Fire burns and ash speaks at the Art Ii Biennial 2024.
This year’s theme is fire, and the art works explore various aspects of its nature, its destructive power, and its ability to create something new.
Ii will once again be filled with international contemporary art, when the artists selected for the event arrive to build their works in Ii. The artists invited to the Biennial come from Finland and Europe, and a wide range of works are on display. Performances, media art and environmental art will be seen during the opening weekend.
The event’s opening will be celebrated on June 13th at 4 pm at the Art Center KulttuuriKauppila and the art barns of Old Hamina. The works will be on display until July 31.
Fire, the last of the elements, completes the series of elements of the previous Biennales (water, fire, air).
On the opening day of the biennial, Thursday 13th, award-winning filmmakers Markku Lehmuskallio and Anastasia Lapsui will arrive. The films “Matka – Nedarma” and “Tapiola” are shown in the auditorium of Nättepori on Thursday the 13th at 6.30 pm. Later in the evening, a fire will be lit to the Lithic Alliance`s work on Nättepori’s beach at 9 pm.
Friday 14th from 3:30 pm photographer Harri Pälviranta and media artist Eivind H. Natvig will present their works at the Art barns. Alina and Elisa Sakko will perform at the event with their work “Phase along”.
Saturday 15th, at 2 pm the Environmental Art Park’s new permanent work, “Phoenix tree” by Antti Laitinen and Hanna Saarikoski, will be published.
On Sunday, you can participate in an exercise performance led by Andrea Palasti in Lähde park at 11 am. In the afternoon, the opening weekend ends with a curators’ presentation tour, where all the works of the Biennial are visited, starting from KulttuuriKauppila at 2 pm.
In addition to the art program, there will be other activities in Ii during the weekend. On friday the 14th, musicians Tapani Rinne and Pan Jianfeng perform at the Akola’s Kuivuri. Saturday 15th the Nättpop picnic takes over Nättepori, featuring e.g. Mato Valtonen & Jore Marjaranta band and Ege Zulu. There will be a program for children on Saturday at 1 pm, when Pikku Papu’s orchestra performs at Nättepop.
The full program can be found at https://artii.fi/fi/program-2024/. All events are free of charge.
Gallery exhibitions are open from June 13 to June 16, 2024, Thu-Sun from 10 am to 6 pm, and from June 18 onwards Tue-Fri from 12 pm to 5 pm, Sat from 11 am to 4 pm until July 31.
The Biennial is one of the events of the Ii650 anniversary and part of a program production of the Oulu2026 Cultural Capital Year.
The event’s curators are Ii-based photographer Antti J. Leinonen and visual artist Riikka Tauriainen, who is originally from Oulu and now lives and works in Zurich. The event is organized by the Art Center KulttuuriKauppila / Ii Municipality’s Welfare Services.
Photo: Antti J. Leinonen. Antti Laitinen and Hanna Saarikoski building the work “Phoenix tree” in the Environmental Art Park.