Passé composé

20.5.-1.6.2023
Opening Fri 19.5. at 18-21 

Curator: Mikael Gangster-Lehtinen

Artists: Harri Ahvenainen, Joonas Eränen, Carine Fabritius, Svante Knuus, Johannes Länsiö, Henrik Pathirane, Ilkka Pitkänen, Aleksi Salminen, Helena Sorvali.

Group exhibition Passé composé, curated by Mikael Gangster-Lehtinen, presents works by nine artists. The exhibition's overarching theme is the face, and the artists are given the opportunity to approach the theme from a variety of perspectives.

In the ethics of the Lithuanian-born French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas, the central theme is not only that of otherness, but also that of the face. The face represents the most naked self in a human being, vulnerability and uncontrollability, unlike our values, our clothing or our identity. When we look at the face of another, we are immediately responsible for him or her, because it is a natural way of recognising the other as self-justified, not just as an instrument of our own totality and control.

The exhibition includes paintings, video works, installations, object collages, participatory art and augmented reality. The artists in the exhibition were members of the board of Artists’ Association Yö in 2022.

"Passé composé, the constructed past, returns the past to the present, once more, and the circle closes."

Mikael Gangster-Lehtinen, curator of the exhibition