Category: News

Sculptor and visual arts teacher Riikka Mäkikoskela‘s works are exhibited in the Kaisa House (Fabianinkatu 30) lobby area from October 2nd until October 15th, 2017.

Mäkikoskela has taught two years at HyArt, Drawing Department, Porthania, University of Helsinki. She considers the teaching dialogue as multidirectional: the art-making of both the students and the teacher influence each other. This abundance is a common feature of the sculptures in Northern Rococo exhibition.

In the spirit of Rococo, Mäkikoskela combines crafts and fine art. She uses traditional materials and techniques such as ceramics, but also unites materials with an open mind, for example, ceramics and acrylic plastic. Both the choice of working material and the way of working on it is important to Mäkikoskela, as both create cultural meanings and references to habits and ways of making born at different times. Mäkikoskela’s aim is to find a dialogue between the content of the artwork, the used materials, and the ways of making.

The themes of Mäkikoskela’s art practice are the blending of material and cultural, material meanings and concepts, and the interpretation of tradition. In her works of art, she deals with how to act and live together, and how habits and ways of making are shaped from generation to generation. Mäkikoskela portrays the experiences of co-existence and tells local stories that are open to several interpretations. They are colored by, for example, Christianity born in the Middle East and art history with a focus on Central Europe. Mäkikoskela’s works of art open up to a Northern Finnish soulscape, where there is often, alongside the polar night, light, life, and jocularity which lead life to the next spring. The sculptures in the exhibition celebrate the experiential thinking and the abundance and diversity of life – without forgetting their negative sides.

• Doctor of Arts Riikka Mäkikoskela (born 1975) has studied at Lahti University of Applied Sciences/Institute of Fine Arts, University of Art and Design Helsinki and Aalto University. She is a member of Association of Finnish Sculptors and Helsinki Artists’ Association. Mäkikoskela’s artworks and research have been presented at several events, conferences, publications, galleries, and museums both in Finland and abroad. Alongside artistic work, she currently serves as a visiting researcher at Aalto University, School of Art and Design, Department of Art.