When Turku Biennial is held for the tenth time next year, it is with fifteen Nordic artists searching for idyll.
2013 marks the anniversary for the Turku Biennial in Finland; it’s been ten years since the first exhibition. The theme for the upcoming biennial is Idyll and fifteen Nordic artists have been invited to participate in the exhibition.
The press release asks ‘what kind of idyll, dream or utopia are contemporary individuals seeking? What is the landscape of the urban imagination like? Is an idyllic state ever really possible to reach? What does idyll cover, what is behind it?’ Finally, it also asks whether a kind of ‘shared Nordic idyll’ exists.
There are many associations to the word ‘idyll’, but it usually means something nice, like a harmonic vista showing the untarnished beauty of nature or the countryside. The concept of idyll traces back to antiquity and has formed a basis for how we experience idyll today, and it seems that the concept of idyll has remained unaltered through the ages and throughout art history. Does the term or idea of idyll mean anything else to us today? Has its value changed? That remains to be seen, and hopefully we’ll get the answers when Turku Biennial opens next year.
The artists invited will make new works for the exhibition, examining idyll from up close and from a distance; from the inside and the outside. The press release further states that ‘some of the selected artists have previously made works critically examining modern day society. Others use irony or humor as tools in their artistic practice. On the other hand, a direct approach, dealing with the concept of idyll from an intimate, personal point of view, can also be expected in the exhibition.’
The Turku Biennial opens for the tenth time at the Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova Museum on 8th May 2013 and is on view until 1st September 2013. As part of the biennial, two prizes will also be awarded two artists. One of the artists will be selected as the winner of the Turku Biennial and will receive a prize of 5 000 euro. Then, the audience can vote for their favorite work, and this artist will be awarded with a prize of 1 000 euro at the end of the exhibition.
The participating artists are:
Petri Ala-Maunus (Finland), Emil Asgrimsson (Iceland), Søren Thilo Funder (Denmark), Heidi Hove (Denmark), Stine Marie Jacobsen (Denmark), Lisa Jeannin (Sweden), Tilda Lovell (Sweden), Mom & Jerry (Norway), Valeria Montti Colque (Sweden), Mercedes Mühleisen (Norway), Joar Nango & Tanya Busse (Norway), Bjargey Olafsdottir (Iceland), Katarina Reuter (Finland), Silja Salle (Iceland), Elina Saloranta (Finland).
Turku Biennial is curated by a team of seven curators working in the Nordic countries. From Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova the curators are Silja Lehtonen, museum director Johanna Lehto-Vahtera, PR officer Laura Boxberg and researcher Eeva Holkeri. The invited guest curators are curator and critic Power Ekroth (Sweden), curator Karolin Tampere (Norway), artist and curator Ellen Friis (Denmark) and art historian and curator Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir (Iceland).