Lower level hidden rooms, a duo exhibition by Sauli Sirviö & Evita Vasiljeva at SIC, Helsinki Nov 30th 2024 – Jan 19th 2025

31.12.2024

Evita Vasiljeva, Shelters of the longest night, 2024, Steel, prints on textile, lamps, wires, needles  / Echo, 2024, Six-channel sound installation, delay pedal, piezo microphones, movement detectors /
Drooms, 2024, Etchings of dreams on photographs, ink

Sauli Sirviö, EXIT I 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint, inkjet print, plastic, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass /
Blueprint VI 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint, pencil, inkjet print, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass, metallic clock hands, drill bit, paper, demolition dust and keys from Jätkäsaaren Bunkkeri, 2024 / Blueprint VII 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass / EXIT II 2015-2024, Diasec, spray paint, pencil, paper, inkjet print on fiberglass, inkjet prints, wood, plastic, stain paint, metal 

Evita Vasiljeva, Shelters of the longest night, 2024, Steel, prints on textile, lamps, wires, needles / Echo, 2024, Six-channel sound installation, delay pedal, piezo microphones, movement detectors

Sauli Sirviö,
Blueprint IV 2008-2024, Dipond plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint, pencil, inkjet print, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass / EXIT I 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint, inkjet print, plastic, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass 

Sauli Sirviö, Hand I 2024, inkjet print on fiberglass, tin, copper

Sauli Sirviö, EXIT I 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint, inkjet print, plastic, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass 

Sauli Sirviö, Blueprint VI 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint, pencil, inkjet print, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass, metallic clock hands, drill bit, paper, demolition dust and keys from Jätkäsaaren Bunkkeri, 2024 / Blueprint VII 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass / EXIT II 2015-2024, Diasec, spray paint, pencil, paper, inkjet print on fiberglass, inkjet prints, wood, plastic, stain paint, metal / Coil 2015-2024, Diasec, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass, spray paint, inkjet prints / Hand II 2024, inkjet print on fiberglass, tin, copper / Hand III 2024, inkjet print on fiberglass, tin, copper / Blueprint VIII (2008-2024), Dipond plate, inkjet prints, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass, metal, paper, spray paint, film negative from demolished AGA headquarters 2017 / • • Answer to any signal 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint 

Evita Vasiljeva, Shelters of the longest night, 2024, Steel, prints on textile, lamps, wires, needles / Echo, 2024, Six-channel sound installation, delay pedal, piezo microphones, movement detectors

Sauli Sirviö, Blueprint VI 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint, pencil, inkjet print, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass, metallic clock hands, drill bit, paper, demolition dust and keys from Jätkäsaaren Bunkkeri, 2024

Sauli Sirviö, Hand II 2024, inkjet print on fiberglass, tin, copper

Sauli Sirviö, EXIT II 2015-2024, Diasec, spray paint, pencil, paper, inkjet print on fiberglass, inkjet prints, wood, plastic, stain paint, metal / Coil 2015-2024, Diasec, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass, spray paint, inkjet prints / Sauli Sirviö, Hand III 2024, inkjet print on fiberglass, tin, copper / • • Answer to any signal 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint / Blueprint VIII (2008-2024), Dipond plate, inkjet prints, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass, metal, paper, spray paint, film negative from demolished AGA headquarters 2017

Evita Vasiljeva, Shelters of the longest night, 2024, Steel, prints on textile, lamps, wires, needles / Echo, 2024, Six-channel sound installation, delay pedal, piezo microphones, movement detectors

Sauli Sirviö, Hand III 2024, inkjet print on fiberglass, tin, copper

Sauli Sirviö, EXIT II 2015-2024, Diasec, spray paint, pencil, paper, inkjet print on fiberglass, inkjet prints, wood, plastic, stain paint, metal / Coil 2015-2024, Diasec, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass, spray paint, inkjet prints

Sauli Sirviö, Coil 2015-2024, Diasec, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass, spray paint, inkjet prints

Evita Vasiljeva, Drooms, 2024, Etchings of dreams on photographs, ink

Evita Vasiljeva, Shelters of the longest night, 2024, Steel, prints on textile, lamps, wires, needles / Echo, 2024, Six-channel sound installation, delay pedal, piezo microphones, movement detectors

Sauli Sirviö, Blueprint VIII (2008-2024), Dipond plate, inkjet prints, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass, metal, paper, spray paint, film negative from demolished AGA headquarters 2017

Sauli Sirviö, Blueprint V 2008-2024, metallic clock hands, drill bit, paper, demolition dust and keychain from Long Island City, NY 2019, keys

Evita Vasiljeva, Shelters of the longest night, 2024, Steel, prints on textile, lamps, wires, needles / Echo, 2024, Six-channel sound installation, delay pedal, piezo microphones, movement detectors

Blueprint VII 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint, wood, inkjet print on fiberglass

• • Answer to any signal 2008-2024, aluminum plate, digital Lambda print, spray paint 

Publication 𝑨𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 ‘𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒊𝒓’

2.12.2024

Sauli Sirviö’s new publication 𝑨𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 ‘𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒊𝒓’ brings together projects and works created by Sirviö in Helsinki, Paris, and New York in recent years. The photographs and other visual materials are accompanied by a text by 𝗠𝗶𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗛𝘂𝗷𝗮𝗹𝗮, sharing the same title as the book. This text delves into the vibrant world behind Sirviö’s works:

’𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘪’𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 (𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴, 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵) 𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘩. 𝘚𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘪’𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘮𝘢. 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.’

