PRESS RELEASE 
8 Oct, 2010

Two exhibitions will open for the audience today in Kiasma, Helsinki.

Ars Fennica 2010 Candidates Exhibition in Kiasma

The winner of the most prestigious art prize in Finland will be
announced on 25 November. The 2010 Ars Fennica candidates are the
painter Markus Konttinen, the sculptor Anne Koski¬nen, the photographic
artist Jorma Puranen and the visual artists Jaakko Niemelä and Char¬les
Sandison. The joint exhibition of the five candidates will be on show on
the fourth floor of Kiasma until 12 December.

The Ars Fennica art prize is awarded annually to one artist in
recognition of distinctive artistic output of high merit. In addition to
the prize money, the winner will have an exhibition next autumn in the
Hämeenlinna Art Museum. The prize is awarded by the Henna and Pertti
Niemistö Foundation, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

The winner will be chosen by the British curator and international art
expert, David Elliott. The audience will also have an opportunity to
vote for its favourite artist. The winner of the audi¬ence vote will
also be announced on 25 Nov 2010.

The five candidates for the Ars Fennica 2010 prize represent a fine
cross-section of the diversity of Finnish contemporary art. The works
comprise oil paintings, watercolours, photographs and instal¬lations
utilising a variety of media. Many artists also include references to
other art forms in their work: photographed paintings, painted
photographs. Quite by chance, the works in the exhibition share the
themes of reflection, mirror imaging, light and shadow. The landscape,
too, either static or in motion, receives different interpretations in
the works on show.

Ars Fennica 2010, 8 Oct - 12 Dec 2010, 4th Floor, Kiasma

Further information Curator Jari-Pekka Vanhala, +358 40 500 1409,
jari-ekka.vanhala@kiasma.fi

The values and traditions associated with the Bronze Soldier statue in
Tallinn In Kristina Norman's art

The starting point of Kristina [UTF-8?]Normanā€™s work is the Bronze Soldier
statue in Tallinn. The statue was erected in the centre of the city in
1947 as part of a memorial to soldiers of the Red Army. In April 2007,
the Estonian government had the statue moved to a less prominent
location, a decision that led to rioting which lasted for two nights.

[UTF-8?]Normanā€™s work addresses the values and traditions associated with the
statue and the conflict cre¬ated by its removal. In this, she uses as
her tools a gilded copy of the statue, a video camera and documentary
footage. The case of the Bronze Soldier reveals tensions running under
the surface of society that arise from different identities and
different interpretations of history.

[UTF-8?]ā€¯Two years after these events - on 9 May 2009, the day when many
Russian people traditionally celebrate Victory Day, thus making their
cultural identity visible - I brought a full-size golden rep¬lica of the
sculpture to its former location, which still remains a sacred place,
although the govern¬ment claims it is now profane. With this act I
visualized my argument that although the upstaged problems surrounding
the Bronze Soldier and the drama of its relocation are now neatly tucked
away and removed from the public space, they nevertheless continue to
exist and they should be dealt with. .. After-War is a comprehensive
installation environment where the same symbol (i.e. the Bronze Soldier)
is represented in five different keys and contexts. Although it seems
that the case of the Bronze Soldier orbits around a single monument, for
me it rather serves as a pretext for decoding existing cultural
practises and casting doubt on the rhetoric of (historical) winners and
[UTF-8?]losers.ā€¯ Kristina Norman

After-War was presented in the Venice Biennale in 2009, and was later
acquired for the Kiasma Collections.

After-War, 8. Oct 2010 - 6 Feb 2011, 2nd  Floor, Kiasma

Further information Curator Leevi Haapala, +358 40 356 7434,
leevi.haapala@kiasma.fi

On exhibition programme will also continue

CREAM - Damien Hirst & Contemporaries 5th Floor, until 7 Nov 2010
[UTF-8?]ITā€™s a Set-Up - Collection display, 3rd Floor, until 6 Feb 2011

Further information
[UTF-8?]Kiasmaā€™s Communication dep. kiaviesti@kiasma.fi

Photos for the press www.kiasma.fi/press