Finland, Finland, Finland (sing it, like Monty Python)

Last weekend I went to Helsinki.


I have no idea what that says.

The highlight was a trip to Kiasma, the Museum of Contemporary Art.


some nice architecture. And some more...


(just showing off my photography skills really)

There were a couple of excellent exhibitions on and I particularly loved 'Wind from the East – Perspectives on Asian Contemporary Art'. I actually felt a certain connectedness to the works and it was more than just a geographical link. Perhaps it's because, in Australia, we are exposed to work from Asian countries. Or maybe it's because I'm more aware of the issues which affect artists in Asia than those in Europe, but the connection is something which I haven't experienced with most of the European art I've been seeing.


This is an installation by Indonesian artist, Eko Nugroho called 'Enough is Enough'.


The view from the other end of the gallery.

The pieces that you see attached to the wall are machine embroidered fabric (I think. Shula? If they're done by hand then I'm even more impressed).







I also really enjoyed the video work of Yang Zhenzhong (China)


'922 Rice Corns'

and (whispering) I don't usually enjoy video art, and can rarely sit through the full length of works. But I sat and watched this 2 times over and it's simply a rooster and a chicken pecking rice corns while 2 voices count (in Chinese - a male voice for the rooster and a female voice for the hen) to 922 as each piece of rice is pecked and eaten. The numbers bottom left count up the hen's corns and the numbers bottom right, the rooster's. The total is in the middle

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