Great HAM exhibition to display dance and movement in visual arts from the 1880s to the present day

The arched halls of Tennispalatsi will be filled with works in which dance reflects passion, bliss, and joie de vivre to wistfulness, sorrow and vulnerability. The works in the exhibition show how our bodies can be vital, full of life and flowing as well as tired, sick and dying at the same time. The diverse exhibition consists of delicate and quiet paintings and video art that are also full of life and explode with energy. The heavy material of the sculptures has been forged to take light shapes of movement and the unfinished line of the sketches carries the flow of movement. The photographs depict the historical story of modern dance, but also provide a current view on identity and being a dancer.

The exhibition brings together artists from different eras, with women represented comprehensively. Gems from Finnish collections include works by Anna Estarriola, Eva Gyldén, Sini Pelkki, Kalervo Palsa, Laila Pullinen, Eino Ruutsalo, Hugo Simberg, Ellen Thesleff and Venny Soldan-Brofeldt.  The exhibition also features notable international works from the likes of Edgar Degas and Louise Bourgeois. Contemporary art reflecting on dance is also highlighted in tapestries created by Sonja Jokiniemi for the exhibition as well as Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca’s massive installation, to name few.

The nature of modern dance is built on the presumption that there is only one true form of dance: something individual to each person. The works in the exhibition make the incentive and inspiration between visual arts and dance throughout the 20th century tangible. The modern dance revolution coincided with great public, economic and social upheaval at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, such as urbanisation, the development of new technologies and forms of art, the individualisation of culture, scientific leaps forward and changes in women’s status. Dance and visual arts started to take a critical approach to the prevalent cultural concepts, and women who reinvented modern dance, from Isadora Duncan to Maggie Gripenberg, for example, had a great influence on the imagery of art. Over the last 150 years, the fields of visual arts and dance have discussed identity and gender as well as class, race and power at great lengths.

The exhibition was curated by art and culture historian Hanna-Reetta Schreck and HAM Curator Arttu Merimaa. The exhibition will be transferred from Helsinki to the Oulu Museum of Art in autumn 2022.

A book edited by Hanna-Reetta Schreck and Saara Karhunen, Tanssi! Kirjoituksia tanssista ja kuvataiteesta (Teos) (Dance! On Dance and Visual Arts), will be published in connection with the exhibition. The book is an integral part of the exhibition, but can also be enjoyed on its own. Some of its 10 essays on dance from different perspectives focus on the content of the exhibition, whereas others provide new viewpoints on the entity.

Hanna-Reetta Schreck has this to say on the idea for the exhibition:

”The exhibition is about trying to find freedom. I want to give the visitors the opportunity to create their own exhibition choreography or approach the works from different eras from their own starting points. I believe that everyone can find their own way of moving and interacting with art within the works. I also hope that the exhibition, together with the book, will explain some of the historical groundwork upon which our movement, dance and physical expression are based.”

The artist-in-residence programme at HAM Corner brings together dozens of dancers as part of the events related to the Dance! exhibition. The artist-in-residence programme implemented in cooperation by HAM and the Zodiak Center for New Dance offers a rehearsal and working space for six different dance groups from 5 April to 26 June 2022. The groups, selected through an open call for participants, will work in the Corner for two weeks at a time. Passers-by and museum visitors have the opportunity to watch the open rehearsals and the performances put on in the space from outside the Corner.

Dance! Movement in the Visual Arts 1880–2020 / HAM Helsinki Art Museum 25 March–11 September 2022

Press photos:
www.hamhelsinki.fi/en/ham-info/media-bank/ (password: hammedia)

HAM Helsinki Art Museum
Tennispalatsi, Eteläinen Rautatiekatu 8
FI-00100 Helsinki
Open: Tue 10.00–17.30, Wed–Sun 11.30–19.00, closed on Mon
Tickets: €12/10, free entry for children and minors under 18