Hans Rosenström
a u g u s t

11.08. - 03.09.2017

From August 11–September 3, Helsinki Contemporary will be showing a solo exhibition by Hans Rosentröm, who is known for his sound and spatial installations. The exhibition explores our relationship with nature and each other:

“The different works in the exhibition are like stages on a shared timeline – with apparently mutually independent moments becoming interlinked and constituting a common narrative,” Rosenström says.

The Gallery space will be taken over by a narrative, multi-channel sound installation The Sea - Chapter I. The work is a continuation of Rosenström’s Shoreline sound installation shown in June-July 2017 in the international ARoS Triennial in Aarhus, Denmark. In the work the overlaid voices deal with questions about the interaction between nature and the human community. Rosenström has written the words together with the Palestinian poet Farah Chamma.

The sound work will be accompanied by two large series of photograms – exposed directly onto photographic paper – that depict time and the mutability of nature. Jökulsárlón I and II follow the melting process of two pieces of iceberg ice taken from Iceland. Documenting the rapid disappearance of ice created under pressure over the course of centuries emphasizes the condensation of time, and reminds us of its consequences in a world that is being powerfully re-shaped by humankind.

The exhibition ends with a photograph diptych that had its beginnings in the feeling of disorientation that arose during the UK’s Brexit process. BBC 29.03 shows the debate in the UK Parliament on triggering Article 50 in March 2017, which was the official start of the UK’s leaving the European Union. The exhibition photographs have not been post-processed, but are documentations of live BBC TV transmissions, in which outside interference has broken up the image on screen.

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Hans Rosenström (b. 1978), who has lived and worked in London for four years, is known for installations that accentuate the experiencers' presence, and deal with their relationship with the surrounding moment and space. In his works he uses sound, text, light and constructed elements. Rosenström’s works have been seen in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Finland and abroad, including: Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and most recently in the ARoS Triennial, Aarhus.  

Rosenström graduated with an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki in 2007 and has also studied at Malmö Art Academy. In 2011, the Finnish Art Society awarded him the Ducat Prize. In 2016, he was awarded the William Thuring Prize and, in 2015, was a candidate for the Ars Fennica award. His works are in collections including the Amos Anderson Art Museum and Pro Artibus Foundation. 

The Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma’s collection’s Her Presence Still (Hiljaa läsnä, 2010) is permanently installed and experienceable in the Kiasma library. Rosenström’s latest public work 2066, which deals with visions of the future, has been built on the roof of the Silja Line terminal in the Värtahamnen port area of Stockholm. EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art is showing Rosenström’s Off Seasons soundwork out of doors on 17.8.–3.9. as part of the programme for the Helsinki Festival. Off Seasons is a collaboration with the Danish artist duo Stormglas and uses the creations of four Nordic contemporary composers. 


The exhibition has been supported by The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland and Oskar Öflunds Stiftelse.