The publication is made up of pages printed on a variety of papers and other materials. The printing is handcrafted using inkjet and laser printing, as well as Helsinki sunlight burning.

The book is published in a limited edition of 100 copies and will be released in parallel with the duo exhibition 𝑳𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒔 at SIC (30.11.2024–19.1.2025) by 𝗘𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮 𝗩𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗷𝗲𝘃𝗮 and Sauli Sirviö.

UTU 022 • ISBN 978-952-65274-4-4 • 50 pages • A4 • Printed and bound in Helsinki 2024• Edition of 100 copies.

𝑨𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 ‘𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒊𝒓’ is supported by Kone Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland and Niilo Helander Foundation

Solo exhibition An Odd Old Passageway at NSFW, Gothenburg, Sweden 25.5.-28.6.2024.

27.6.2024

An Odd Old Passageway at NSFW curated by Ida Lehtonen.

Exhibition text by the curator:

There is no such thing as an anachronism. Look inside your mind: does it contain only one era?[1] 

The hands of the clock have stopped at MAI. The doors to the sleeping cars have disappeared a long time ago, but the code of the key cards remains intact. In the exhibition An Odd Old Passageway by the Finnish artist Sauli Sirviö a palimpsest of images and found materials turn time into wax.[2]

Photographs are the ground of Sirviö’s work yet they don’t aim just to point to a moment frozen in time. The places he visits and documents and the materials he collects from them materialise as images and objects that fluctuate between different layers of time. Sirviö searches for spaces in a liminal state: hidden, in ruins, out of function, some soon to be demolished and lost forever. Materials, details, forms, and experiences found in these sites become sculptures and installations in an instant of synchronicity.
Each piece follows its lifecycle with no absolute final form: sculptural components transform into new experiments or return to the hard infrastructure[3] to become new images and objects. In his latest work, Sirviö returns also to drawing. A book on the fire security of high-rise buildings[4] (High-Rise Security and Fire Life Safety by Geoff Craighead (2009), archival images from the Picture Collection,[5] among others, are drawn copies, copies of copies, that transcend the documentary and turn into fiction. [6]

In An Odd Old Passageway the past, the present, and the future cross paths in three metropolitan areas: in the utopia of Noisyle-Grand,[7] the mega infrastructure projects of Pasila,[8] and New York’s high “cathedrals of commerce”. [9] The ruins and the subterranean caches look skywards: the urban wastelands of old industrial areas and waterfronts are being disposed of at an accelerating pace making way for future high-rise buildings. Skyscrapers[10] have taken root deep down in the ground, but permanence is always fleeting. There will always be new ruins.[11]

“That is what fascinates me about my sculptures, that they are really fragile, they are flaking all the time. However, that fragility can also be seen in the skyscrapers, it can be seen everywhere: it repeats the reality we are in.[12]

Aluminium, paper, silver, fibreglass, egg cartons, plastic, pencil, soil, plaster: the materials in Sirviö’s installations and sculptures are organic, fragile, sometimes prone to mould, or on the other hand, toxic, even aggressive. “I like the chaotic side of it, I like being in trouble with my materials. You never know what will happen”, he laughs as we talk on Zoom. Chaos makes following the materials a natural part of the process. The materials reflect the ephemerality, oddness, and hazards in the places.

“If you think of the city as a sculpture, then we are like inside a sculpture where things happen all the time. Houses flake, the sun corrodes their surfaces, and people produce information on papers that are shredded, some of it is secret, and it can be found on the streets. People come from outside of New York, along the ring roads, they flake and drop stuff, throwing things out of the car windows. I try to collect all that debris around me and figure out how it got there”.[13]

There is a duality to Sauli Sirviö’s practice. Control and chaos, relics and waste, archival practices and vanishing information, preserving and destroying alternate in our conversations leading to the exhibition. Sirviö compares his work to archaeological excavations. At the same time, he uses the Finnish word louhinta, mining or extraction of sourcing materials for his work. Semantically, mining can refer to the “extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth”,[14]
but also to searching through information for specific data or patterns.[15] The materials he extracts are not rare earth minerals as such, but rather debris, soil, and discarded everyday items and materials. The materials always embody information but where the modern archaeologist might build a narrative around the finds,[16] Sirviö follows the material to disjoint us, leaving the temporal dots unconnected. The work is dense in memories, but it is in the nature of memory to blur, change, and take new forms over time.[17] However, even when the images are obfuscated, dim, fragmentary, or only indicative of the original image, they always reveal something to us. Documenting the liminal places is a way to go back in time and remember them even after they are gone.[18] In itself, it is an act against the capitalist objective of forgetting.

