'The Shell Cracked' 2024-2026

Interactive sculptural-audio installation and namesake exhibition concept

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‘Accidentally shift the precarious ‘balances’ of the self ~ Turbulent inner dynamics irremediably uncover ~ Perception-conception of ourselves and others is altered ~ Awareness that we may come across’

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The exhibition presents Valentina Gelain's new art film 'The Peaks', with side production, and the most recent sculpture series 'Shell' by Bekim Hasaj, part of Scanning Landscape project.

The Peaks investigates psychic instances, the connection between them, and what can be achieve if we actively connect to the unconscious and try to overcome the passive and illusory condition we perpetrate with our 'conscious' state. The series of metal sheets entitled 'shells' represents the landscape through its textures, traces, and stories. Shaped by hammering the metal on top of a natural body, the 'shell' is what remains after a close-up encounter. Both projects approach and interact profoundly with the landscape, the natural environment and its elements.

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The artistic corpus also includes the upcoming art film 'Fall-Translucid skins' and  the creation of multidisciplinary installations. The first one will be presented at 3H+K Gallery in Pori/Björneborg in January 2025, the show that inaugurates the exhibition cycle.

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The interactive installation 'The Shell Cracked' was inspired by the rock groups found in nature (Ice Age’s legacy) and from the photographic series 'A veil of reason over the unconscious' by Gelain, which shows these rocky entities covered in snow, with pronounced crevices. Black holes that look like entrances to the underground, portals to the psyche and the unconscious. The snow, on the other hand, represents the veil of consciousness that covers this primordiality.

So, the artists aim to build a revisited rock complex through shaped metals. The installation will also have sound, which will be heard the more you lean towards these symbolic entrances and thus darkness. The subject for the sound is the poem 'The Peaks'.

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In the project are used recycled metals and also bioplastics.

 

Upcoming exhibitions:

Gallery 3H+K, Pori (Finland, January 2025); Rådhusgalleriet, Nykarleby (Finland, January-February 2025); Varikko Galleria, Seinäjoki (Finland, October-November 2025); Taidekeskus Itä-Gallery Riutta, Lappeenranta (November-December 2025).

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The artists also worked on the art during the short residency at Moskosel Creative Lab in Sweden in the autumn of 2024.

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The art project is founded by Svensk-Österbottniska Samfundet and supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland-Taike.

Thank you Andreas Westerberg and Rosenberg Metallåtervinning.