In the event will present their works Paths Crossing artist-in-residence Kristina Norman and HIAP artists-in-residence Alan Phelan, Sascha Boldt and Elina Tuhkanen.

Firstly, the artist Alan Phelan (b. 1968) from Dublin will present his ongoing exhibition at the gallery, Seeing Things That Aren’t There. Phelan works in a variety of media including fabric, papier-mâché and video. The starting point for this exhibition was the underground tunnels of the city of Helsinki. These gave him the opportunity to develop his interest in what he calls an “infrastructural aesthetic”. This is a concept that allows several parallel narratives to exist, linking the physical to the political to the societal to the individual. In this show, his new works contrast greatly, so as to engage political history, cultural theory, psychoanalysis, science fiction and sexuality. These are shaped through interests in narrative, trans-cultural potential and provisional meaning.

Please join the Peer-to-Peer Review and contribute with your reflections, feedback, ideas and criticism. Invited commentators are the artist Mikko Kuorinki and the artist Juan Kasari from 00130 Gallery among others.

Sascha Boldt (b. 1974) from Frankfurt am Main will present samples of his works from the ongoing project “One Second Photos”, in which he interacts and photographs himself in the context of public advertisements in Helsinki. Sascha Boldt started to transform the basic source of these photos into large-scale ink drawings which encode and present different aspects of art production. “Art is based on copy and paste” is the leitmotif of these works, which deal with the daily circumstances of making art in the context of brands, daily life and subliminal expectations. For Boldt, these works on paper represent an insight into art as the most fascinating thing to believe in: “If you choose art, art chooses you.”

Kristina Norman (b.1979) from Tallinn, well-known for her provocative work on the Estonian “Bronze Soldier” controversy, will discuss a new project concerning contested histories in post-Soviet culture and politics. She is concentrating on a few local cases on the territory of the former Soviet Union. Norman is a video and installation artist as well as a documentary filmmaker. In her creative practice she is interested in collective memory and collective identity issues. Among other venues, her work has been shown at Modern Art Oxford as well as the Berlin and Venice biennials. Kristina Norman’s residency is realised in the frame of the Paths Crossing production funded by the Culture Programme of the European Union.

Elina Tuhkanen (b. 1978) is a Finnish-American multimedia artist. “Approach through the negative” is the new project she is working on during her residency at HIAP Suomenlinna. Tuhkanen is creating physical, three-dimensional “negatives” for photographing/video recording digitally. When these images are then inverted, they will be akin to “positive” images. The results of this project will be exhibited in Galleria Huuto Viiskulma 30.3- 15.4.2012 and is part of the Helsinki Photography Biennial 2012.

Peer-to-Peer review

HIAP’s Peer-to-Peer Review creates a forum in which artists and curators-in-residence present their ongoing projects to a peer-group audience in an intimate studio context. Peer-to-Peer Reviews are chaired, and usually at least two commentators are invited to enhance the discussion. All HIAP residents and others interested in in-depth discussion of art and artworks in the making are encouraged to attend.

Alan Phelan: Seeing Things That Aren’t There

Oksasenkatu 11, 00100 Helsinki

Opening hours: Wed 26.–Sat 29.10. 12–6 pm