Philosopher Tere Vadén writes: Only in the landfill or on the waves of the sea will the true raw material of the capitalist product ideal be revealed: a universal shred that can be anything. It could have been anything and it could become anything.[19]

[1] Anne Carson in conversation with Niko Hallikainen. (2024, May 1)

“Suuri kirjallinen arvoitus”. Helsingin Sanomat. https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/

art-2000010386231.html Quote translated from the interview. “Sellaista asiaa kuin anakronismi ei ole olemassa. Katso omaan mieleesi: sisältääkö se vain yhden aikakauden?”

[2] In the short story “Ajan huone” the character Donna Quijote describes

time as wax. From Krohn, L. (1983) Donna Quijote ja muita kaupunkilaisia.

WSOY. “Aika on ainetta, eräänlaista vahaa.”

[3] See for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_infrastructure

[4] Sirviö, S. Zoom call, Sept 12, 2023. 01:22:39. “So I was walking down

the street, and saw that someone had dropped a book on the fire safety

of high-rise buildings. And the book was really carefully scrutinized, as

if someone had taken an exam in the subject. And then I was like, I want

to make a sculpture of that. I want to go inside it, look at those pages, and

collect the information. It’s been three days in the freezer now, because I’m

afraid of bedbugs. There was a dumpster next to the book when I found it.”

Translated from Finnish.

[5] Picture collection. https://www.nypl.org/about/divisions/wallachdivision/picture-collection

[6] Sirviö, S. Zoom call, Sept 12, 2023. 00:17:04.

[7] See for example: Tofani, F. (2024, Mar 13) “Postmodernist architecture

in Noisy-le-Grand: Science fiction in the suburbs of Paris”. https://ftrc.blog/

architecture-in-noisy-le-grand

[8] See for example: Järvinen, E., Kaarenoja, V. (2019, Feb 22)

“Maailmanloppu on lähempänä kuin uskotkaan. Sen voi ymmärtää,

jos kiipeää korkealle kalliolle Helsingin Pasilassa ja osaa katsoa oikein”.

Suomen Kuvalehti. https://suomenkuvalehti.fi/kotimaa/maailmanloppuon-lahempana-kuin-uskotkaan-sen-voi-ymmartaa-jos-kiipeaa-korkeallekalliolle-helsingin-pasilassa/?shared=1063835-b2acb5c6-1 “One million tonnes of earth was removed to build the high-rise towers of the “mega

hybrid construction project” Tripla shopping mall in Pasila, in Helsinki.

[9] The term was first used of the Woolworth building. See for example:

Sutton, P. (2013, April 22) “The Woolworth Building”. https://www.nypl.org/

blog/2013/04/22/woolworth-building-cathedral-commerce

[10] A literal translation of the Finnish word for a skyscraper, pilvenpiirtäjä,

could be a cloud drawer or drawer of the clouds.

[11] Sirviö, S. Zoom call, Sept 12, 2023. 00:22:10.

[12] Sirviö, S. Zoom call, Sept 12, 2023. 00:05:30. Translated from Finnish.

[13] Sirviö, S. Zoom call, Sept 12, 2023. 00:58:34. Translated from Finnish

[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining

[15] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mining

[16] See for example: Fennelly, K. (2023). “Archaeology, Emotional

Storytelling, and Performance”. Public Archaeology, 1–15.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14655187.2022.2149683

[17] Koskinen, P. (2024, April 26) “Kaikki tieto ei mahdu aivoihin – emmekä

päätä itse, mitä muistiin tallennetaan”. Yle tiedeykkönen.

https://areena.yle.fi/podcastit/1-68342556 In the program docent Tarja

Stenberg talks about how memory is often thought to “be as accurate as the

hard drive of a computer, but nothing could be further away from the truth”.

[18] Sirviö, S. Zoom call, Sept 12, 2023. 00:59:15

[19] Vadén, T. (2010) Kaksijalkainen ympäristövallankumous – Pamfletti

synnyistä. Osuuskunta Rohkean reunaan. Quote translated from the Finnish

original by Lehtonen, I. “Vasta kaatopaikalla tai meren aalloilla paljastuu

kapitalistisen tuoteihanteen todellinen raaka-aine: universaali silppu, joka

voi olla mitä tahansa.”

The exhibition is supported by Kone Foundation and Nordic Culture Point

An Odd Old Passageway (2024) inkjet print on door hanger (found in NYC)

Blueprint I (2008-2024) mixed media

Blueprint II (2008-2024) mixed media

Blueprint III (2008-2024) mixed media

Hand II III (2024) laser print on fiberglass, tin, copper / Blueprint I II III (2008-2024) mixed media

Hand I II (2024) laser print on fiberglass, tin, copper

Hand III (2024) laser print on fiberglass, tin, copper

Towers (2024) paper, pencil, wood, metal, laser print on fiberglass / Sync (2023) fiberglass, metal, spray paint

Towers (2024) paper, pencil, wood, metal, laser print on fiberglass

Towers (2024) paper, pencil, wood, metal, laser print on fiberglass

Hand I (2024) laser print on fiberglass, tin, copper

Weal (2024) tin, copper