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The Hidden Spots 2025-2026

site-specific, immersive and interactive installation/exhibition in a century-old house in Övermark

The house will reopen in summer 2026!

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The context-specific work is the result of a series of interventions, manipulations, and artistic elements that take shape, develop, and re-inhabit the spaces of a century-old house. In unusual places or nooks, the immersive installation encourages the public to interact and explore the space in search of these ´hidden spots´. The house is not just an exhibition premises — it becomes the work of art itself.

The dwelling was frozen in time, with all the goods of the family that has lived there since its construction, and this allowed the artists to interact not only with the space, but with the very objects and elements moulded within it. Some interventions directly rework these materials, even simply through conceptual actions.

The environment will also disguise poetry, word art and the main subject of the video artwork ´What is Left in the Temple of Memory´, currently under development and ready in 2026.

The multi-interdisciplinary production, among other things, features sound components and works in collaboration with Stefan Backas. One of the sound piece includes recordings from the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland archive.

Furthermore, with a growing desire and vision to explore the concept of ´moving artwork´, Hasaj and Gelain are collaborated with performer Ailish Maher to become one of these memories, consciousnesses, and anecdotes concealed in the house.

Thank you to Roger Palmroos and Camilla Ågren.

Supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Svensk-Österbottniska Samfundet and Svenska Kulturfonden.

About the opening and events program in EnglishSwedish and Finnish

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​​The poems and textual interventions are written in English, Swedish, Finnish, Albanian, and Italian.

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The Hidden Spots installation by Hasaj-Gelain, 2025 - Map

Art interventions

Veranda 1basket with yarn - sound artwork with poem (in collaboration with Stefan Backas, narrator Margaretha Sillander [smartphone and 70s headphone, 30 seconds in loop, seven-line poem in Swedish]); 2) closet - children's shoes and original belongings; 3) table - clay mould & poem (white air drying clay and acrylic paint, variable dimensions & four-line poem in Albanian, gold marker on tissue paper)4) closet - jars with organic material & poems (original 5-10 liter glass jars, water and bioplastic, organic natural material & four-line poems in Swedish, colored pencils on cotton paper 10,5cmx15cm); 5) attic door - canvas and mixed media on fabric (wooden frame 70cmx170cm, white canvas, cotton and synthetic fabric 150cmx300cm, acrylic colors, sewn buttons).

Entrance → 6) bathroom door - sound artwork, echo (in collaboration with Stefan Backas [microphone pre amp, effect unit, speaker, power cords]); 7) portrait - original document behind (original material covered in plastic and hung with thread, 21cmx10cm); 8) chest - sawdust and small objects (original antique wooden chest and various original and non-original objects); 9) small closet - tomato & poem, photos & poem (white marker on organic object, two-line poem in Swedish & inkjet print on satin photographic paper and ballpoint pen on photographic, 8,5cmx12,5cm, six-line poem in Finnish); 10) frontal wall - welcome poem on canvas (canvas and water based paint, 76x44cm, six-line poem in English).

Kitchen 11) closet - photo in light box & object (inkjet print on photographic paper in plexiglass 89cmx73cm, spotlight lamp, pawer cord & small plastic toy); 12) closet - glass of milk & poem (two-line poem in English, white marker on glass); 13) old telephone & poem (pencil on paper tape, three-line poem in Swedish)14) table - sewn napkins with text (mixed linen fabric 40cmx40xm and red cotton thread, two texts in English and two in Swedish); 15window - poem (seven-line poem in Italian, white marker on glass, variable dimension); 16) drawer - laurel & poem (organic object and white marker on satin ribbon, three-line poem written in one line in English); 17) closet - cups & poem (gold marker on ceramic, three-line poem in Albanian); 18) sink - water, shell and send on a plate (original objects and organic material floating or immersed in water); 19) stove - pot with wax & engraved poem (melted wax with black powdered dye & five-line poem in Swedish); 20work table - pot with wax and clay sculpture (white air drying into melted wax with black powdered dye); 21) hatch - thread on canvas with poem (acrylic paint and glued thread on canvas, five-line poem written in one line in English); 22) cellar - spiral light work (battery-powered electroluminescent wires 900cm, variable dimension); 23) mirror - folded poem (three-line poem in Italianballpoint pen on original paper 4cmx12cm).

