Anna Ulff

"Votive Offerings for a Cognitive Malfunction" (2017) is a series of votive deposits. The work reflects the fact that I always misunderstand things in Finnish, and quite often literally don’t hear or grasp what people are talking about. I’m exploiting these misconceptions by using objects loosely associated with what I heard or understood, but also randomly chosen things visually connected (or not) to the concept. The objects are presented in small handmade boxes made from traditional book binding techniques and materials. They can be ”read” as devotional poems or simply as a rhythm. On one level the series also comments on my foreign identity. Having lived in Finland for over 20 years, I’ve absorbed the Finnish way of thinking, but always as a bystander. I’ve picked up Finnish thought patterns – both linguistically and socially - but never been part of any Finnish national identity. My ”Finnishness” is characterized by arbitrary, random and unpredictable understanding. 

...shows an everyday situation where things have gone genetically wrong with a sudden outburst of hirsutism. The terms ”vellus” and ”terminal” are used in the research of excessive hair growth.

In my work I often use ready mades and found objects in different combinations. The objects enter the work with their original meaning, but acquire extended, complex and shifting associations in the new combination. That little shift is the point of interest for me. Our everyday objects harbour multiple functions and, if we’re lucky, we can find the hidden poetry of forgotten things.   

From ONOMA's summer exhibition "Kasvu - Tillväxt - Growth" in Fiskars 2016. 

Towards IMAGO, an installation at Valo Galleria in Rovaniemi 2015 for the exhibition "The Heavens We Make" with Jaana Erkkilä, Serena Giordano, Sandro Beltramo. My work ponders on the metamorfosis as a veiled process. How seemingly innocent things - a word here, a small change there - can shift meaning, build up and leave us with unintended results.

In order to investigate the value of art and trying to find alternative methods for measuring that value, I processed my art works through the complete chain of the recycle system. I documented the process and also ran tests in the laboratory of the power company to find out levels of humidity, chemical element analysis, ash levels and last, but not least: the energy value of art. 

The work was shown at Galleria Huuto Jätkäsaari, Helsinki in 2015 in a joint exhibition with Annika Bergvik-Forsander, Fredrik Lindqvist and Adriël van Drimmelen. The name of our project was "I can see nothing".

Leena Kuumola wrote about the project in TAIDE-lehti 2/2015.

Thank you:

Ewapower, Jakobstad/Pietarsaari

Styrbjörn Holm

Gustaf Vikström

Häggqvist Transport

Mats Häggqvist

Alholmens Kraft, Jakobstad/Pietarsaari

Björn Åkerlund

Ronny Höglund

Päivi Finström

In my artistic practice I investigate the meaning of things and how we charge things and relations around us with various degrees of importance. I see a connection between the use of relics in religious settings and our ability to give meaning in general.

In my research I found one relic of particular interest: somewhere there is a shrine containing the sound of the bells of the first Christian church. This relic stands out as a clear example of the power of imagination, creation of meaning and conviction of the human mind. Despite the fact that the shrine is several hundred years old, it bears an almost spooky relevance to our time.

I make layman relics of my own, using found object and different constructions, often involving velvet materials. Sometimes I use the room and its history as a starting point, but I might as well use more far off references, and relate to memories.

A site specific installation for Tarrant County Art College, Fort Worth, TX,

2016

photo and special thanks:

Joshua Goode

From the exhibtion "Aura" at Tobaksmagasinet in Jakobstad, 2011

Image 1  Aura - on the luminosity of art.

Image 2 Friends - on putting the light on repressed and forgotten things.

Image 3 Castles in the air - on the human ability to believe, engage and imagine. 

"Handle with care", a kinetic installation from the project Women and War in 2010. The project was a collaboration between artists from Sweden and Finland, and was shown at exhibitions in Umeå, Jakobstad and Härnösand. Later - as a satelite - also in Sandviken. It was organised by Österbottens Konstkommission, Västernorrlands läns landsting, Västerbottens landsting and MittNorden in the commemoration of the year 1809, when our two countries were separated.

Catalogue

The Land of Fairytales/Satumaa/Sagolandet (with Erkkilä and Åsvik) at Vasa Kunsthalle in 2010 for "Ö", a project about the region Ostrobothnia. It was also shown at Elverket in Ekenäs. The installation puts focus on the long tradition of fur industry in Ostrobothnia and on the high level of religiosity.

In 2009 I participated in a project organised by the Ostrobothnian Arts Council and VISU. The idea was to bring contemporary art out to small municipalities and villages in the region. Since gallery spaces were often short, the exhibits were put in communal spaces like city halls, libraries and village centres. I was in the group going to Toholampi, a place of around 3500 people and our works were going to be shown in the city hall. On visitng the space I noticed a row of oil paintings depicting a collection of stern and stiff men. I asked about them and was told they were the important men of Toholampi. Naturally I asked for the important women and this time the answer was that there were no important women of Toholampi. I was deeply saddend by this response, which I didn't hold for true. It's a matter of perspective.

Together with the students of the arts classes at the upper secondary school of Toholampi, I disussed the matter and asked them to think about women in their family history, and how they have influenced Toholampi. In a workshop we looked at differnt visual representations of these women, transferred them onto fabric and made them into cushions. The idea was to soften up the stern row of stiff men in the city hall, with soft cushions placed in the sofa in front of the paintings. Green plants and the sound of water were added, and we called the place the Well of Toholampi. On the backside of each cushion was a text:

This project is made in honour of all the women of Toholampi, who made life possible here, through their tireless work.

From Galleria Gjutars, Vantaa in 2008

A public commission proposal for Folkhälsans hus in Pargas (Pro Artibus), 2010. 

An exhibition in 2008 at Galleri Sinne together with Pia Bartsch.