Palsalandia – Music through the lens of Tomi Palsa
6.3.-28.8.2022
Olavi Uusivirta, 3.9.2021, Akuliina, Jämsä. Picture: Tomi Palsa.
Palsa’s pictures are not all polished, escapist candy-coloured images photoshopped to within an inch of their lives to depict their subjects as otherworldly, beautiful and out-of-reach god-like figures. You could say that they strive for the truth, to show life on the stage as it is.’ Olavi Uusivirta
In spring 2022, Hyvinkää Art Museum will be taken over by photographer Tomi Palsa’s pictures that rock. This first-ever exhibition of Palsa’s work will present pictures from his long career. The self-taught Palsa took his first steps towards becoming one of Finland’s best-known rock photographers at a Nuclear Assault gig at the Lepakko concert venue in 1989.
‘I’m a documentarist. I want to capture real-life situations in my pictures, and I’m not comfortable with the idea of building an image in a studio. I like to be involved as an invisible observer, which allows me to capture authentic moments.’ Tomi Palsa
Photos developed in a dark room have been replaced with pictures taken with a digital camera, and small gigs are now accompanied by stadium concerts by megastars. Over the years, music lovers have seen Palsa’s pictures on record covers and posters and in the pages of music magazines such as Rumba and Soundi. Now his extensive production will be showcased in Hyvinkää, which will be filled with music and a festival atmosphere in summer 2022.
‘I think you can see from my pictures that photography is the thing closest to my heart.’ Tomi Palsa
The Fabric of History
15.9.–2.10.2022
Video works by Aalto University Department of Film students Reetta Annala, Daalia Kontio, Heta Pyhäjärvi and Ossi Oikari.
IC-98: Wounded Earth
15.9.2022-8.1.2023
Artist collective IC-98’s Wounded Earth exhibition darkens the Hyvinkää Art Museum’s main exhibition space for the autumn months. Dark both literally and metaphorically, the exhibition invites the visitor into a world where time follows its own course. The exhibition explores the history of our planet through media ranging from the earliest fossils to the latest innovations in computer animation.
IC-98 are best known for visually impressive, slow-moving animations that combine black-and-white pencil drawings with digital effects. The artist collective has also produced various films, artbooks and projects commissioned for a specific space or occasion. The artworks are often large in scale, and they explore the relationship between humanity and nature, long periods of time in natural history and the future after humanity is gone.
The works selected for the exhibition at the Hyvinkää Art Museum examine the wounds caused to nature by human activity and the possibilities for reconnecting with nature. While melancholy, they also offer glimmers of hope. Although the works are firmly grounded in science and philosophy, they are not intended to lecture; instead, they offer the visitor an opportunity to experience them spontaneously without any background information.
IC-98 is an artist collective founded in 1998 by Patrik Söderlund (born 1974) and Visa Suonpää (born 1968). The collective has been together for nearly 25 years, and its members have a background in cultural studies and visual arts. Many of the collective’s works combine art with scientific research and philosophical thinking. IC-98 represented Finland at the 2015 Venice Biennale with their artwork Hours, Years, Aeons.
In collacoration with Pro Av Saarikko.