Summer Artist 2022: Olivia Viitakangas

During the summer, Olivia Viitakangas did artistic research of Kalevalanpuisto in the Pohja district at Seinäjoki. Process-based performative work borrowed from the practices of the researcher and research. What is the nature and essence of the park? The activity included participation methods and interviews, collecting memories and observation the park. The collected data was compiled into a publication imitating a research paper: “On-going 06-08/22, objects, clues, hearings”. The name refers to the period that Viitakangas spent with Seinäjoki’s Kalevalanpuisto, examining its condition, events and past. The book consists of photographs and text fragments combining graphic elements. For example, by combining different paper qualities and using a special binding method, the book plays with its materiality, borrowing from archival methods. The work proposes the idea of ​​archiving the park by collecting and structuring objects and stories related to the place into a poetic form. The so-called “ordinary” suburban park became an arena for various events under close supervision. On the terms of art, Viitakangas of the archives ponders the nature of the park as a place and a misplace, and archiving itself as an act.

An edition of 150 copies was made of the work, and it was published by Utu Press, a small publishing house in Helsinki specializing in photographic art. The text fragments of the work have been compiled by Helmi Nöjd. Text is drawn from a conversation that Viitakangas had with a person who has lived her whole life near the park in the summer of 2022. Peppi-Lotta Heinonen was responsible for the graphic design of the book. The work was financially supported in addition to the Kunsthalle’s project budget by Kauno Ry. You can buy the book for yourself at the Taito Shop Seinäjoki store in Kalevan Navetta and in Helsinki at the Temporary Bookshelf, Hippolyte Gallery, and in Lahti at Galleria Uusi Kipinä.

Viitakangas also used Kunsthalle’s workshop space Itikka as a working space during the summer. In addition to the publication preview party, Viitakangas made an exhibition around the book, which was a site-specific installation. The installation continues with the topics of discovery and information structuring. The installation consisted of the structures of office desks belonging to the space and objects found in the park and related to archiving.

Olivia Viitakangas (b.1999) is a visual artist working with performativity, photography and video. In her work she deals with phenomena’s often through simulation and imitatation.  Viitakangas is studying photography at LAB Institute of Design and Fine Arts, Lahti, Finland.