Art Ii Biennial 2024

“Fire Unbound”, the 9th edition of the Art II Biennial, invites visitors to explore the entangled history of fire and consider its contemporary implications through a broader lens.At its core, the exhibition embarks on a journey through the alchemy of fire – an exploration of its duality as both creator and destroyer, a catalyst for metamorphosis and renewal.

Concept – Fire Unbound

The exhibition serves as a reflective space that crosses landscapes of resilience, resistance, healing, and hope in an interplay between earthly survival and interconnected ecosystems.From the dawn of the discovery of the control of fire, signifying sapient power and progress, to its exploitation in a destructive pursuit of advancement, the exhibition unveils histories woven with industrialization, resource exploitation, and the relentless acceleration — a story overshadowed by profound ecological consequences.

Through fictional narratives and contemporary storytelling, “Fire Unbound” calls for an understanding beyond anthropocentrism and a recalibration of our relationship with fire. Fire, as the last of the elements, completes the series of the four elements of the four biennials. By encouraging us to reimagine our place in a more-than-human world, we find the drive to rewrite the narrative and set a course for a future grounded in regeneration, resilience, and interconnectedness. Finally, as part of its dualistic nature, fire reminds us of its condition of rebirth and hope.

 

Curators

Antti J. Leinonen

Antti J. Leinonen (b. 1976, Oulu) is a photographic artist who lives and works in Ii. His works have been exhibited both in Finland and abroad in solo and group exhibitions. Leinonen’s debut work, the photo book Pyynti, will be published in 2023. He is currently working on a documentary photography project dealing with Finnish-American identity. As a freelancer, Leinonen photographs portraits, editorial images, and commercial assignments.

Leinonen has worked for, among others, the BBC and Helsingin Sanomat. In the 2020 Kuvajournalismi competition, he was awarded Photojournalist of the Year as well as the prize for Portrait of the Year. Leinonen’s practice navigates the boundary between photographic art and documentary. His work combines calm observation with humorous situations. Locality is also strongly present in the images of Leinonen, who lives and works in Ii. He is the artist-in-residence at the KulttuuriKauppila Art Centre.

Riikka Tauriainen

Riikka Tauriainen is originally from Oulu and currently lives and works in Zurich. She studied at the Estonian Academy of Arts, in Berlin, and in Zurich, and has built her career mainly in Central Europe. Her works have been widely exhibited across Europe in solo and group shows, as well as at art biennials and museums. Tauriainen works across installations, media art, and performance.

Her artistic interests focus particularly on ecological questions, representations of gender, knowledge production, and language. She moves along the border between art and science, as well as within the zone between fact and fiction, exploring and interpreting.

Tauriainen’s most recent exhibition project, Experimental Ecology, addressed humanity’s impact on the planet and how we might change the trace we leave behind in the world. The project was carried out collectively with artists and researchers. Since 2018, she has been working on her project Hydrocommons, which explores the human relationship with other species and interspecies communication. The role of curator for the Art Ii Biennial is Tauriainen’s first artistic position in Finland.

See also