SOUVENIRING FUTURES – Transition is part of the collaborative project between the artist-run Studio 44 and Galleri Huuto, Helsinki.
The exhibition takes place during the year Studio 44 celebrates 10 years on the art scene when artists from Studio 44 are invited to visit Finland between January 23 – February 9, 2013, in Galleri Huuto’s new, large premises; Jätkäsaari Makasiini L3.
In the autumn of 2012 Galleri Huuto visited Studio 44 with the exhibition I see.
As part of the project, we want to take advantage of our common experiences, build new contact areas and work for a stronger and more open Nordic art scene.

Thematically, the exhibition focuses on the many crossings and movements between the countries that have been an important part of the history of Finland and Sweden. The exhibition examines the look and mutual understanding this has generated.
The journey itself, the crossing, is placed centrally in the exhibition idea to highlight the physical and mental middle ground that occurs when moving between two states. We then find ourselves in an as yet unexperienced future, while the memory of what we left behind is very present.

The acquisition of a souvenir is an event in the present, in what is experienced on the spot.
The souvenir is something that fits in the suitcase and that connects the memory and the present. In the same way that an interesting exhibition imprints a memory that remains, the souvenir also carries hope for a future in which one can think back and remember a fabricated image. Objectifying or visualizing a future is a way of working that the artist is well familiar with. Concretizing the possible paths ahead, and using symbols with a view to the future, makes us less afraid to participate in an ever-changing world.