Ainola is open for the summer season

Time Machines and Utopias in Ainola

Time Machines and Utopias – three-part exhibition at Ainola, Tarvaspää and Visavuori 

Ainola – Time Machines and Utopias: Lifelines 8 May 2021–30 September 2021 

Tarvaspää – Time Machines and Utopias: Wanderlust 8 May 2021–30 January 2022 

Visavuori – Time Machines and Utopias: Homecoming 8 May 2021–30 January 2022 

Aino and Jean Sibelius’ home, Ainola; Gallen-Kallela’s Museum, Tarvaspää, and Emil Wikström’s artist residence, Visavuori, will launch their joint exhibition, Time Machines and Utopias, which addresses the topics of global warming and our shifting everyday life. These artist residencies have been places for cultivating land, making practical inventions, looking for balance and living self-sufficiently. The exhibition is based on the topical theme of climate change, which will force us to re-think our day-to-day choices on food, travel and housing. 

The artist museums participating in the exhibition are nationally significant places with a long history as spaces for working and living in. The globetrotter Akseli Gallen-Kallela built his Tarvaspää studio castle as his dream cabin for working in; Jean Sibelius found tranquillity for his work in the quiet of Ainola surrounded by the garden created by Aino Sibelius, and Emil Wikström returned repeatedly to Visavuori, to the shelter of the forest and the lake, to his temple of work. 

Time Machines and Utopias brings past experiences and future possibilities into the topical debate. The contemporary artists Flying Squirrels Papana and Norkko, Vilma Määttänen, nabbateeri, Vidha Saumya & Ali Akbar Mehta, Nestori Syrjälä and Markus Tuormaa have carried out interventions in the artist residencies and their surroundings. The artists were invited by Hanna Johansson, and Sandra Lindblom is in charge of curating the collections and archive materials. The exhibition architecture has been designed and executed by Alisha Davidow. The composers and executors of the soundscapes for the exhibition are Joona Lukala and Eetu Moisio.  

The museum audiences are invited to take part in the discussion on what we could do now that our society is undergoing a change and what kind of a future we may be building. Visitors can get involved at the exhibition venue and through the #arjentekoja (#everydayacts) social media challenges. The cooperation will also include two high school courses on climate change and a six-part series of dialogues, which will be facilitated by Sini Forssell and Timo Järvensivu. Information on the exhibition is available on the aikakoneitajautopioita.fi website (website opens 7th of May), where journalist Meri Parkkinen will delve into the topics of food, travel and housing in her Time Machines and Utopias podcast.