Today We Live, 2013
Single channel video, 16:9, stereo

An anonymous group portrait filmed in documentary style during a punk gig. In Today We Live, apart from sentimental music, the mode of expression also comes from the close ups of faces. The camera records genuine feelings, as it were secretly, and even from annoyingly close to the subjects.

Hannaleena Heiska (Author), Anu Keränen (Cinematographer), Hannaleena Heiska (Director), Hannaleena Heiska (Editor), Oskar Franzén (Editor), Hannaleena Heiska (Script), Camilla Vuorenmaa (Assistant), Mika Ailasmäki (Camera Assistant), Erik Satie (Composer), Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo (Funder), Espace Louis Vuitton (Funder), Suomen Kulttuurirahasto (Funder), Finnish Cultural Foundation (Funder), Torsti Hyvönen (Grip), Kasper Hämäläinen (Lighting), Kasper Hyvärinen (Lighting), Hannaleena Heiska (Sound), Jaakko Hyvärinen (Sound), Oskar Franzén (Sound), Roy Boswell (Sound Mixer)

Hannaleena Heiska: Ridestar, 2010
S16mm transferred on Blu Ray, single channel video, 16:9

A painterly, operatic work about escapism, sublime emotions, and desperate love. It`s soundtrack is the aria Ah! Non mi ridestar! from Jules Massenet`s opera Werther. The first scene looks like an empty, austere landscape. Then the camera moves to close-ups of a hairy creature that at first remains unidentified.

Jules Massnet
Werther
Ah! Non mi ridestar!

Why do you wake me now, o sweetest breath of spring?
On my brow I sense your most gentle caress,
yet how soon creeps on the time.
filled with tempests and with distress!
Tomorrow through the vale, the traveler will pass,
recalling all of the glory of the past.
And in vain he will search for the bloom of my youth,
and nothing will he find but deep pain and endless sorrow.
Alas! Why do you wake me now, o sweetest breath of spring!

Written & directed by Hannaleena Heiska / Cinematographer Anu Keränen / Performer Tjerk / Music Jules Massenet's Werther Opera ”Ah! Non mi ridestar” -Aria By Beniamino Gigli / Editing Oskar Franzén & Hannaleena Heiska / Camera Assistant Sari Aaltonen

The work has been supported by AVEK, The Promotion Centre For Audiovisual Culture and The Finnish Cultural Foundation

Sanna Kannisto’s solo exhibition, Observing Eye, on view at Helsinki Contemporary from April 5 to may 5, 2019, consists of photographic and video works created over the last three years. Kannisto’s trademark bird pictures are now accompanied by video works and photograph collages that shed new light on the background to her working process and, for example, on ecological issues.

Kannisto’s artistic approach is typified by the method she uses to separate the animal from its original context by constructing the shooting situation in a field studio and thus setting up the subject of the shoot for inspection in an artificial environment. Observation is central to the process and to the final works: Kannisto actively studies the bird and the bird simultaneously looks back. This interaction is repeated in the exhibition space, where the works bring viewers unusually close to birds that we perhaps ordinarily only hear through a distant song.

Read more: https://helsinkicontemporary.com/exhibition/observing-eye

Olli Piippo’s solo exhibition Eight Notes on Oceanic Feeling will be held in Helsinki Contemporary on 4–27 May.

His new works approach the so-called oceanic feeling, which has been described as unity with the universe, and experiences of it through painting. A series of large, dark-coloured paintings bearing the name of the exhibition Eight Notes on Oceanic Feeling have been made with graphite on a black background.
 
“Rendered through the painting process, Oceanic Feeling is a moving state, a feeling that a wave is rolling over you, or merging into the background. In the same way the painting is either losing its form or the form is just rising to the surface.”
 
Read more: https://helsinkicontemporary.com/exhibition/eight-notes-on-oceanic-feeling

Artist Miikka Vaskola's solo exhibition Beyond at Helsinki Contemporary 9 Feb–4 March 2018.

