Touch

Touch is the title of the new Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection Exhibition. The display comprises three sections with the overarching theme of humanity at its core. The first two sections of the display are now open to the public; the first one opened on 19 November 2014 and the second one opened on 29 May 2015. The third section will open in November 2015.

The first phase of the display, Human, space and encounters, explores the experimential and interactive nature of art while focusing on the concept of encounters with art the communication between a work of art and the viewer. The reality created by the artist and that of the viewer’s own come into contact in the encounter between the two. This special interaction allows for a sense of presence and humanity to arise.

The second phase of the display, Human, identity and body, delves deeply into the fundamental mysteries of humanity. This section presents the tools that visual arts have to represent identity, physicality and our relationship with history and memories. Attention is also drawn on how the ever-increasing avalanche of images in our culture affects the artists' way of representing humanity, body and identity. The second phase exhibits the various methods that can be used in art to expand and to question the concept of humanity through mythical and surrealistic undertones. 

The third and last phase of the display, Human and power, will open on 18 November 2015. This section will highlight the idea of the human being as a social, hierarchical actor who is part of a community, society and global power structures and ecosystems. Power relations, mechanisms of power, as well as values, morality and beliefs form the thematic core; these determine the way an individual operates and position themselves in relations to other human beings, other species, as part of natural ecosystem.

The three sections of the exhibition are curated by Pilvi Kalhama, Päivi Karttunen and Henna Paunu.