The project had three aspects: the gallery show at Helsinki Urban Art, the street installations and its extension to London through inclusion in this year’s London International Paste Up Festival programme.
The Concept
The artwork was all about shining a spotlight on women’s mental health issues in general and specifically how things happening in the outside world (being constantly bombarded with wars and conflict in the news on your phone) can disturb the already challenging and fragile balance. Art is vital in helping people connect, heal and grow in difficult times. Art initiatives can be transformative for a community, particularly if that community collaborates.
-Jakko Blomberg from Helsinki Urban Art presents the exhibition during the vernissage-
The gallery installation also included individual art objects we all created in advance, furniture picked up from local charity shops, and borrowed from a local community centre Vapaakaupunki.
The street art installations consisted of three other houses, the same as the one in the gallery installed in the Pasila area, under the guidance of Helsinki Urban Art. These did not include furniture but had paper mobiles, plates and collage installations.
All houses had the insides covered in wallpaper designed for the effect, which was then used as a background for the pieces that travelled to London, which were a collage of the objects we had created for the show in Helsinki, tying all three installations together.
This project was only possible thanks to funding from Nordisk Kultur Kontakt.
Besides Helsinki Urban Art, and Nordisk Kultur Kontakt, DD LLC supported our project with the house construction and connected us with locals who helped us realise this project. This included local carpenters, who made the houses used in the gallery and the street installations following our specifications.
Some of the local people who participated were also:
The Vapaakaupunki community space lent us some of the furniture we used in our gallery installation and took over the house from the gallery once the exhibition was finished.
Photographer and TV director Anni Anastasia Suikannen took making of photos of the exhibition set-up.
Anssi Kömi, film director and documentarian, gathered images and interviews to create a short documentary about our project shortly.
Apart from the artwork created for this specific project, all artists had the chance to place some of their creations on the street, specifically in the Pasila area and integrate the area’s Helsinki Urban Art street art map.
Internationally, we collaborated with the London International Paste Up Festival by creating paste-up pieces that integrated their 2024 festival programme.
These were placed around the Brick Lane area and were a collage featuring elements from the gallery installation, as well as the wallpaper designs by Dish and Hello the Mushroom.
Conclusion
We think that we succeeded in our goal of shining this spotlight. Especially three factors were of importance. The first is the artworks themselves, they were physical places where people could go inside and step into our little world. There was a chair to sit in and a visual invitation to reflect. This is a different experience for the visitor than looking at a flat painting on a wall. The houses were intimate, private and personal. There was much under the surface and inviting people inside our house felt like a very vulnerable act, while at the same time, being brave and strong by addressing the imbalance.
The second factor was that we chose not to just stay inside the gallery but also build three houses outside on location. They looked like little Tudor-style houses from the outside but offered a female perspective about that mix consisting of (un)strength, (un)power and (un)balance. By offering a time-limited art object in a place where normally there is no art we were filling a void while making it accessible and fitting in the spirit of urban art.
The third factor was the participation of Finnish strangers (friends of friends) who helped us realise the project. When working on the concept we realised in an early phase that this could not be done without local knowledge and help. The gallery people were quite busy while they were running several projects at the same time but through social media we were able to connect with local Finnish people. Working with Nordic strangers contributed to reaching and connecting with a larger and broader group of people who weren’t deriving from a visual art world. This made our project more interesting to us as well and it strengthened the connection with the local community.
-Object collection by Hello the Mushroom and Dish, polaroid Pictures by KBR. Light box collage by Miss Printed-
“Disturbing Domestic Peace was a unique exhibition, something like we haven’t had before. Creating a space inside of the gallery space fitted perfectly to the theme, as well as the cabins outside. Artists’ work are in many ways unique and we were happy to show them to the Finnish audience too. And the artworks left on the streets will enrich Pasila district for a long time after the exhibition.”
Jaako BLomberg, Helsinki Urban Art
“Vapaakaupunki (=free city) is an open community and event space. Before this special cabin, the staff didn’t have a private office space. The cabin was very needed and we are very grateful to have it here. It has increased the well-being of our staff by providing a cosy space for working andhas brought more value to the space in general by its playful character. The cabin was placed next to a mural wall, and it feels like it was always meant to be there – there is a sun shining above the house. This was very special.”
Roosa Lehikoinen, Vapaakaupunki
-Paper lamp, plates and wallpaper by DISH-
-Lightbox collages by Miss Printed-
-Polaroid pictures by KBR-
-Paper lamp and curtains by DISH-
