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until 31.08. | #2511ARTatBerlin | Gallery Taik Persons presents from 29th June 2019 the solo exhibition “The Museum of Nature” by the artist Ilkka Halso.
“I plan and visually construct buildings, which will protect nature from threats of pollution and what is more important, from actions of man. (…) when putting nature into a museum, you have to take under consideration the aspect
of the audience/consumer. Nature becomes a joyride for tourists or a beautiful landscape turns into a meditative
theatre show.”Ilkka Halso
Throughout his career, Ilkka Halso has focused his photography around protecting, restoring and understanding the anatomy of nature. His photographic series beginning back in the year 2000, have visually explored how we as a culture must develop new approaches in perceiving as well as reevaluating the natural resources we so commonly take for granted. These earlier works studied the different aspects of man’s relationship to nature by treating it as if it were a rare and endangered place. Halso builds structures by himself, either physically or digitally in his studio, to protect the lakes, rivers and forests, not only from man made pollution but from our direct misuse of precious resources. He seeks to place his created ecosystems into museum-like settings where the audience (or the consumer) use the experience of the interaction as a means for touristic joyriding.
Kitka River, 2004, c-print, diasec, (Triptych) 183 x 300 cm,
© Ilkka Halso, courtesy Gallery Taik Persons
This exhibition reintroduces one Halso’s most noted works Kitka River, 2004. Here, he digitally builds a man made biosphere to house the famous S curve of the Kitka river in northern Finland.
This dystopian like environment emphasizes Halso’s vision of the future. That being said, if we sell out nature as entertainment, by using one of its most visited tourist viewpoints as place to transverse down to the river itself, we in turn trample upon the very fragile tundra that has no possibility to renew itself. These selected photographs reveal what began as Halso’s view of the future that has slowly evolved into our reality.
Theatre II, 2008, c-print, diasec, 125 x 190 cm, © Ilkka Halso, courtesy Gallery Taik Persons
Ilkka Halso was born in Orimattila, Finland, in 1965. He lives and works in Orimattila. Halso graduated from Aalto University School of Art, Design
and Architecture in 1992 (MA). His most notable exhibitions include Contemporary Finnish Art, Kunstverein Ludwigshafen (2018), Re.Examining
Nature, Oulu Art Museum / Visions of Nature, Kunsthaus Wien (2017), Next:Utopia, Norrköpings Konstmuseum (2016), Constructing Nature,
Akershus Kunstsenter in Lillestrøm (2015), In/Humano, MARCO Contemporary Art Museum in Monterrey (2014), Afterlives of Gardens, Kumu
Art Museum in Tallin (2013), Bumpy Ride, FOTOGRAFIA Festival Internazionale di Roma (2010), Arctic Hysteria, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
/ MoMA, New York (2008), and the 6th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum (2006). He is part of international collections such as The
Finnish Museum of Photography, Thyssen–Bornemiza Art Contemporary, FNAC in Paris and Musée National d’Historie et d’Art in Luxemburg.
In 2006, he was awarded with the Willam Thuring Prize
Vernissage: Friday, 28th June 2018, 6:00-9:00 pm
Exhibition period: Saturday, 29th June – Saturday, 31st August 2019
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Image caption: Ilkka Halso, Theatre II, 2008, c-print, diasec, 125 x 190 cm
Exhibition Ilkka Halso – Gallery Taik Persons | Contemporary Art – Kunst in Berlin Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
