21-31 January, HIAP Gallery Augusta

Opening hours: Tue–Fri 11–16, Sat–Sun 12-18, Mon closed

Welcome to the opening on Thursday, 21 January 2016 from 18-21!

‘Close to You’ is an installation consisting of second-hand bed sheets, each containing a backstitched outline of a group of people within a close physical distance to one another. Using news- and social media imagery as its starting point, the work considers human interaction and closeness through activities related to market society, consumerism and technology.

The exhibition is a culmination of the artist’s 4-month residency at HIAP Suomenlinna, during which the works were realized.

Minna Pöllänen (b.1980) is a Finnish artist living and working in London and Helsinki. Her practice moves between photography, sculpture and installation, with a current focus on the economic and societal structures related to market society, and the symbols of the contemporary self and its relationship to the Other.

Pöllänen holds an MA with distinction (2011) in fine art photography from London College of Communication. Her works have recently been shown in Brooklyn Bridge Park and A.I.R Gallery in New York, Galerie Les Territoires in Montreal, The Photographers’ Gallery and Shonibare Guest Projects in London, Skaftfell Center for Art Project Space in Seydisfjordur, Format Photography Festival in Derby, Gallery Huuto in Helsinki and The Northern Photographic Centre in Oulu.