Gallery Aski: TURKU ANIMATED Film Festival: JUHANA MOISANDER – Sermon

This year, the Turku Animated Film Festival (TAFF) exhibition at Galleria Aski presents visual artist Juhana Moisander’s video installations Sermon II and Sermon III. Moisander’s audiovisual works explore moral reflection and humanity through allegory, religious imagery, and quiet irony.

Sermon II is a video installation in the form of a fable, narrated by a skinless pig, of which only flesh and bones are visible. A fable is often an animal story in which animals or plants are given human characteristics. The pig urges listeners to exercise a trait unique to the human species: the ability to engage in moral reasoning. This is a unique human characteristic and an opportunity to improve the conditions for life in one’s environment.

Sermon III, on the other hand, highlights the phrase FLESH HAS BEEN SEPARATED FROM THE WORD, which flutters in the flag along with the rising and falling wind. The work originated from a Christmas altarpiece text THE WORD BECAME FLESH and presents a sombre moral sermon on the separation between body and action.

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The exhibition is part of TAFF’s official programme and invites animation viewers to a slower and more contemplative image. Moisander’s works move between the boundaries of video, sound, and spatiality. They link to broader questions about humanity’s place in the world and art’s ability to comment on the times we live in.

The exhibition is curated by TAFF Festival Director Annika Dahlsten.

The opening will be held on Thursday, August 14, 2025, as part of Turku Night of the Arts, and the exhibition will be open until Sunday, August 24.

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Juhana Moisander (b. 1977) lives and works in Karkkila. Moisander studied visual arts at Tampere University of Applied Sciences and earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Art and Design Helsinki. His works are often dark in tone and color. The focus is on combining video and audio elements with physical elements to form a coherent whole within the architecture of the exhibition space. The themes and content of his works draw on art history and literature, as well as human aspirations and modes of behavior. His works are included in both Finnish and international art collections, and Moisander has also created several public artworks.

The production of the works has been supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture (AVEK) and the Olga and Vilho Lehtonen Foundation.

Turku Animated Film Festival

TAFF is an international film festival focusing on short animation, which will be held in Turku for the tenth time on August 20–24, 2025. The festival celebrates its colorful history, but also looks to the future, as Turku will be filled with exhibitions of groundbreaking media art and top names in international and Finnish animation. Another TAFF exhibition, States of Nature – Virtual Experiments produced by MUU ry, will also be on display at the Art House from August 22 to 24, 2025, in the Factory building.

TAFF is organizing the exhibitions as part of the City of Turku’s pop-up art program.

More about the festival: www.taff.fi

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