Roy Hopiavuoren Haastattelu

Äkki: Terve Roy!
R.Hopiavuori: Moy!

Äkki: Olet ollut Suomessa nyt --- vuotta. Mikä on ensivaikutelmasi?

R.Hopiavuori: Olen ollut Suomessa lähes koko ikäni. Teini-iässä asuin jonkin aikaa vakituisesti Tukholmassa isäni luona.

Äkki: Entä Jyväskylästä, jossa olet ilmeisesti ollut merkittävästi lyhyemmän aikaa?

R.Hopiavuori: Jyväskylässä on käyty silloin ja tällöin lapsesta asti. Kaunis kaupunki, mukavia tyyppejä.

Äkki: Olet kokenut kuvataiteilija ja olet pitänyt runsaasti näyttelyitä Suomessa ja ulkomailla. Oletko aiemmin osallistunut taideresidensseihin?

R.Hopiavuori: En. Taidan olla aavistuksen erakko. Näyttelyn järkkääminen ulkomaille/lla kyllä omaa samoja piirteitä, kuin Äkkiresidenssi.

Äkki: Sinut kutsuttiin ensimmäiseen Äkkigallerian residenssiin. Millä tavalla Äkkigallerian residenssi eroaa aiemmista residenssi- ja näyttelykokemuksistasi?

R.Hopiavuori: Aika kotoisat fiilikset. Paljon duunia vähän aikaa. Tuttu tilanne!

Äkki:Pääsit tutustumaan näyttely-ja työskentelytilaan kahdeksan päivää ennen näyttelyn avajaisia. Mikä oli ensimmäinen ajatuksesi tilasta?

R.Hopiavuori: Sitä on paljon!!! Monta huonetta alakerrassa/ maan alla/ kellarissa! Olen aina pitänyt maanalaisista tiloista mikä on vähän ristiriidassa lievän klaustrofobiani kanssa...

Äkki: Tuntuuko vielä samalta?

R.Hopiavuori: Sataprosenttisesti.

Äkki: Tapasit samalla ensimmäistä kertaa toisen residenssiin osallistuvan kanadalaistaiteilijan, Christian Nicolayn. Suunnittelitteko tilan jakoa/käyttöä? Onko tiedossa yhteisteoksia? Muuta mukavaa?

R.Hopiavuori: Jep, tilat laitettiin jakoon ja mahd. yhteisduunit hoidetaan keskiviikkona. Eli tämä on vielä auki.

Äkki: Oletko ehtinyt katua vauhdikkaaseen projektiin mukaan lähtemistä, eli tekisitkö nyt jotain toisin?

R.Hopiavuori: En ole katunut, mutta ensi kerralla roudaan rva Hopiavuoren designtuotteita ympäri kaupunkia näyttelyyn valmistautuessani aavistuksen nihkeämmin ;)=

Äkki: Unettomia öitä, ylityöllistymistä, paniikkioireita, perheongelmia. Luuletko, että Äkkiresidenssillä on muutakin tarjottavaa taideuraasi silmällä pitäen?

R.Hopiavuori: Minulla on jo nuo kaikki muut paitsi perheongelmat. Hahaa!,sitä odotellessa. Vakavammin: Saan varmasti Christianin kautta uusia kontakteja Kanadaan. Niitä ei muutamaa sukulaista lukuun ottamatta olekaan.

Äkki: Ja muutama lyhyt:

Äkki: Suosikkimateriaali?
R.Hopiavuori: Hmmm... mieli?? Okei, olen maalari.

Äkki: Väri?
R.Hopiavuori: Sateenkaari :)=

Äkki: Vaikuttava teos?
R.Hopiavuori: Harryn Fish Island jutut. Panu Ruotsalon The End of River

Äkki: Avajaiset neljän päivän kuluttua. Paljonko teoksia vielä tekemättä/työtä jäljellä?

R.Hopiavuori: Noin 5 kpl kesken, mutta rotta on tehokkaimmillaan nurkkaan ajettuna...

Äkki: Suuret kiitokset haastattelusta!

Interview with Christian Nicolay

Äkki: Hello Christian.

C.Nicolay: Ole Hyvä.

Äkki: You have been in Finland for seven full days now. What were and are your first impressions?

C.Nicolay: Surprised by the nature (in a good way). It kind of feels like home. And, I think the Finnish language is exquisite.

Äkki: And what about Jyväskylä, where you have been for most of your stay?

C.Nicolay: The train ride felt like my hitchhiking experience across Canada: nature, space and quiet. As soon as I got here, I expected it to look older, but seeing is sometimes an illusion and there is a lot of character here. Like any new place it is full of new things and these new things like cracks in the cobble stones, the smell of the weather and it’s all very- I feel very much at home. And the people look you in the eye and I enjoy that because in Vancouver nobody looks you in the eye!

