PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY HIPPOLYTE
Kalevankatu 18 B, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
+358 9 612 33 44, www.hippolyte.fi
Open: tue-fri 12-17, sat-sun 12-16Founded in 1978, the Hippolyte Photographic Gallery is the oldest operating photographic gallery in Finland, and a key influence in Finnish photographic art. The gallery was opened in late 1978 by Caj Bremer, Ismo Kajander, Sakari Sunila and Tuomo-Juhani Vuorenmaa in the premises of a former upholstery shop, a one-room space in Pietarinkatu street in Helsinki. The 30th anniversary year of the gallery will be celebrated for one year, starting in December 2008, which will mark the passage of exactly 30 years from the gallery's first show Seasons by Caj Bremer.
Photographic Gallery Hippolyte has invited photographic artists from four different generations to hold an exhibition in dialogue with an artist of their choice. The first of the four exhibitions, Ismo Kajander's dialogue with Nina Rantala marked the launch of the anniversary programme in December. The series will continue in March 2009 with Ulla Jokisalo and Leena Saraste, in July with Elina Brotherus and Hannele Rantala, and will conclude in November with a show by Elina Relander and Aurora Reinhard.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ulla Jokisalo & Leena Saraste
A Stitch in Time
6.3.-29.3.2009
What was going on in Niépce's mind in 1827 when he was at home, exposing a view of his neighbours' rooftops for an entire day, almost eight hours? Was he bored, or just excited? The clouds sped in the sky, shadows turned. Did he look at his own reflection, or was the window open?
How very often we have seen a picture of ourselves and hidden it in our works: our reflection, our shadow. Photography has been a reality of its own, a world that is now changing in many ways. It has also altered our relationship to the reality of the world.
Niépce had to do everything himself, starting with the devising of the camera and photosensitive material, and everything had to be done in secret. There is no longer anything secret about our methods, yet photographs retain their mystery.
While new technology can of course be learned, our background remains with the real photos of preceding generations, and of our own: silver gelatine prints and darkroom methods. Theory is becoming ever more important and photographs are becoming digital, but what will happen to photography itself, and to the photograph as an object? Our early photos have already become rare collectibles.
Despite their unorthodox approach, the works in this exhibition are a declaration of love for traditional photography. Along with conceptuality, tangibility is becoming increasingly important for us: the sense of materiality, and manual skill. The purpose of the exhibition is to engage the audience in the joy of making things, unrestrained enjoyment of creative work.A Stitch in Time presents the current status of the dialogue between Leena Saraste and Ulla Jokisalo that began 30 years ago. It started off as a conversation between teacher and student, and has continued from first joint exhibitions of the two women photographers to growing professionalism and subsequent acquisition of creative freedom.
Ulla Jokisalo began her studies of photography in 1977 at the University of Art and Design. She has since then been living and working as an independent artist in Helsinki, and she currently holds an artist professorship in photography. Since the early 1980s Jokisalo has had solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions both in Finland and abroad, most recently in St Petersburg and Paris. In 2001 she had a retrospective show Kuvieni muisti, vuodet 1980-2000 (The Memory of My Images, the Years 1980-2000) at the Helsinki City Art Museum. Already her solo exhibition Avoin kirja (An Open Book, 2005) in Photographic Gallery Hippolyte dwelled on her personal relationship to photography. Her works in the present exhibition represent a continuation of the metaphoric exploration of that complex, yet passionate relationship. Ulla Jokisalo's work is currently on exhibit at the Taiteilijoiden Kalevala show in the Ateneum Art Museum.
Leena Saraste is an independent researcher and artist from Helsinki. She has been teaching photography since the early 1970s, and served as head of the Department of Photography at the University of Art and Design in the 1970s and the 1990s. She has published several books on the history of photography as well as photographic volumes, and has held exhibitions. Her earliest books were Lintumetsät – karjahaat, ekologisia kuvia Ahvenanmaalta (Bird forests and grazing meadows, ecological photographs from Ahvenanmaa, 1977) and Beirut – jäähyväiset elokuussa (Beirut – A Farewell in August, 1983). Her work is eminently documentaristic, yet it also has a strand of exuberant playfulness that mixes different media, comments on history – and takes up enormous amounts of time.
Ulla Jokisalo & Leena Saraste, 2009
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Information and press images:
Petronella Grönroos, exhibitions co-ordinator, Photographic Gallery Hippolyte, +358 9 612 33 44, firstname.lastname@hippolyte.fi
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The anniversary year programme also includes the Helsinki Photography Festival 2009 (www.hpf.fi), organised in cooperation with the Helsinki City Art Museum and the Finnish Museum of Photography. Yhteinen leikki! (Collective Game!) is a cross-disciplinary art event to be held in public spaces in Helsinki in 2009, pushing the boundaries of the concept of photographic art (http://yhteinenleikki.blogspot.com). The anniversary programme will be complemented by a discussion series in the gallery. Hippolyte will also host a month-long artist residence programme during spring 2009. The programme is part of continuing cooperation with Le Pôle Image Haute-Normandie (Rouen, France), Centre culturel francais (Helsinki) and Photographic Centre Peri (Turku) and the Northern Photographic Centre (Oulu).Year of Photography 2009
The anniversary events of Photographic Gallery Hippolyte are part of the Year of Photography 2009 programme. www.katse.orgPhotographic Gallery Hippolyte’s anniversary year has been supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Alfred Kordelin Foundation has supported the Year of Photography 2009.
The exhibition is a part of:
www.katse.org
