FUTURO 50 YEARS – The Exhibition Centre WeeGee celebrates the jubilee year of the icon of the 1960s

THE FUTURO HOUSE OPENS ON 15 MAY

Futuro House, from 15 May to 16 September 2018, Exhibition Centre WeeGee

The Exhibition Centre WeeGee has acquired the first ever mass-produced Futuro house (no. 001), which was owned by Matti Kuusla from summer 1968 to autumn 2011 and located in Hirvensalmi. The Futuro house will be open to the public in summer from 15 May to 16 September during WeeGee’s regular opening hours.

MIKA TAANILA’SPLASTIC HEART TELLS THE BIRTH STORY OF THE FUTURO

Plastic Heart, from 17 August to 16 September 2018, Futuro House 

Over the years, the Futuro has captured the imagination of artists, designers and the public at large all around the world. To celebrate the jubilee year, artist and filmmaker Mika Taanila has been invited to create a new artwork based on the Futuro. The result is Plastic Heart, a multi-channel sound installation paying homage to the Futuro. Taanila created the artwork using only authentic sounds associated with the plastic material from which the Futuro is constructed.Plastic Heart can be heard in August and September inside the Futuro: the oval interior transforms the house into an echo chamber, immersing the visitor in the musical “birth story” of the Futuro.

Plastic Heart is produced by the Exhibition Centre WeeGee / Espoo Event and Cultural Services in collaboration with the EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, with support from Ekin Muovi, Finnvox and Genelec. Plastic Heart is part of the Helsinki Festival programme.

STUDIO SUURONEN’S EXHIBITION PRESENTS 50 FUTURO HOUSES AROUND THE WORLD

Futuro World 50 Years, from 15 May to 31 December 2018, Studio Suuronen

The entrance hall of the Exhibition Centre WeeGee encompasses Studio Suuronen, named after architect Matti Suuronen. Studio Suuronen houses the exhibition Futuro world 50 years from mid-May to the end of 2018. The exhibition presents the Futuro house as well as its international spread through photographs, captions and map graphics. The exhibition contains photographs of 50 Futuro houses around the world. The exhibition is an updated version of WeeGee’s Futuro world, which ran from June 2015 to January 2016. On request by the public, the exhibition now makes a comeback in honour of the jubilee year.

At the exhibition, visitors can also see the documentary Futuro: A New Stance for Tomorrow (Director Mika Taanila, script Marko Home and Mika Taanila, Kinotar Oy, 1998).

The exhibition has been produced by the Exhibition Centre WeeGee / Espoo Event and Cultural Services, the contents of the exhibition has been planned by Marko Home and the exhibition architecture by Kaisa Kantokorpi, Anna-Riikka Nuutinen and Henna Palonen.

EMMA’S FUTUROMANIA BRINGS UTOPIAN VISIONS OF LIVING FROM HISTORY TO THE PRESENT

Futuromania – Designing Future Living, from 6 June 2018 to 17 February 2019, EMMA

The new exhibition Futuromania – Designing Future Living at EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art offers a look into the utopian visions of the future, created by Finnish designers in the 1950s and 1960s. The exhibition explores classic modernist designers’ visions of future living. What do the visions of a future with endless resources and limitless leisure time possibilities look like today, half a century later? Plans for homes and cities by Aarne Ervi, Vuokko Eskolin-Nurmesniemi, Antti Nurmesniemi, Armi Ratia, Aarno Ruusuvuori, Matti Suuronen and Tapio Wirkkala are completed by a new, engaging installation by Aamu Song and Johan Olin (Company). 

Cooperation partners of Futuromania are Espoo City Museum and Tapio Wirkkala Rut Bryk Foundation. The exhibition is supported by Innovarch.

DISCUSSING AND TALKING ABOUT THE FUTURO

Marko Home: Futuro world 50 years, on 19 May and 15 September
Marko Home: Alternative futures, on 18 August
How Plastic Heart was born: Mika Taanila, on 24 August
Guided tour of the exhibition with an expert: Futuromania – Designing Future Living, on 31 August  
WeeGee’s own design event, on 15 September

The lectures during the jubilee year offer a chance to learn more about the Futuro, the utopian visions of modernism and the inspiration they provided for artists. Art historian and Futuro specialist Marko Home talks about the colourful phases of the Futuro and architectural utopias that preceded and succeeded the Futuro house. Intendant Arja Miller, curator of Plastic Heart, interviews visual artist and film director Mika Taanila about the planning of, inspiration for and work stages of the artwork celebrating Futuro’s anniversary. Museum Assistant Laura Kokkonen, curator of Futuromania, talks about how the exhibition was planned and about its content. The lecture programme (held in Finnish) will be completed during summer.

Further information: www.weegee.fi/futuro

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