Iso Galleria: Lilli Haapala – Pause

Aukusti Heinonen

Turku Artists’ Association’s Iso Galleria  8.5.–18.6.2026
Welcome to the exhibition opening on Thursday, March 5th 2026, from 6 to 8 pm! 
A performance at approximately 6.30 pm.

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”Pause is a direction.”

Lilli Haapala’s exhibition, Pause, lingers in a moment where something’s about to change. It isn’t visible yet, but you can sense it. You can feel the future in your body as questions: where are we headed to? How do we relate to the surrounding reality?

The exhibition calls attention to body and its temporal layers. In Haapala’s work personal and societal intertwine. The works look at our connection to nature and how technology affects the way we understand life and corporeality. Water forms a central part in Haapala’s work, acting both as a physical element and a material that carries meanings.

The exhibition consists of three works from 2025: two sculpture installations and one video piece. In Pause, a silicone sculpture holds its breath underwater, set among water, plants, and soil, where time lingers eerily. The other works in the exhibition are Rebirth of Venus, a sculpture installation, and Bluegreen Bodies (and Other Stories), a video. The underlying themes are the questions of future, corporeality, and the relationship between humans and other living beings.

At the exhibition opening, Haapala will perform a sound installation, together with musician Toivo Lukki.

Lilli Haapala (b. 1984) graduated as a Master of Fine Arts from Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts in 2017 and as a Bachelor of Culture and Arts from Turku Arts Academy in 2015. She was awarded the Nuori taiteilijalupaus Prize by the Merita Art Foundation in 2018, and her works can be found,  for instance, in the Finnish State Art Collection.

The exhibition and the works have received support from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, City of Turku, and Arts Promotion Centre Finland.

More information: https://turuntaiteilijaseura.fi/ajankohtaista/lilli-haapala-pause-8-5-18-6/