Markku Hakuri’s exhibition “House of Moments”

Art is a manual for existing in the world, the content of which is determined by the predestined connection of imagination and knowledge.  

A work of art is a message that becomes meaningful only when it is interpreted by an observer. 

A moment is the culmination of time. It is the event horizon of time, beyond which there is no return to the past, no access to the future. 

House of Moments is based on the idea of ​​a world built on experiences and events stored in memory and the narratives they comprise. Stories are the offspring of time and place. If time vanishes, so do the stories. 

My artistic work is always connected to social engagement. It means taking a stand within the visual and verbal information field that surrounds us. My artworks are also part of my life story, dives into the unpredictable mind.  The purpose and content of my works emerge during the creative process. I trust the experience created by the moment and the subconscious. My artworks are the archaeology of my mind. For me, art is always a process – not a product. 

The paintings, drawings and the installation featured in the exhibition are directly or indirectly related to my project 1095 days – Notes from the Draughtman’s Diary, created between 2016 and 2019, which was based on the everyday information of the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper. Every day for three years, I randomly selected a press photo and transformed it into a new drawing – the mental landscape of the artist, the story of the moment. This collection of drawings forms an image archive that continues to serve as a constant source of inspiration and material for new works. The large-scale mixed media works on plywood, the acrylic paintings on paper and the installations assembled from everyday materials are based on the archived sketches. The intense physical processing, experimentation with various materials and reworking of surfaces are strongly present in my artworks.  

Upstairs in the Gallery a video + sound world by Antti Hakuri 

Hakuri has worked between 2000 and 2012 at Aalto University as a professor of environmental art and as a teacher both at home and abroad, for example: Theatre Academy, Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Middlebury College (USA), E.S.A.G. (Paris, France), University of Porto (Portugal), Ringling College (Sarasota, USA), St Lucas Art University (Antwerp, Belgium), Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) 

In addition to his active career as an artist and teacher, Hakuri has designed numerous environmental artworks and worked as a set designer and visualizer at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Finnish National Opera, Helsinki City Theatre, etc.