I (am): Helsinki Art Museum, FI

Internationally acclaimed Polish artist Paweł Althamer’s (b. 1967) extensive solo show in HAM showcases his diverse and surprising work from three decades. Althamer will also create a new collaborative artwork for the show that invites visitors to explore, be inspired and seek freedom of mind, body and soul. Paweł Althamer: I (am) is the artist’s first solo exhibition in the Nordic countries.

The title of Althamer’s exhibition I (am) epitomises the core questions of his art: Who am I? Who are we together? Collaboration is a key component of Althamer’s artistic practice . He regularly involves his family, neighbours, museum visitors, as well as disadvantaged citizens in the creation of his works. These collaborations result in sculptures – totems as Althamer calls them – that are traces of this process. The important thing for Althamer is not the end-result but sharing the creative game with the audience.

Althamer will also create a new work for HAM in which he developes his method of creative play with open outcome further. One of the two large second-floor galleries will be converted into a white space where Althamer invites the audience to enter silently, dressed in white, and without their mobile phones. Althamer has likened his new work to the sauna and its purifying effect on mind and body. The white space is designed to purify the senses and the mind of the ever-present flood of external stimuli.

© Pawel Althamer

photos: Maija Toivanen