Äkki: You are obviously an experienced/established artist; you are represented by at least one gallery, and you have shown internationally, but have you participated in many artist residencies?

C.Nicolay: No. This is my first international residency. My other residencies have only been in Canada: Toronto, Kelowna, Edmonton. I am about to do my second residency in Taiwan, when I leave Finland. But this is my first.

Äkki: You have been invited to participate in Äkkigalleria’s first artist residency. In what way or ways does this residency differ (or not) from your past experience of an artist residency?

C.Nicolay: Well this is all really new work. Everything is from scratch, everything is made over ten days. It is intense. I don’t have a lot of my tools so I am forced to play with the environment of Jyväskylä and what it provides which is something- it is a process I am exited about. To blur the lines of what is comfortable.

Äkki: You first discovered the residency and exhibition space ten days before the exhibition opening, What were your first impressions of the space?

C.Nicolay: Ole Hyvä!

Äkki: Do you still feel the same?

C.Nicolay: Ummm, maybe it has become more- a lot of possibility for installation because of how the space is compartmentalized like a labyrinth you can get lost in. We went in there and there were all kinds of treasures and smells. It is a space that hasn’t been used in a long time and to have this opportunity to transform it all, it is a nice way of working.

Äkki: A few days ago you met the other residency artist Roy Hopiavuori, how will you share the space? Will you collaborate on a piece or do you have any plans as of yet?

C.Nicolay: time is potentially a fabrication of our current perception of reality. We don’t have a lot of time, but I look forward to any kind of spontaneous collaboration with Roy. I think his work will hit a cord, or frequency with mine. To work with someone collaborating is always fund and stretches my own process.

Äkki: Do you regret agreeing to participate in this short-time-framed-project? Would you do anything differently? Would you do it again?

C.Nicolay: Ole hyvä! I wouldn’t change anything! I’ve been having the loveliest time here and I am still in the process of finding out what is happening with the work. The work is in process so I don’t know if I would change anything- but maybe the weather…

Äkki: Sleepless nights, working overtime, panic attacks… etc Do you think Äkkigalleria has anything else to offer your artistic career?

C.Nicolay: Every person, every moment everything is tied to who I am and of course it offers a lifetime of memory. I never would have come to this part of the world and it is amazing!

Äkki: and some one word questions and answers:

Material: tar

Colour: white

Process: 31-7= 28

Explanation: no mater what, my beard grows.

Äkki: the opening is in four days, how much more work do you have?

C.Nicolay: Two answers: one: Als ist gut. And two: x 2

Äkki: Thank you Christian.

C.Nicolay: Ole Hyvä.

Äkkigalleria 5 Artist Residency for 2

Posted packaged residency material - Christian Nicolay

After almost one year of existence, Äkkigalleria is organizing its first artist residency. Christian Nicolay from Vancouver, Canada and Roy Hopiavuori from Helsinki, Finland will be arriving in Jyväskylä on the 20^th of August. The two artists, who will be meeting for the first time upon their arrival, will spend about 10 days creating Äkkigalleria’s 5^th exhibition insitu.

Nicolay is interested in sound and process based performance. Experimentation and exploration are important tools in his artistic practice, which is not bound by any one medium. Hopiavuori, on the other hand, is a painter. His expressive, monochromatic painting is calmed by stencils and symbols which remind us of our own mortality.

Although politics are not the focus of their work, both Nicolay and Hopiavuori often make art with a politically critical slant. Their creations routinely express a social unrest, and discomfort, with current political choices. Nicolay’s installations have notably referenced the imbalance of wealth and social wellbeing using and defacing real currency. While Hopiavuori’s paintings hint at an ever present societal violence and the abuse of governmental power. The United States of America, and the United Nations, among others, are alluded to, in both Nicolay’s and Hopiavuori’s practices.

The choice, of content, style and theme of this Äkkigalleria5 exhibition, has been fully given to the artists themselves. Nicolay has sent some raw artwork through international post to be incorporated into his installation, and Hopiavuori also intends to bring elements, for his final creation, from his home in Helsinki. The completed exhibition will be made for and within the Äkkigalleria space with new, unexpected and last minute creations.

The Äkkigalleria artist residency along with the Äkkigalleria5 exhibition will be held in what was previously the Jyväskylän Tanssiopisto on Cygnaeuksenkatu. The exhibition will be open to the public for four days at the beginning of September. The opening will be held on Thursday the 2nd of September. The gallery will be open from 1pm until 7pm and is free of charge.

Tervetuloa!

Äkkigalleria 5 Artist Residency

For its first Artist Residency, Äkkigalleria is inviting two visual artists from two different countries: Chrstian Nicolay from Canada and Roy Hopiavuori from Finland. The concept behind this residency is to bring two unfamiliar artists together within an appropriate space for the duration of (approximately) 2 weeks.

