Santeri Tuori explores the dimensions of time

Exhibition at the Serlachius Museums in Finland



Installation view from the exhibition Posing Time. Photo: Sampo Linkoneva. 


Time is present in Santeri Tuori’s works, whether he is depicting nature or people. Tuori is particularly known for his works combining photography and video, which he builds piece by piece and layer by layer. His exhibition Posing Time was opened at the Serlachius Museums in Finland on 27 March 2021.

Santeri Tuori (b. 1970) was one of the first photographers of the so-called Helsinki School, who rose to international prominence in the 1990s. Since then, Tuori’s works have been shown in exhibitions around the world. Posing Time is partly retrospective, but it also includes three new works made for this exhibition. Also included is a series of water lily works, completed last year, which will be seen for the first time in Finland.

A wall of the exhibition space is filled with the fifteen metres wide Waterfall #2 (2021), a video projection of glacier meltwaters in Iceland. A waterfall dominates the exhibition space as a massive force of nature. The movement of the water is slowed down, so that even individual water droplets can be distinguished. Time takes on a new perspective in the work: the time of glaciers is quite different from the time that we experience.

In the centre of the exhibition space is a free-standing work Forest #45 (2021), around four metres tall. The double-sided video installation is positive on one side, negative on the other. In the video, a tree moves slowly, at times merging into the photograph and at times separating from it. The work seems to be magically alive, creating an illusion of transparency.

The panorama Sky #26 (2015) consists of five 2.5 metres high photographs. It looks like a rolling sea or mountain range. Tuori says he wanted to photograph the sky detached from the horizon. A single image, like condensed time, is constructed of pictures taken over a long period. 

Escaping individuality of portraits

In addition to the nature photographs, the exhibition includes the work Posing Time, a series of moving portraits, which at the same time gives its name to the whole exhibition. Tuori photographed the models in Berlin in 2000. They sat alone in a room for an hour posing for a film camera, while the artist sat in another room and exposed one frame every two seconds. The subjects and the artist had no contact with each other, only the camera that recorded the event. From the accumulated footage, the artist compiled a video series in which individual portraits are shown at a rate of three frames per second.

Tuori, who has studied law, plays in the work with the probative power of photography. He explores looking and being an object of observation as well as control and loss of control. At the same time, the individuality of the models escapes as the portrait constantly moves.

The curator of the exhibition is Tarja Talvitie. The soundscape for the work Waterfall #2 is created by Mikko Hynninen.

Posing Time is open at Serlachius Museum Gösta  27.03.2021 - 05.03.2022

Serlachius Museums are open:
winter season, 01.09. - 31.5., Tuesday to Sunday 11am - 6pm.
summer season, 01.06. - 31.08., every day 10am - 6pm

Visiting addresses:
Serlachius Museum Gösta, Joenniementie 47, Mänttä
Serlachius Museum Gustaf, R. Erik Serlachiuksen katu 2, Mänttä

https://serlachius.fi/en

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