Small room → 24) desk - cubes with pictures & poem (wooden board, 42 wooden cubes 3,5cmx3,5cm, inkjet print on paper, manually transferred images with medium & four-line poem in English, marker on original paper); 25) window sill - matches & poem (pencil on wood, three-line poem in Italian); 26) lamp - thread & poem (glued wool thread in the internal part of lamp shade covering, three-line poem written in one line in Finnish); 27) photo album - mixed photos (original antique photo album, 64 inkjet prints on fine art matt paper, 6,5cmx10,5cm and 10,5cmx16,5cm).

Living room → 28) fireplace - poem crumpled up (thirteen-line poem and eight-line poem in English, original paper and colored pencil); 29) stereo - sound artworks in cassette (#1 in collaboration with Stefan Backas, using the archive material of Society of Swedish Literature in Finland [original radio stereo, manipulation and reinterpretation of archive material subsequently recorded on tape, 1 hour] / #2 by Pádriag Croke & Ailish Maher, from the Ailish Maher performance); 30closet - hanging keys (130 original iron and metal keys, string and thread, wooden frame 100cmx70cm); 31) closet - hanging fishing nets with hair (original material, string and hooks, 150cmx60cmx70cm); 32window - poem (eleven-line poem in English, white marker on glass, variable dimension); 33) carpet - box with coal and teeth (wooden box 8cmx8cmx5,5cm, glued cotton thread, text in English & original carpet and cotton 172cmx235cm and synthetic fabric 150cmx230cm); 34) rocking chair - puppet and sound work (activate with a sensor under the sofa, in collaboration with Stefan Backas, narrator Bekim Hasaj [speaker, mixer, Eyra device and laser sensor, power cords, 23 seconds, five-line poem in English]); 35) drawer - original letters, photo in light box, photo & poem + framed digital collage by Ailish Maher (inkjet print on photographic paper in plexiglass, battery-powered spotlight lamp & inkjet print on Kodak glossy photographic paper, variable dimension, 1-line poem in Finnish).

Bedroom 36) bed - frottage and prints on sheet (body painting on seven single cotton sheets, variable dimensions and water-based paint) ; 37) dresser - folded poem & handkerchief with poem (four-line poem in Englishballpoint pen on original paper 4cmx12cm & hold cotton handkerchief with red ink and four-line poem in Albanian); 38) fireplace - photo in light box (inkjet print on photographic paper in plexiglass, battery-powered spotlight lamp); 39) cabinet - books & poem and photo in light box (four-line poem in English, pencil on paper & inkjet print on photographic paper in plexiglass, battery-powered spotlight lamp); 40) window - poem (eleven-line poem in English, white marker on glass, variable dimension); 41) closet - bouquet of flowers (from Ailish Maher performance).

Garden  42) boat - paper and poem (original old boat, handmade recycled book paper and  seven-line poem in English, written in chalk); 43) hanging laundry - poem (twelve-line poem in English, acrylic paint on cotton and linen fabric, variable dimension).

And I bag pardon

when we reunite

in this familiar but

crooked, topsy-turvy

twisted home

Protected under a roof of regret

you are the only one left 

on a chair of a dull kitchen

Letting go

we lie down in rodent holes

to confide and forgive

each ot​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Puppet on the rocking chair - ´The Hidden Spots´installation/exhibition, ´What is Left in the Temple of Memory´project, 2025
00:00 / 00:23

About the project

The interdisciplinary project ‘What is Left in the Temple of Memory’ is based on community research, video art and site-specific installations to investigate the dynamics and phenomena between memory and time.

The artist duo Hasaj-Gelain probed the human perception and alteration, the traces left behind that wear out quickly and those that endure, history that fades and evaporates by repeating itself. What was so important and what is now – linked to the personal, human and transcendental dimension. Perceiving differently the possible values of impermanence in perpetual awareness.

From this universal perspective, as a counterbalance, attention is paid and value is given to sharing existen-ces that bring us back to our present, to our surroundings.

‘Home’ as a body… as symbol of us. Intimacy and individuality, but also connective structures to the community and collectivity. Personal memories that belong to us, and reminiscences imprinted unaware within us.

Disused, abandoned, forgotten places what do they whisper… what do they exude? 

The immersive and interactive installation ´The Hidden Spots´ attempts this depiction. A deserted old hou-se becomes a work of art through targeted interventions and modifications, also including and concealing multidisciplinary art in the environment. Apparently usual, empty settings for the public to interact with, discovering memories and revealing stories that for some reason have now fallen into oblivion.

 What is Left in the Temple of Memory Project > web page

The event is part of the public art development project in rural areas (DPARA) > web page

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Copyright © 2024-2025 The Hidden Spots by Bekim Hasaj & Valentina Gelain

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