International   Art  In  Taivalkoski

A ten day long international workshop for visual artists was organized in Taivalkoski village in July 1996 (1.-10.7.1996). Twenty pieces of art was shown around the center of the village in July.
The organizers of the event were artists Jukka Järvinen from Oulu, Jussi Valtakari and Eeva-Kaisa Jakkila from Taivalkoski.

The receiving of the event was remarkably positive. Local enterprisers and the municipality supported the event considerably. After all the works were finnished there was a public presentation of the works, where artists could tell more about the works to the audience. It was more than thirty people from taivalkoski who took part of the walking tour.
The whole event was organized with minor financing. The whole budget was less than 30 000 Fmk. The accommodation, food and materials to the artists was paid from that money. We were not able to pay the travel costs of the partisipants. The organizers were working without salary, and the only staff who was paid were nurse and cook, who did get day money and travel costs. The financial support came from Nordic, national and local funds.

Nearby the Taivalkoski waterfall lay the photo installation called "Lepo" (Rest) of the Swedish photographer Lena Lahti. The works situated in the shadows of the trees contained wooden boxes covered with glass plates, and in the bottom of the boxes was black and white photographes. In the pictures there was natural size images of details of human bodies. In a same lawn there was also a work made Kirsti Carlenius from Oulu. There was 265 stones taking up from the waterfall, set in line and numbered.

In a lower part of the waterfall, behind the small powerstation was a minimalistic installation made by Ami Bjurwill from Sweden. It was made from painted steel rods, and it was called Treasure Hunting.

Couple of the art pieces were situated in the forest of Taivalvaara few kilometer away from the center. There was two wooden sculptures made by polish brothers Andrzej and Wojtek Siek. Two other works of them were nearby the others, in fornt of the waterfall. The pieces represented dramatic and figurative Polish Sculture tradition. The audience in Taivalkoksi liked a lot of the works, maybe becouse of professional skill and resamble.

Not far a way there was works of the tree other artists. The Sleeping Forest of the Iselandic Kristin Reynisdottir was a enviromental sculpture made from young cut pine trunks. The Time Circle made by Karoliina Niemelä from Oulu was concrete circle in ground on a grass. There was symbols of the different times in a circle form. The virginal beautiful curves of work called Symbiosis, made by Norwegian Jan Egge, reflected from the water like necs of swans.

finishing touch

Jan Egge: Symbioosi

In front of Buss Station there was two art pieces. Another, by Norwegian Egil Martin Kurdol, was made of young trunks of aspen, which was barked. A construction without tittle was shining its nakedness in water bank. A Film exposed by Esko Kärki from Helsinki was showing the landscape apound with the inner landscapes of the artist.

Textile artist Tarja Pitkänen worked with small found objects. She made a modern rug out of them. The Middnight Sun was shown in Taivalkrouvi when the restaurant was open.

Four pieces were situated inside, in the temporary gallery in Osuuspankki house. Tuija Schulte-Hyytiäinen who is originally Finnish, but has been living in Germany from 1967, wanted to familiarize herself again with Finnish way of living. She was biking around the village with her automatic photo camera chating with people. She asked the people she met to photograph valuable things in their domestic circles. The photographes were set on a map in a area where they were taken. The images together made a selection of accidental but valuable details of life in Taivalkoski.

A photo serie Trip to Maryland by Norwegian Morten Kildevaeld Larsen was documenting people he was passing by. Another work by Kristin Reynisdottir, an installation made of thick classes was located in the forest not far away of center. Reflection was a daily play, and the documentation of it was shown in the gallery space. Andris Dzerve from Latvian was pertisipating in a miniature scale. He had to cancel his coming for family reasons, and he sended a model of the statue, which was set in the gallery.

In a field of Buss Station was footsteps made by Eeva-Kaisa Jakkila. Only for the Kings gave its colden shine to laymen who stepped in. In front of Jalava shop mansion in the middle of a meadow was build a Construction by Jukka Järvinen and Jussi Valtakari. It was borrowing its form language from the architecture around it.

Jukka Järvinen

TAIVALKOSKI WORKSHOP 1999