In the exhibition, Mahaluf presents a site-specific installation made with striped fabrics and elastic bands connecting the interior and the exterior of the historic building Tulli & Pakkahuone, which represents the development of the Finnish capital in the 20th century.

“The ground floor pillars will be dressed in a fabric to cover and protect them, so that from there like an epidermis, elastic bands will extend to the next floor, across the whole of the building and then exit through the windows. All the elastic bands will be directed to the flagpole of the building”, explains the artist.

The artwork is made in collaboration with Marimekko, a Finnish design company, and will be shown during the Helsinki Design Week, that is this year centered around the theme of Co-creation – a research topic that Mahaluf himself has been exploring through performance and installation. “In FLOWING OF TENSION the geometry is tacit, is a body, is past, it is life. The action is the movement, tension and the encounter”, the artist says.

Sebastian Mahaluf has been on an artist-in-residency at HIAP in the frame of the Arts De Signs – Signalling Art as Social Design -project. Arts De Signs is a part of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.

About the artist

Artist and professor Sebastian Mahaluf (1976) lives and works in Santiago de Chile. His work has been exhibited since 1998 in Chile, Argentina, USA, China, Italy, France, Philippines, Scotland and Finland. Since 1996 he has had a vast educational experience as a professor in visual arts in his country.

About Helsinki Design Week

Helsinki Design Week is an annual city festival for design in all the ways that design appears in lives. Co-creation is the theme of Helsinki Design Week 2012. Events happen all across the city. In 2012 the event will be scheduled from 6-16 September.

About Marimekko

Marimekko, established in 1951, is a Finnish textile and clothing design company renowned for its original prints and colours. The company designs and manufactures high-quality clothing, interior decoration textiles, bags and other accessories.