ART CITIES:Helnsiki-Erkka Nissinen & Nathaniel Mellors
The exhibition “Aalto Natives” showcases the artist duo Erkka Nissinen and Nathaniel Mellors who represented Finland at the 2017 Venice Biennale. Their work, “The Aalto Natives” is a humorous yet critical examination of Finnish identity that involves creativity, nerdy humour and a cast of national celebrities from prehistoric times to the age of robotics.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma Archive
Individually known for their irreverent and often comedic story-driven work, Erkka Nissinen and Nathaniel Mellors met when they were both studying at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam. In their work they focus on various clichés surrounding Finnish history and national identity for “The Aalto Natives”. Conflating ideas and tropes from archaeology, anthropology and science fiction, the work re-imagines Finnish society through the eyes of two messianic outsider figures, Geb and Atum, who are represented by talking animatronic puppets. The story presents Geb and Atum as terraforming higher beings, who re-visit the Finland they have created millions of years earlier, and who try to make sense of the culture that has developed in the meantime. They are engaged in a dialogue in which they introduce a series of video vignettes on Finnish creation mythology, contemporary Finnish society and their vision for the future of Finland. Within this narrative framework, the artists playfully critique religion and the nature of human existence, to reveal the systemic flaws at the heart of cultures dominated by rationalism and the fetishization of progress. Various visual idioms – including HD videos of old school Muppet-style puppeteering, 3D CGI, and hand-drawn stop-motion animation – conjure the universe and psychology of their characters. These different media and technologies are synchronized into a dynamic and immersive theatrical experience. The exhibition also includes works completed by the two artists individually, yet they share a sense of strangeness and surprising turns of plot as well as dark and absurd humour.
Info: Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Mannerheiminaukio 2, Helsinki, Duration: 16/3-9/9/18, Days & hours: Tue & Sun 10:00-17:00, Wed-Fri 10:00-20:30, Sat 10:00-18:00, http://kiasma.fi