In this residency we are bringing two artists, who have never met, together for an intense period of creation. The artists themselves are free to create the exhibition together or next to each other as they wish. They might each come with their own pre-designed ideas but working with the unfamiliar, the particular space and time will force them to adapt spontaneously.
–Anna Ruth

The space will be opened to the public at the end of the residency for a four-day exhibition. The space for Äkkigalleria has been found and will be announced soon.

Äkkigalleria 4 - Images

Exhibition view, Tuomo Blomqvist's "Matka" in front.

Jaana Kautto's "Ydinvoima" 2010

from left to right: Hannu Korpinen's oil painting "Ydinvoman vastaan"2010, and Down Leikkonen's digital print "Ydinsuomi" 2010

Matti Reivi "Sisu" 2010, and photographs by Juho Jäppinen "Kuvia Suomesta - Tritium" 2010

Tuomo Blomqvist's "Matka" 2010

photos: Juho Jäppinen

Äkkigalleria 4 - the installation

Three artists were able to come help install the exhibition today, including Tuomo Blomqvist who only just agreed to participate in the show this very afternoon! Tomorrow is the opening and everyone is welcome to come and discuss YDINVOIMA!

Tuomo Blomqvist moving into Äkkigalleria 4 at the last minute!

moving Erika Erre's sculpture into the cellar...

Äkkigalleria 4 : Nuclear Energy

In appreciation to the Suomen Kulttuurirahaston Keski-Suomen rahasto*, Äkkigalleria is making another spontaneous appearance, this time in “Up-town” Jyväskylä. Äkkigalleria is taking a political stance for its fourth exhibition by giving a contemporary and controversial theme to local artists to play with: Nuclear Energy.

The Finnish Government is currently in the process of making a historical decision about national energy production. The Central Party of Finland is pushing towards the construction of two new, additional nuclear power plants and the Green Party is lobbying against this choice.

For this art exhibition we are not guiding the artists to make art for, or against, but rather to make new art openly inspired by the theme of Nuclear Energy. This collection of work is intended to stimulate thoughts, questions and conversation around nuclear energy, its use and its consequences.

Äkkigalleria chose eight Finnish artists (and one collective) to explore the theme of Nuclear Energy. The artists are: Tuomo Blomqvist, Erika Erre, Juho Jäppinen, the JKL-Collective, Jaana Kautto, Hannu Korpinen, Kimmo Kumela, Down Leikkonen and Matti Reivi.

Tuomo Blomqvist’s art is conceptual and poetic. His work often stems from ready-made objects which bloom into installations. Tuomo Blomqvist is interested in the small details of everyday life.

Erika Erre’s uses black humour to treat serious issues of humanity. Her work is audacious and often uses the body, or symbols of the body in dramatic settings. For Äkkigalleria Erika Erre has constructed a silicone form which includes head, arm, leg and tail. In relation to the theme of nuclear energy, this form reminds us of horror stories and menaces disaster.

Juho Jäppinen’s photographs show panoramas of the typical “Finnish Landscape”. In these serene images, Jäppinen plays with the juxtaposition of image and title: what we see and what we the text tells us. Children resident within a 5km circumference of a nuclear power plant have been proven to hold a 117% higher risk of suffering from Leukemia. All 6 images were taken within a 5km circumference of the nuclear power plant near the city of Loviisa.

JKL-collective is a group of politically involved artists. For the Äkkigalleria – Nuclear Power exhibition they are blatantly regurgitating the logo and slogan of the National Coalition Party of Finland in a literal context of the Nuclear Energy debate.

Jaana Kautto is best known for her photographs but she is also gardener. In this exhibition Jaana Kautto combines humour and beauty. Nuclear, nucleus, in a play on words she uses a potato to describe the power of nature and an alternative definition of “Ydin” or “inner-core” power.

Hannu Korpinen comes from a tradition of narrative, expressionistic painting. For this exhibition he presents an oil painting inspired by thoughts on Nuclear Power. The painting was made specifically for this Äkkigalleria exhibition.

Kimmo Kumela uses drawing to meditate. The clam repetition of the gesture in making a drawing allows time and space to study a thought and dissolve negative energy. For this exhibition, he is showing a series of drawings of atomic clouds.

Down Leikkonen is best known for his political cartoons and illustrations in the regional newspaper Keskisuomalainen. His image “Nuclear-Finland” was published in the Keskisuomalainen on the 16th of May 2010. It is not related to any specific event or decision, but is a comment on the current conversation of nuclear energy.

Matti Reivi is a sculptor. The work made for this exhibition is a hybrid of two traditional Finnish objects: a hand-plough and tar-drop candies. With these objects he is using a play on words Ydin Voima, “Inner Strength”, or Finnish Strength.

The exhibition was open from Thursday the 20^th until Sunday the 23^rd from 1-7pm, at Kauppakatu 3, Jyväskylä.

*Äkkigalleria received a 6500e grant from the Suomen Kulttuurirahaston Keski-Suomen rahasto on the 14th of May, 2010.