Mirage

Mirage, a co-production of non-commercial art space Sinne and Mobius Fellowship Program, is curated by Markus Åström and features commissioned works by artists Juan Betancurth, Daniel Neumann and Tanja Koponen.

The exhibition’s title refers to an optical phenomenon in which light is reflected and refracted through air layers of different temperatures. In a mirage we can sometimes see things that lie beyond the horizon, or it can form mirror images in which the landscape hangs upside down in the air. The exhibition, too, has its starting point in these types of distortions. The boundary between the artworks and their surroundings is obliterated and the point of transition becomes uncertain. Where does the art begin, where does it end, and what is going on behind what we see and experience?

Similar to their earlier collaborations, Daniel Neumann and Juan Betancurth’s "In A Myth of the Actual" incorporates elements, structures and atmospheres from the existing milieu, which in this case is the Garden Center in Vantaa. The New York based artists analyze the prevailing situation, the site and its constituents to assemble a new structure with new rules. Sound is a key element in their installations. "In A Myth of the Actual" makes sound a tactile material through modules that vibrate and resonate in response to visitors. For the first time, the artists expand their work online: the room and the sound installation will be monitored and used as an instrument in Neumann’s concurrent live performances elsewhere. 

Tanja Koponen’s artistic practice is typically based on intuition and spontaneity. For “I Made This For You” Koponen uses a small greenhouse as a utility for addressing the need to control nature and coerce it to a system built upon our needs. She imposes the model upon wild nature and tends the plants in the greenhouse throughout the exhibition period, but with the aim of fulfilling nature’s needs instead of utilizing it.

Curator Markus Åström has a background and special interest in managing commissioned public artwork projects. He developed this interest further through Mobius Fellowship Program, by collaborating with New York-based art organization No Longer Empty in the fall 2014.

Mirage is a co-production of Sinne and the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York and part of the Mobius Fellowship Program. 

SINNE

Sinne is a venue for Finnish and international contemporary art with a particular concentration on up-and-coming and experimental art. Their exhibition program comes together by combining an annual open call with in-house curation. Alongside exhibitions, Sinne organizes events, such as artist talks and seminars, and runs a pedagogical programme for kindergartens and schools. Sinne is managed by the Pro Artibus Foundation, an independent organization of the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.

http://sinne.proartibus.fi

MOBIUS is a fellowship program for visual arts, museum and archive professionals based in New York, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Finland. The program enables transatlantic mobility and collaborative practices and supports long-lasting professional relationships.

http://m0bius.net