Pictures
Helsinki at Last is the first solo exhibition by the Swedish artist Annika von Hausswolff in Helsinki.
Annika von Hausswolff has been involved in photography since the mid-1990s. Her works have played a remarkable role in the rise of photography into one of the major forms of expression in contemporary art. Today, in Sweden, she is one of the most respected artists of her generation.
Annika von Hausswolff was born in Gothenburg in 1967. During 1991–94 she studied in Stockholm at Konstfackskolan – University College of Arts. In 1999, she represented Sweden at the Venice Biennale. Over the past few years, she has been living and working in Berlin, but has recently moved back to Gothenburg to accept a part-time professorship of photography at the University of Gothenburg.
Four photographic works from the years 1997–2006 will be on display at Galleria Huuto. The works of choice illustrate the development of Annika von Hausswolff’s artistic practice during the years. The exhibition includes staged settings and self-portraits as well as still life compositions.
Untitled (with bubble), 1997, is a series of seven photographs in which the artist is blowing bubblegum. With the help of the self-timer, the exact moment during which the bubbles burst on her face can be captured.
Untitled (shirts), 2002, is a series featuring sixteen pink and beige shirts, all of which have been twisted into identical knots. The photographs can be seen as certain kinds of portraits and, simultaneously, as visual and psychological gestures.
Live from the Ocean, 2005. ”There is a woman on a chair. She is standing in the middle of an empty room, where the floor is the sea and the chair is a boat. She is on her way home.”
Untitled, 2006, consists of eight black-and-white pictures in which hands are shaping a balloon. This topic is repeated again and again. The images can be understood as a kind of a mantra or as a series of impractical manuals.
“The name of the exhibition, ‘Helsinki at last’, demonstrates my enthusiasm about finally being able to exhibit my photographs in Helsinki, a city I am fond of and feel very close to,” Annika von Hausswolff says.
The exhibition is a part of the HUUTO TUOTANTO (‘Huuto productions’) series, realized through the contacts of Galleria Huuto and its member artists on a shoestring budget and bringing interesting and though-provoking exhibitions and other projects by international artiststo Helsinki. Every HUUTO TUOTANTO is a unique event in Finland.
Annika von Hausswolff is represented by Galleri Andréhn-Schiptjenkon in Stockholm and Gallery Casey Kaplan in New York. In addition to the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, in Helsinki, her works can be found in the following collections:
Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark
Akzo Nobel Art Foundation, Arnhem, the Netherlands
Astrup Fearnley Collection, Oslo, Norway
Museet for Moderne Kunst, Oslo, Norway
Caldic Collection, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier, France
Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Gothenburg, Sweden
Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, USA
Länsmuseet Gävleborg, Gävle, Sweden
Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
Malmö Konstmuseum, Sweden
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
Neuberger Berman, New York, USA
Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Sweden
SFNMOMA, San Francisco, USA
Skövde Konstmuseum, Sweden
Statens Konstråd, Sweden
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark
Västerås Konstmuseum, Sweden
Many thanks to Marina Ciglar, Helena Eriksson, Anna Lamberg, and IASPIS
