Past Residents Timo Viialainen
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Photo by Salla Valle
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Timo Viialainen, Hiiri, 2022, Photo by Timo Viialainen
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Timo Viialainen, Engagement, Installation, 2020, Kuvan Kevät, Exhibition Laboratory Helsinki, Photo by Timo Viialainen
Timo Viialainen works in the fields of visual art, performance art and sound art. Though most part of his work has been live performances, his contemporary work usually takes its shape in conceptual sculptures that often feature an activating element which engages the viewer. His interest lies in intuitive prelinguistic experience and contradictory concepts that can be found in the various capitalised environments in which we exist.
Timo is a graduate from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Helsinki.
During my residency I have worked on my solo exhibition ”Lossy” that took place in gallery Oksasenkatu 11 in January 2022. The theme of the exhibition is related to an attempt to reach out to things that have happened in another time and place, and the impossibility of it. The word Lossy refers to the lossy compression method used in digital data processing.
Besides the exhibition I worked on a series of performance art pieces that relate to the theme of electricity cut which has been present in my earlier work. The first performance, titled ”Engagement part IV”, took place on 4 September in the New Performance Turku Festival. The second one, titled ”What did you do as a child when the thunder cut the power?”, was presented during the Performance Protocols event and exhibition that was held in Akusmata and Third Space galleries in Helsinki between 18 and 28 September.
Further, I also presented a new performance piece titled ”Bulb” in the Helsinki Performance Art Symposium which took place in Mad House on 22 October 2021. A version of this performance was presented in the exhibition “The Posture of Impermanence” (Huokoinen Ele) in Vantaa Art Museum Artsi in January 2022.
During the residency I also worked with my sound/music project Hur Hur and Hevonen. I played several gigs and recorded some new material.
The spring season I was busy gathering materials and ideas for an exhibition I’m planning to have at the end of the year 2023.
The residency and studio space for Timo Viialainen was granted by The Academy of Fine Arts Foundation in collaboration with HIAP.