Gallery Valo and Katve I
Arktikum, Pohjoisranta 4, 96200 Rovaniemi
Tue-Sun 10–18 / Free admission
On Saturdays at 13–13:45 the performance Art Weights happens in the exhibition.
Hi, this is Iiri,
gaze and eyes are repeating in my exhibition. That's because visual art is so strongly connected to looking and observing with the eyes. We look at the same thing, but we see different things. Everything I do is so close and therefore so blurry. You can see through a window, but not as clearly as a picture. I get tired of reading books, luckily you can also exercise with them. You forget that someone is looking at you and your way of being changes, but I keep staring at you.
The exhibition Näkemisiin! / See you and Let's see! consists of videos, photographs and art books found in Rovaniemi's flea markets and libraries' removal sections. The art books are part of the recurring performance Art Weights, where Poteri trains with the books in the exhibiton space every Saturday at 13–13:45. The exhibition is part of Poteri's three-month residency in Rovaniemi. The Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, together with the University of Lapland, has organised a residency programme for visiting artists since 1995.
Iiri Poteri (b.1992) is a visual artist living and working in Helsinki. She works with video, performance, installation, photography and sound. In visual art, Poteri is fascinated by themes of vulnerability, immediacy and interaction, which often turn in her work to explore the relationship between the artwork and the audience. Poteri graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Helsinki and has a long background in photography. Poteri's works have been shown both in Finland and internationally, most recently at Mänttä Art Festival 2023 (Out of Nowhere, curated by Minna Suoniemi and Petri Ala-Maunus, Mänttä, FI, 2023), In Continuous Dialogue: Tracing Memories (curated by Noora Lehtovuori, Helsinki, FI, 2023) and Opus One '21 (arranged by BreedBeeld, Bruges, BE, 2021). Poteri's performance installation Whisper is part of the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation's art collection in Rovaniemi Art Museum.
Contact:
iiri.poteri@hotmail.com
iiripoteri.com
