The tenth edition of the Helsinki Photography Festival, the oldest international photography event in Finland will take place in autumn 2005. Organised jointly by the Hippolyte Gallery and the British Council under the title to be continued…/jakuu… the Festival will celebrate both Finnish and British contemporary photography. Rather than offering a distanced overview, the festival intends to create a carefully tuned dialogue between widely varied artistic positions, accompanied by a lively discussion concerning photographic culture in the 21st century.

The main element of the Helsinki Photography Festival 2005 is an exhibition of works by 18 artists from Finland and the UK. The artists selected for the exhibition address fundamental questions concerning the medium, using photography, video, painting or installation. Their work reflects on the interplay between objectivity and subjectivity; on questions of the flatness and depth of the image; and on the temporal and narrative aspects of the photographic image. A shared interest in enriching photographic culture combined with a tendency to transgress national, linguistic and institutional boundaries links the work of all the selected artists.

The exhibition will take place at the Helsinki Kunsthalle (8 October – 6 November), Hippolyte Gallery (7 October – 6 November) and the Museum of Finnish Photography (7 October – 6 November). In addition to the exhibition, there will be a catalogue, video screenings, a seminar, a panel discussion on the role of photography magazines entitled A dying breed?, a reading room with a wide selection of photography publications, artists’ talks, an education programme and an artist’s residency with the Helsinki International Artists’ Programme (HIAP). The festival aims to offer different forums for lively interaction between artists and the public.

The title to be continued…/ jatkuu… suggests the end of an episode of a TV series, with a promise of something to follow and an expectation of new twists in the story – a combination of something familiar and safe; new and unexpected. The title also reflects the state of current debate within contemporary photography. Both in the UK and Finland, photographic practice is characterised by the return to the fundamental questions of photography. At the same time as artists are deliberating about these eternal issues, what becomes apparent is the impossibility of repeating the same old propositions, ideas and strategies. When pictured, the world always unfolds anew.

Artists confirmed at present are – Danny Treacy, Anne Hardy, Gareth McConnell, Idris Khan, Mark Lewis, Caroline McCarthy, Marion Coutts, Wood & Harrison, Gary Stevens, Simon Faithfull (UK). Pertti Kekarainen, Sanna Kannisto, Jari Silomaki, Elina Saloranta, Heli Hiltunen, Anu Suhonen, Sonja Suominen, Jyri Pitkänen (Finland).

Screening artists – Nooshin Farhid, Hiraki Sawa, Susan macWilliam, Ailbhe ni Bhriain (UK)

The festival is curated by Mika Elo (MA, photographer, theorist based in both Helsinki/Bremen) and Brett Rogers (Deputy Director and Head of Exhibitions, British Council, London). The project coordinators are Marjatta Tikkanen (Director, Photographic Gallery Hippolyte) and Kirsi Korhonen (Arts Manager, British Council, Finland). Marjatta Tikkanen is also the festival producer. Please note that the following should be used in all publicity materials regarding the project: The Helsinki Photography Festival 2005 is a joint initiative of the Hippolyte Gallery and the British Council.

Collection Artist(s)

Glossary

  • Contemporary

    Existing or coming into being at the same period; of today or of the present. The term that designates art being made today.

  • Edition

    All copies of a book, print, portfolio, sculpture, etc., issued or produced at one time or from a single set of type. Printed works can be made in an edition of between one and many thousands of copies. With most printing techniques the plate or screen will become worn if very many prints are made, so to maintain quality (and exclusivity) editions of original prints are usually kept below one hundred copies and normally average between thirty and fifty copies. Prints made up of several different plates can be extremely complicated and time-consuming to edition, so in these cases editions are kept low for practical reasons. Sculptural editions are a set of cast sculptures taken from the same mould or master. These editions are usually much lower, consisting of no more than six casts. Though each cast in an edition might have a lower value than a unique piece, it may be a more effective way of offsetting costs of an expensive process such as bronze casting.

  • Installation

    An artwork comprised of many and various elements of miscellaneous materials (see mixed media), light and sound, which is conceived for and occupies an entire space, gallery or site. The viewer can often enter or walk around the installation. Installations may only exist as long as they are installed, but can be re-created in different sites. Installation art emerged in the 1960s out of Environmental Art (works of art which are three-dimensional environments), but it was not until the 1970s that the term came into common use and not until the late 1980s that artists started to specialise in this kind of work, creating a genre of ‘Installation Art’. The term can also be applied to the arrangement of selected art works in an exhibition.

  • Medium

    Refers to either the material used to create a work of art, craft or design, i.e. oil, bronze, earthenware, silk; or the technique employed i.e. collage, etching, carving. In painting the medium refers to the binder for the pigment, e.g. oil, egg, acrylic dispersion. The plural form is media.

  • Painting

    Work of art made with paint on a surface. Often the surface, also called a support, is a tightly stretched piece of canvas, paper or a wooden panel. Painting involves a wide range of techniques and materials, along with the artist's intellectual concerns effecting the content of a work.

  • Panel

    A wood, cooper, Masonite, or other hard surface on which to paint. Sometimes it is referred to as a board.

  • Video

    Images recorded on videotape or on optical disc to be viewed on television screens, or projected onto screens. The medium through which these images are recorded and displayed.