PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY HIPPOLYTE
Kalevankatu 18 B, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
+358 9 612 33 44, www.hippolyte.fi
Open: tue-fri 12-17, sat-sun 12-16Pekka Niittyvirta
BROKEN IDYL
6 February – 1 March 2009
The works in Pekka Niittyvirta's exhibition Broken Idyl continue to employ the same idiosyncratic method of presentation as his earlier exhibitions, also using some of the same themes. The works in this series involves several photographic experiments and processes which give rise to phenomena that have resulted in quite pleasing visual phenomena.
The subject matter as well as techniques in the photos are varied, and some of the pictures have been created with camera-less processes. Some of the individual photos have been produced by manipulating the code of an electronic image file, others may be the result of physical manipulation of the negative. Where one photo has parts of the human genetic sequence incorporated into its digital code, another has the roots of a sprouting plant penetrating through the negative.
Niittyvirta's work converges not only on photographic art but also on process art and bioart, even though the exhibition also includes works created in a perfectly conventional way. Niittyvirta becomes a researcher or an experimentalist who wants to test the elasticity of the photograph, how far you can stretch it before it breaks.
The exhibition as a whole challenges the viewer to look in a new way at images presented in a photographic format, and to use clues to interpret what they see. The pictures in the exhibition explore the relationship of the analog and the digital image, seeking different ways to approach the photographic image. The pictures also allude to the nature, birth and history of contemporary information society.
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Pekka Niittyvirta (b 1974) lives and works in Helsinki. His creative work contains a very strong dimension of improvisation and intuition. Niittyvirta is fascinated by the force of social circumstances and how individual decisions tend to create mass actions. His works explore the relationship of scenery, space and human beings. The pictures bring into focus constructed environments and the effect they have on our daily decisions and the activities of different groups. In addition to traditional photography he also makes use of digital, chemical as well as physical processes to create his works. Niittyvirta has shown his work in both solo and group exhibitions in Finland and abroad.Pekka Niittyvirta, Trinity#3, 2007
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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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Thirty years passed in December 2008 since the opening of Photographic Gallery Hippolyte. The gallery celebrates its anniversary year from 4 December 2008 to 29 November 2009 with a programme that includes exhibitions, a photographic festival, a cross-disciplinary art event and a residency. -> read more...The exhibition is a part of:
www.katse.org
