Henri Airo's exhibition
11.10.2024
12.00 - 16.00
Artcenter Mältinranta, Kuninkaankatu 2, 33210 Tampere
The exhibition "War is an accident" explores the culture of remembering war by combining photographic artistic work and archival research.
War is an accident
The ensemble, which combines photographic and media art and archival research, forms a multimedia installation, which brings together different observations about the connections between war remembrance and militarism in Finnish society.
In the exhibition, Airo's research work between 2017 and 2024 comes together in the form of his photographs, collected news clips, archival photographs and war film materials. In addition, the exhibition features paintings from the war borrowed from private collections. Along with observational photographs and public material, the exhibition also contains material related to Airo's own personal history, such as family album photos and an essay written in middle school. Archival material has been collected, for example, from the collections of the National Audiovisual Institute, the SA Picture Archive and the National Library.
By combining research materials and photographs related to historical and fictional events, the body of work aims to draw out the collective imagination and pictorial representations through which the relationship to the historical war is formed in Finland today. At the same time, the exhibition makes visible how trauma experiences are passed on from one generation to another, as well as what kind of culture and mental landscape they build for individuals in contemporary Finnish society.
"Since 2017, I have examined the Finnish culture of remembering the war and its pictorial representation by documenting manifestations of the culture of remembrance, such as museums and commemorations, as well as researching war film materials, photo archives and news material. By bringing together the observations I made, I want to make visible the functioning of society's collective memory, as well as raise questions about the connections between commemorative cultures and everyday militarism. The threat of war has narrowed perspectives to Finnish remembering, and the project partly maintains a space for this meaningful social discussion", describes Airo.
During the exhibition, a photo book made from the project, War is an accident, will also be published (UTU Press, 2024). After publication, the book will be available in connection with the exhibition.
Henri Airo (b. 1996) is a visual artist working in Helsinki who is interested in the interaction between people. In his works, he examines social phenomena by bringing together photographs and other lens-based media, text and archival material. In his artistic work, Airo is interested in a self-reflective look that, along with the subject, examines the tools and structures used to form shared social narratives. He has graduated from the photography course at LAB University of Applied Sciences in 2021. In addition to his own artistic work, Airo works as a photography teacher, writer and produces various cultural projects in the free art field.
The work and production of the work has been supported in various stages by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Center for the Promotion of Art (Taike), the Kimmo Kaivanto Foundation and the Foundation for the Promotion of Journalistic Culture
The ensemble, which combines photographic and media art and archival research, forms a multimedia installation, which brings together different observations about the connections between war remembrance and militarism in Finnish society.
In the exhibition, Airo's research work between 2017 and 2024 comes together in the form of his photographs, collected news clips, archival photographs and war film materials. In addition, the exhibition features paintings from the war borrowed from private collections. Along with observational photographs and public material, the exhibition also contains material related to Airo's own personal history, such as family album photos and an essay written in middle school. Archival material has been collected, for example, from the collections of the National Audiovisual Institute, the SA Picture Archive and the National Library.
By combining research materials and photographs related to historical and fictional events, the body of work aims to draw out the collective imagination and pictorial representations through which the relationship to the historical war is formed in Finland today. At the same time, the exhibition makes visible how trauma experiences are passed on from one generation to another, as well as what kind of culture and mental landscape they build for individuals in contemporary Finnish society.
"Since 2017, I have examined the Finnish culture of remembering the war and its pictorial representation by documenting manifestations of the culture of remembrance, such as museums and commemorations, as well as researching war film materials, photo archives and news material. By bringing together the observations I made, I want to make visible the functioning of society's collective memory, as well as raise questions about the connections between commemorative cultures and everyday militarism. The threat of war has narrowed perspectives to Finnish remembering, and the project partly maintains a space for this meaningful social discussion", describes Airo.
During the exhibition, a photo book made from the project, War is an accident, will also be published (UTU Press, 2024). After publication, the book will be available in connection with the exhibition.
Henri Airo (b. 1996) is a visual artist working in Helsinki who is interested in the interaction between people. In his works, he examines social phenomena by bringing together photographs and other lens-based media, text and archival material. In his artistic work, Airo is interested in a self-reflective look that, along with the subject, examines the tools and structures used to form shared social narratives. He has graduated from the photography course at LAB University of Applied Sciences in 2021. In addition to his own artistic work, Airo works as a photography teacher, writer and produces various cultural projects in the free art field.
The work and production of the work has been supported in various stages by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Center for the Promotion of Art (Taike), the Kimmo Kaivanto Foundation and the Foundation for the Promotion of Journalistic Culture