Vaskola’s art questions the way that images are viewed and considers ways of depicting people more diversely through painting. The portrait series 'Oneself as Another' presents of the subject more than catches the eye. The nocturnal landscape paintings in the series 'Night Sky' reflect the inevitable inaccessibility of the sky. The paintings present everything and nothing at the same time, leading the viewer near and far.

"Perhaps I am trying to paint the answer,” Vaskola says.

Read more: https://helsinkicontemporary.com/exhibition/beyond

Maiju Salmenkivi working on the installation piece for Happy Garden, solo exhibition on display at Helsinki Contemporary 3 November – 3 December, 2017.

Read about the exhibition: https://helsinkicontemporary.com/exhibition/happy-garden

Marcus Eek talks about the new direction in his painting. The exhibition Tapetenwechsel is now on display in Helsinki Contemporary.

Read about the exhibition: https://helsinkicontemporary.com/exhibition/tapetenwechsel

Eeva-Riitta Eerola talks about her artistic work and the exhibition Senses of the Other at Helsinki Contemporary.

Kati Immonen kertoo työskentelystään, sekä tulevasta Flora-näyttelystään Helsinki Contemporarylla.

Kati Immonen talks about her work and her upcoming exhibition Flora.

Jukka Rusasen näyttely Setting avoinna Bulevardi 10:ssä 13.1.–5.2. sekä verkkogalleriassa 13.1.alkaen. https://helsinkicontemporary.com/exhibition/setting

Jukka Rusanen’s exhibition Setting runs 13 Jan – 5 Feb at Bulevardi 10, Helsinki and in the web gallery from 13 Jan on. https://helsinkicontemporary.com/exhibition/setting

Heidi Lampenius kertoo työskentelystään sekä Supernatural-näyttelystään. Näyttely on avoinna Helsinki Contemporaryssa 18.12. asti. Lue lisää: https://helsinkicontemporary.com/exhibition/supernatural

Heidi Lampenius talks about her work and exhibition Supernatural. The exhbiition is open until 18 Dec in Helsinki Contemporary. Read more: https://helsinkicontemporary.com/exhibition/supernatural

Ville Löppönen kertoo työskentelystään. Rukouksia näyttely on esillä Helsinki Contemporaryssa 28.10.–20.11.2016.

Ville Löppönen shares some thoughts about his work (in Finnish). His exhibition Contemplation is on display at Helsinki Contemporary 28 Oct through 20 Nov 2016.

Have you ever thought how a work of art in an exhibition feels when you view it?
Jukka Korkeila's new exhibition Sans Souci at Helsinki Contemporary.

More about the exhibition: https://helsinkicontemporary.com/exhibition/sans-souci
Jukka Korkeila: https://helsinkicontemporary.com/artist/jukka-korkeila

Lukas Göthman tells about his work in an interview made in connection to the Guilty Pleasure duo exhibition with Olli Piippo at Helsinki Contemporary 5.–28.8.2016.

Emma Ainala kertoo näyttelystään Sensual World, joka on esillä Helsinki Contemporaryssa 8.4.–30.4.2016.

Emma Ainala talks about her exhibition Sensual World at Helsinki Contemporary April 8–30, 2016.

The easiest way to discover art at home. View art digitally on your own wall. Get ARTAP by Helsinki Contemporary. For further information, visti: https://helsinkicontemporary.com/introducing/artap.

The easiest way to discover art at home. View art digitally on your own wall. Get ARTAP by Helsinki Contemporary. For furher information, visit: https://helsinkicontemporary.com/introducing/artap.

Henry Wuorila-Stenberg kertoo uudesta näyttelystään Helsinki Contemporaryssa.

Janne Räisänen kertoo työskentelystään ja teoksista näyttelyssään ’Käy peremmälle. Ota vaatteet pois.’ Näyttely on avoinna Helsinki Contemporaryssa 8.—31.1.2016.

Janne Räisänen talks about his artistic practice and works included in the exhibition ’Käy peremmälle. Ota vaatteet pois.’ The exhibition is open 8th—31st of Jan 2016 at Helsinki Contemporary.

Miikka Vaskola kertoo työskentelystään uuden näyttelynsä Remembering Forwards parissa. Näyttely on avoinna Helsinki Contemporaryssa 30.10.–22.11.2015.