Upcoming exhibitions

Between Objects / 4.2.-29.5.2022

Between Objects presents artworks acquired for HAM’s collection over the past 10 years in dialogue with artworks by contemporary artists from Estonia. The exhibition is based on a curatorial method developed by Curator Denis Maksimov, where he has invited the Estonian artists to each respond to a work from the collection by choosing an existing artwork of their own to be exhibited alongside collection piece. The connected artists are Pekka Niittyvirta and Taavi Suisalu, nabbteeri and Sigrid Viir, Maiju Salmenkivi and Merike Estna, Azar Saiyar and Flo Kasearu, and Sauli Sirviö & Johannes Rantapuska and Edith Karlson.

Through their own artworks, the Estonian artists present a subjective interpretation of the pieces from HAM’s collection. The artists’ responses might have focuced on the work’s intended meaning or perhaps a colour, a shape, or anything else in the object itself. Similarly, the audience is encouraged to focus on the act of looking at artworks. More broadly, Maksimov’s exhibition concept is connected to attempts to think beyond human-centrism with a focus on the agency of objects and their interaction.

Between Objects will be displayed in the museum’s HAM mix gallery, which features exhibitions curated with collection pieces as a starting point. The aim of its exhibitions is to form a living interaction between the collections and current issues and curatorial practices. In showcasing artworks by Finnish and Estonian artists and emphasising the dialogical nature of art, the exhibition introduces the idea of extended locality as a context for HAM’s collection. Contemporary artists in the two countries live and work close to each other, sharing neighbouring cultural and societal realities on different sides of the Gulf of Finland.

The exhibition is realised in collaboration with the Temnikova & Kasela Gallery in Tallinn.

Dance! – Movement in the visual arts 1880–2020 / 25.3.–11.9.2022

In spring 2022, HAM will be opening a comprehensive exhibition on dance and movement in visual arts. The exhibition highlights works of art that depict dance, dance-like movement and corporeality in the collections of Finnish museums from the 1880s to the current decade.

Different eras, viewpoints, techniques and styles alternate in the works. The dance and shapes of movement in the pieces reflect the realities, hopes and ideals of different eras. Movement and dance are connected to the way we inhabit the world. The depiction of the moving body can reveal the way we view freedom, harmony, identity and gender roles.

Movement and dance allow us to see the freeing power and joy as well as the quiet, focused examination of the essence of movement in visual arts. In the exhibition, the interaction between the works and the visitors resembles a choreography, helping us to identify with different corporeal ways of existing in the world. The dance outlined in the works reflects both life force and intensity as well as stillness and fragility. In the words of Finnish dancer and visual artist Maggie Gripenberg, who lived in the early 1900s:

”I want to dance! I will no longer only paint – I will live and dance!”

The exhibition was curated by art and culture historian Hanna-Reetta Schreck and HAM Curator Arttu Merimaa.

HAM Gallery

The HAM Gallery showcases Finnish art and rising artists. The exhibitions are chosen based on an application process and displayed for a period of seven weeks. All HAM Gallery exhibitions are always free of charge.

Exhibitions at HAM gallery in 2022

15.1.-27.2.2022
Maiju Hukkanen

4.3.-24.4.2022
Harriina Räinä

29.4. – 12.6.2022
Lora Dimova & Leda Vaneva

14.6. – 8.8.2022
Niklas Ingelius