Upcoming exhibitions

Old Age / 15.2.–20.10.2019

The number of aged people is growing in the West. Old people are presented by an ideal of retirement as a golden age, a culmination of lifestyle full of youthful vigour, hobbies and action. But those opportunities are not available to everybody. Those who are ailing and afflicted by illness easily miss out on mainstream experiences, leading to exclusion.

The exhibition shines a light on this aspect of ageing that is so often ignored: the part that hurts, often quite literally, which one feels in one’s joints and bones, even in one’s soul. That time of life when you look into the mirror and see the ever-deeper furrows and become aware of the finiteness of life. The exhibition will examine old age without sentimentality yet with a sensitive and poetic attitude. The works in the show are all selected from the HAM collection. The show is curated by Jari Björklöv from HAM.

Paweł Althamer / 29.3.–8.9.2019

The exhibition by Polish artist Paweł Althamer (b. 1967) will showcase his diverse and often surprising output from more than three decades. HAM will also produce a new kind of work by Althamer that is based on workshop participation. The important thing for Althamer is not the end-result but a sense of playfulness shared with the audience.

The show will present a comprehensive survey of Althamer’s output: sculptures, installations, community art documentation and miniature worlds. The works in the show also include a playground slide that the artist originally made with children for a church in Germany. At HAM the audience will be free to try the slide for themselves. The other half of the exhibition will consist of a new piece that will be created with the audience. It is based on the Althamer’s method of ‘directing reality’ and his desire to connect to other people and to one’s inner self.

Paweł Althamer is an internationally renowned artist whose work has been featured in many contemporary art events such as Documenta in Kassel and the Venice Biennale. His previous major solo show was at The New Museum in New York in 2013. The exhibition in Helsinki will be curated by head of exhibitions Pirkko Siitari and curator Sanna Tuulikangas from HAM.

Ellen Thesleff / 26.4.2019–26.1.2020

Ellen Thesleff (1869–1954) was a radical with a boyish haircut who did what she wanted and lived for her art. She hated teaching but did it to be able to travel, live abroad and paint. She was one of the first symbolists and expressionists in Finland, and one of the most prominent artists in the Nordic region. Thesleff lived a rich and fascinating life. She was a pioneer in an age when female artists were almost always ignored. She was a cosmopolitan who was spiritually at home in Florence. Although Thesleff was seven years younger than Helene Schjerfbeck, as artists they were considered competitors, often equally matched.

The exhibition is curated by Hanna-Reetta Schreck, an art and cultural historian, and it is based on her Thesleff biography from 2017 Minä maalaan kuin jumala (I Paint Like a God, Teos). The show will highlight Thesleff’s trailblazing and evolving art alongside texts, photographs and archive materials about her life. The HAM collection contains key works from Thesleff’s oeuvre, which are complemented with major pieces from private and public collections.

Jaakko Niemelä – Nostalgia 4.10.2019–1.3.2020

Artist Jaakko Niemelä (b. 1959) has prepared a research project on memories of sea captain Erkki Niemelä. The artist has travelled in his father’s footsteps on ocean-going ships and explored the places he visited, documenting his journeys by drawing, writing, taking photographs and video. Niemelä will use the materials he has been collecting since 2012 to create a new installation in one of the arched upstairs galleries.

The exhibition will make use of the tall structures that dramatically dominate the space. The installation will include two large projected animations featuring a ship on stormy seas and the collapse of the ship’s structure. The soundscape will consist of a grand choral piece by Baroque composer Alessandro Scarlatti and ambient music composed by Jaakko Niemelä’s nephew Antti Niemelä. The exhibition is curated by Heli Harni from HAM.

Mood – Helsinki 1939–45 / 18.10.2019–1.3.2020

A co-production by HAM and Helsinki City Museum curated by writer Anna Kortelainen, Mood will open a completely new perspective on wartime Helsinki. The exhibition will showcase the pessimism and optimism of those years as they were reflected in art, but also the visual world made necessary by the exigencies of war.

The exhibition will open in both museums at the same time. The exhibition in Tennis Palace will present visual art, photographs and objects arranged thematically according to factors that affected the mood of the country during the war. It will also showcase successful exhibitions from those years, such as gigantic exhibitions of spoils of war in the Helsinki Exhibition Hall, the exhibition of German propaganda art at the Ateneum and the exhibition of Finnish female artists that went on tour to Germany and its annexed areas. The show in Helsinki City Museum’s Hakasalmi Villa will focus on the evacuation of people and artworks. The narrative voice of the show will be provided by secret reports on the mood of the people drawn up for the military by Helsinki civilians.

Genderfuck 1900 / 1.11.2019–August 2020

Genderfuck 1900 will update the recent heated discourse on gender, male and female roles and their construction. Are there two genders or perhaps more? One thing that is certain is that the categories are in need of fine tuning.

HAM offers unexpected perspectives on the discussion by turning attention towards forgotten history. The show presents a bewildering assortment of visual material from the past one hundred years, including postcards, studio portraits and snapshots. The show is curated by Harri Kalha, who has been collecting material for the exhibition and a related book for ten years. Kalha’s materials have been complemented with contemporary artworks from the HAM collection.

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 2019

12.1.-24.2.2019
Riikka Keränen

2.3.-15.4.2019
Antti Turkko

27.4.-9.6.2019
Otto Byström

15.6.-4.8.2019
Anssi Pulkkinen

10.8.-22.9.2019
Jenni Toikka

28.9.-10.11.2019
Arja Kärkkäinen

23.11.2019-12.1.2020
Lasse Juuti

HAM Corner

HAM Corner showcases themes and projects that respond to current issues.