Picture: Maria Karkkainen

National Museum goes Helsinki Design Week: Time of miracles art installation

International artist group Haan Collective's installation "Time of miracles" draws inspiration from the myths of how the world was created in the Kalevala epos. The work challenges the viewer to stop and marvel at the fragility of life. The work is the National Museum's contribution to the Helsinki Design Week program and can be viewed free of charge in the museum's courtyard park from 19 August to 19 September 2021 daily from 7 am to 9 pm.

The installation has been carried out with the support of the Kalevala Society Foundation.

Spanish artist Antia Sanchez' and Finnish sculptor Hannes Aleksi's latest work is a massive and immersive wooden octagon, which consists of eight wooden walls that are decorated with art inspired by the so called birth or origin myths of the Kalevala epos. The surfaces are manipulated by chiselling, carving, with help of the soldering iron and with fire. A door in the shape of an egg is cut into one of the walls. The opposite wall features intricate and abstract ceramics that depict the big bang. A boardwalk leads to the installation and invites the visitor to step off of the museum park’s usual path.The result are 13 huge wall paintings and one ceramics mural that connect the epic Kalevala worldview with elements of the scientific explanation for the start of our existence.The museum's Kalevala frescoes by Akseli Gallen-Kallela offer more background about the Kalevala epos and its origins.

This is how artists Hannes Aleksi and Antia Sanchez describe the background of the work:

"Ancient poetry shows man's need to explain the world and its birth. The Kalevala's birth myth has elements in common with many other ancient world birth stories. Among other things, the water bird and eggs appear in different forms throughout the world. Our upcoming piece combines these ancient myths with the scientific world view of the big bang theory and the theory of evolution."

"The miracle of life does not cease to preoccupy humanity. It is good for a person to stop to wonder every now and then. Bewonderment can lead to respect and respect in turn to the protection of life, which is today perhaps more relevant than ever."

Quelevala project

Time of miracles is the latest instalment of the Quelevala art project, which is an artistic exploration of our ancestors’ worldviews and explanations. The artist duo has started the Quelevala project already in 2019 and have created since then two environmental art installations (“Sotka” and “Pesä”, Haapkylä 2020), a statue and a wooden sculpture in Spain (“the Beginning of the Universe”, Vigo 2020 / “Birth of Birds”, Vigo 2021) and a joint exhibition in Portugal (“Ilma as a bird”, Porto 2021) as well as several smaller works.

Supported by Kalevalaseura society.

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