Finnish Museum of Photography Presents Alice in Wonderland Exhibition
The Finnish Museum of Photography presents Alice in Wonderland an exhibition on view through 18 December 2011.
Fantastic everyday life and everyday fantasy blend in Alice in Wonderland, a major international exhibition of contemporary photographic art in Turku, the European Capital of Culture 2011, designed and implemented by the Finnish Museum of Photography, with the support of the Turku 2011 Foundation. The display of works of 31 artists set up in Logomo, a former engineering workshop, makes for a delightful viewing experience. The Alice in Wonderland exhibition is a tribute to Turku as the home of photographic art and surrealism in Finland.
The name of the exhibition refers to Lewis Carroll’s famous book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), in which a girl falls down a rabbit hole and ends up in strange places. Like the book, the exhibition moves from depictions of everyday life to fantasy worlds created or presented by the artists, and life is manifested as a ceaseless wavering on the borderline between these two domains. Fantastic everyday life and everyday fantasies meet in a way that challenges viewers to make new interpretations and adopt fresh perspectives.
The authors also introduce the term fantasy feminism into the field of art, to offer an updated alternative to existing feminist art. Instead of showing us everyday life and its regular forms, the contemporary artists look for their own space, which can take the form of imagining things, as in Alice in Wonderland. As the exhibition shows, the slogan “the personal is political” has been replaced by “the private is public”. Today, the portrait and self-portrait are increasingly becoming carefully controlled identity building projects, with the internet acting as their effective distribution channel. This world, with its “carnival of images”, is commented on by many of the exhibited artists in many different ways.
The exhibition, running throughout 2011, has an international group of curators, including the chief curator of the Finnish Museum of Photography Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger, the director of the Finnish Museum of Photography Elina Heikka and the editor-in-chief Sheyi Bankale of Next Level magazine in the UK. The exhibition is produced by the coordinator of the Finnish Museum of Photography, Tiina Rauhala, and the exhibition architecture is designed by Tuomas Toivonen and Outi Pirhonen (NOW Office). The exhibition space was built by Niko Rissanen and his team. All the print publications related to the exhibition project are provided by the Lönnberg Painot printing house.
Publications related to the exhibition are the 180-page, trilingual exhibition catalogue designed by the graphic designer Réka Király. The Finnish-language activity book for readers of all ages Reittiopas – ethän eksy? written by the coordinator Reetta Haarajoki and the educational curator Erja Salo leads viewers to find alternative paths around the exhibition. You can also get more information about the exhibition through the Mobile guide service, artist meetings and public guided tours on Sundays.
Image: The authors also introduce the term fantasy feminism into the field of art, to offer an updated alternative to existing feminist art. Instead of showing us everyday life and its regular forms, the contemporary artists look for their own space, which can take the form of imagining things, as in Alice in Wonderland. As the exhibition shows, the slogan “the personal is political” has been replaced by “the private is public”. Today, the portrait and self-portrait are increasingly becoming carefully controlled identity building projects, with the internet acting as their effective distribution channel. This world, with its “carnival of images”, is commented on by many of the exhibited artists in many different ways.
The exhibition, running throughout 2011, has an international group of curators, including the chief curator of the Finnish Museum of Photography Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger, the director of the Finnish Museum of Photography Elina Heikka and the editor-in-chief Sheyi Bankale of Next Level magazine in the UK. The exhibition is produced by the coordinator of the Finnish Museum of Photography, Tiina Rauhala, and the exhibition architecture is designed by Tuomas Toivonen and Outi Pirhonen (NOW Office). The exhibition space was built by Niko Rissanen and his team. All the print publications related to the exhibition project are provided by the Lönnberg Painot printing house.
Publications related to the exhibition are the 180-page, trilingual exhibition catalogue designed by the graphic designer Réka Király. The Finnish-language activity book for readers of all ages Reittiopas – ethän eksy? written by the coordinator Reetta Haarajoki and the educational curator Erja Salo leads viewers to find alternative paths around the exhibition. You can also get more information about the exhibition through the Mobile guide service, artist meetings and public guided tours on Sundays.
Image: Melinda Gibson: Photomontage XVII (taken from pages 25, 105, 149) From the series The Photograph as Contemporary Art (2009-2010)
www.valokuvataiteenmuseo.fi
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