Young Artist / Nuori KuvaTaiteilja
Photography and performance
Print on canvas and metal hanger.
Size: 80 cm x 185 cm x 8 cm
The photography and performance work Young Artist is a coverall-like suit that surface is printed with life-sized photographs of me. In the performance, I step inside my photograph and bring it to life.
On the surface of the suit, the photo transforms into a strange and distorted figure through which I want to evoke curiosity and explore the relationship between an image and the truth it represents. Young Artist wanders and wonders, and in the end it will be defined only through interaction with its surroundings and audience.
Three times a week, for about two hours at a time, I walk in the suit around the Kunsthalle and the centre of Helsinki. While the performance is taking place, an empty human-shaped hanger remains in the exhibition space, and when the performance is not active, the suit hangs from the hanger as a photographic work. What happens to the artwork when it walks out of – and back into – the exhibition?
Photographs of the artist for the performance costume:
Vilja Harala and Lassi Hakkinen
Costume designer:
Sini Saavala
Supported by:
Arts Promotion Centre Finland
Print on canvas and metal hanger.
Size: 80 cm x 185 cm x 8 cm
The photography and performance work Young Artist is a coverall-like suit that surface is printed with life-sized photographs of me. In the performance, I step inside my photograph and bring it to life.
On the surface of the suit, the photo transforms into a strange and distorted figure through which I want to evoke curiosity and explore the relationship between an image and the truth it represents. Young Artist wanders and wonders, and in the end it will be defined only through interaction with its surroundings and audience.
Three times a week, for about two hours at a time, I walk in the suit around the Kunsthalle and the centre of Helsinki. While the performance is taking place, an empty human-shaped hanger remains in the exhibition space, and when the performance is not active, the suit hangs from the hanger as a photographic work. What happens to the artwork when it walks out of – and back into – the exhibition?
Photographs of the artist for the performance costume:
Vilja Harala and Lassi Hakkinen
Costume designer:
Sini Saavala
Supported by:
Arts Promotion Centre Finland
Young Artist, 2026. Photo: ©IiriPoteri
Images are everywhere. They live lives of their own, disappear and return again. They are embodiments of thought, through which I can see — and show you — how I imagine reality. Images evoke emotions and change the way I exist. And when I am gone, my images remain.
Performance times during Young Artist exhibition:
Taidehalli / Kunsthalle Helsinki:
Tuesdays
2 June, 9 June, 16 June, 23 June: 2–4 PM
30 June, 7 July, 14 July: 3–5 PM
Fridays
12 June, 10 July, 17 July: 3–5 PM
Sundays
7 June, 28 June, 5 July, 19 July: 2–4 PM
Töölö and city centre area:
Thursdays
4 June, 11 June, 18 June, 25 June: 4–6 PM
2 July, 9 July, 16 July: 2–4 PM
Saturdays
30 May and 18 July: 2–4 PM
Taidehalli / Kunsthalle Helsinki:
Tuesdays
2 June, 9 June, 16 June, 23 June: 2–4 PM
30 June, 7 July, 14 July: 3–5 PM
Fridays
12 June, 10 July, 17 July: 3–5 PM
Sundays
7 June, 28 June, 5 July, 19 July: 2–4 PM
Töölö and city centre area:
Thursdays
4 June, 11 June, 18 June, 25 June: 4–6 PM
2 July, 9 July, 16 July: 2–4 PM
Saturdays
30 May and 18 July: 2–4 PM