CITIPATI, 2015-2016

Site-specific object installation

EXHIBITED:
Monastic chamber in GALLEN-KALLELA MUSEUM, Espoo, FI, 2015-2016

During the Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s anniversary year the Gallen-Kallela Museum displayed sketches and studies for the frescoes in Jusélius Mausoleum. The mausoleum was built by businessman F.A. Jusélius in memory of his daughter Sigrid, who died at the age of 11. He commissioned the frescoes from Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The task touched Gallen-Kallela at a personal level as he also had lost his first-born daughter Marjatta.

I was commissioned to make an installation using objects from the collections of the museum and the Jusélius foundation. The work was realized in the top tower room of Tarvaspää, the monastic chamber, which for Gallen-Kallela was a private space to think and work.

I selected items and photographs related to themes of temporality and transiency. The photographs show the monastic chamber, first in building phase and then after the artist’s death organized like a memento mori with a chandelier, an hourglass, a skull, and a wall clock. The objects measuring and organizing time were Akseli’s wristwatch and a wall calendar used by Sigrid. The set also included a spinning top, three rotating mechanical toys, drawings by Marjatta and Sigrid, and a glossy scrap and putti.

The vitrines were kindly donated by the National Museum of Finland.