Chritical Gallery: CHRISTMAS EXHIBITION 2024

Critical Gallery is organizing a Christmas exhibition because we like Christmas. Or at least I do, I didn’t remember to ask my fellow gallery owners or the artists in the exhibition if they too like Christmas…

Whether you like Christmas or not, it is a good subject for art and a good theme for an art exhibition, because Christmas is a hugely significant phenomenon in Finland and in most parts of the world.

For some, Christmas is a religious celebration of the birth of the Savior promised by Christianity. The Savior was born, lived a short life, at the end of which he was killed. According to Christianity, he is coming back and has promised — with his father — to right all wrongs.

For some believers, Christmas even marks the beginning of immortality: they take the Bible’s promises of eternal life so literally that they believe that the Savior — when he shows up for the second time — will not only right all wrongs, but will a special gift like a really special Santa Claus: eternal life to all, or at least to many…

For some, Christmas is just a children’s party. It’s about giving this and that stuff as presents, mostly to children, and playing Santa Claus and elf games. In organizing this, adults are both dismissive and jealous of children: “If only I could still be that primitive to be so very excited about a silly Lego kit or something!”

I also know people who think it’s our collective duty to spend a lot of money during the festive season, because it keeps the economy going and creates jobs. They think that this is the real gospel of Christmas.

Many of us also hate Christmas. Why? Because, despite the promises and rhetoric, it has largely become its own travesty. Christmas is now essentially a celebration of consumerism, where unconditional love shines through in its absence.

But it is also possible to think optimistically about Christmas. For me, Jesus is above all a radical, left-wing political philosopher who demanded true equality and preached about the revolutionary power of unconditional love. True equality doesn’t mean just ”The same rules for all and let’s see who wins.” Instead, it means ”The same rules for all, and special care and help for those in need.” In addition, Jesus encouraged people to seek happiness in something other than material wealth. He lived modestly and encouraged voluntary poverty — which of course must not to be confused with involuntary poverty and the misery which that brings.

Thus, Jesus fought against the rule of the few, tyranny and consumerism a couple of thousand years before the consumer capitalism that now plagues us.

In Jesus’ radical philosophy, love is a political force that breaks down individual boundaries and makes unselfish co-existence possible. In his philosophy, love has also another important function: if one loves life and also other beings one can accept and even relish one’s own mortality: I will not live for ever, but life does indeed go on, in other forms and beings… If you love this world enough, you don’t have to dream of a paradise beyond.

For the Christmas Exhibition, I asked for artworks from ten wonderful artists / groups. And included also a couple of works of my own.

Welcome… …and Merry Christmas to all!

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During the exhibition, the gallery will also host the last Critical Club of the year, in the form of PIKKUJOULUT / CHRISTMAS PARTY, on Saturday 7.12.2024 at 17:00.

The party is created by a group of Critical Elves, including Teemu Mäki and MERI PAJUNPÄÄ.

The programme of the party:

Christmas Sermon

A dance performance with music.

Christmas poems.

Physical, participatory Christmas exercises. (Participation voluntary.)

Christmas porridge.

ARTISTS

MINNA HAVUKAINEN

AARON HILTUNEN

KATRI KAINULAINEN & MAXIMILIAN LATVA

ELIAS LANGI

CARL-JOHAN UTSI & JENNI LAITI

TEEMU MÄKI

JARMO MÄKILÄ

ILKKA SARIOLA

ARVO TURTIAINEN

SUSANNA VUORIO

MIKKO ÄNGESLEVÄ