POLAROID

Polaroid 18.8-2.12.2012, The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland.

Instantaneous mood pictures from a legendary collection: self-portraits, still lifes, conceptual art and collages. The exhibition includes Polaroids by big international names ranging from Ansel Adams to Andy Warhol, plus a selection of Finnish Polaroid images. Common features are playful snapshot-taking and the thrill of colour.

The Polaroid company regularly gave artists cameras and film, and from their responses it built up a huge, nostalgic collection of photographs. Vienna’s WestLicht Museum acquired the European section in 2010, some of which can now be seen by the Finnish public. Polaroid’s successor, The Impossible Project, is also represented.

Chief Curator Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger and Museum Director Elina Heikka from The Finnish Museum of Photography and Chief Curator Rebekka Reuter from WestLicht Museum in Vienna made a selection of The WestLicht collection which contains 4400 works by 800 artists from 1970–90.

The Finnish component has been compiled by critic Otso Kantokorpi and photographic artist Martti Jämsä.

Polaroids from Sauli Sirviö´s series “The Great Escape 2000-2008”.
Collection of The Finnish Museum of Photography (2009).