from the point of view of seafaring and everyday life on the outskirts of town. The first part of the work was a light work that could be seen at the top windows of housing company Kalasataman Fiskari by those walking around in the Sompasaari canal area. The programmed light work lighted up every twenty minutes in the evenings between 7 and 10 pm until the end of February 2020.

The second part of the work consisted of the artist distributing the Sörkan rysäkeisarit – kalastajia, ajureita ja salakuljettajia (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2013) non-fiction book by Eero Haapanen to the new flats completed in Sompasaari during the temporary light work. The book discusses the eventful life of the Karlsson fishing family in Vanhankaupunginlahti bay and elsewhere in Helsinki from the late 19th century to the 1960s. The work covers the likes of local moonshine smuggling during the prohibition and the criminal lifestyles born around it. The book also reveals how Helsinki and the everyday lives of its residents have changed during the past hundred years.

Light Signal from the Shore was a temporary work by its nature and it belongs to the collections of the HAM Helsinki Art Museum.