GALLERY ASKI: KAISU KOIVISTO – CONVERSATIONS WITH ICE 

Conversations with Ice presents photographs and sculptures by Kaisu Koivisto. She is interested in the dimensions of history, the present, and futures: how quickly things fall into oblivion, and how futures are planned and built. At the core of her artistic practice are northern landscapes from Helsinki to Svalbard, and the transformations taking place within them: constructed and under construction, growing and decaying.

The nucleus of the exhibition consists of the series Conversations with Ice and When a Glacier Dies. Kaisu Koivisto photographed the images for the works in Svalbard. They carry a documentary undertone onto which Koivisto builds layers through digital image processing. Sometimes these layers obscure or disturb the gaze; at times they are subtle and almost imperceptible. The visual motifs include water, ice, glaciers, geological phenomena, ships and details of them. Central to the works is their connection to the changes taking place in northern regions and the thoughts and emotions these evoke. In paintings of  Romanticism landscapes depicting the Arctic embodied the sublime. In the imagery of our time, Arctic landscapes appear as places where beauty and horror  intertwine – Nordic Ice Noir.

“In my work materials are documents which tell about time, human activity, and shifting values. In my sculptures I typically use recycled materials, which bring their previous lives and functions into the artworks. Photography, in turn, offers different ways to depict materials, their transformations, and the passage of time. The Arctic has become increasingly significant – the periphery, ‘where there is nothing,’ is now present in world politics, environmental policies, and climate crisis research. Through my works I aim to raise awareness of the northern regions. I want to provoke questions and reflections on the kinds of futures we are building. It is about environments we live in and which are changing – about life that continues in a time overshadowed by ecological catastrophes,” Koivisto explains.

Kaisu Koivisto works across photography, sculpture, drawing, and video. Her work is grounded in an exploration of landscapes, environments, and concepts of nature. The distinctive features of northern landscapes and the post-industrial and societal transitions visible within them are central to her art. Unexpected combinations of topics, materials, and methods are characteristic of Koivisto’s works. Recurrent themes include processes of construction and decay, which she parallels with cycles of slow growth and withering in the natural world. The life cycles of materials – their durability as well as their fragility – fascinate her.

Kaisu Koivisto’s (b. 1962) ) works have been shown for instance in the following institutions: Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova, Turku; Tampere Art Museum; Turku Art Museum; Gallery Sculptor,Helsinki; Pori Art Museum; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; PS1, New York; Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn; Museo Hendrik Christian Andersen, Rome; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum; Rothko Museum, Daugavpils, Latvia; and the Venice Biennial.

Website: Kaisu Koivisto

Instagram: @kaisukoivisto

An artist talk will take place on Sunday, December 7, from 3 to 4 PM.