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Artists and Installations

Senate Square
Matti Jykylä: rubix xpress

The inspiration for the light installation “rubix xpress” is the famous 3D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. As a child, Matti Jykylä himself was never able to solve the puzzle. The light installation is based on a video in which a 6-year-old Chinese boy solves the puzzle in 37 seconds. This feat is repeated in the Senate Square in a slowed down version, culminating in the successful completion of the puzzle.

The light installation utilises changes and movement in light and incorporates music that was especially composed for the work. The popular cube is taken to a whole new dimension in Lux Helsinki – 125,000 regular Rubik’s Cubes could fit inside the cube of light.

Duration: approx. 9 min. Repeats nonstop 31.12.2011–9.1.2012, 4pm-10pm.

Rubik’s Cube ® is used with permission from Seven Towns Ltd.

Matti Jykylä is one of the most versatile Finnish lighting designers. He has worked for nearly a decade and a half as a developer and pioneer of entertainment lighting design in Finland. He has created lighting designs for numerous stage productions, including dance performances, public spaces, exhibitions and events. He has also served as the lighting designer for the popular Flow and Koneisto festivals

 

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Helsinki Music Centre
Mikko Hynninen: Operator

“Operator” is a light installation by Mikko Hynninen situated behind the glass façade of Helsinki Music Centre on the street side. The light installation is inspired by the aesthetics of early pocket calculators and digital watches, except on a giant scale.

Dozens of fluorescent tubes create angular words written by Canadian poet and author Daniel Canty. The installation also incorporates music that can be heard outside the building.

Nonstop 31.12.2011–9.1.2012

Mikko Hynninen is an artist who works with intangible materials – light and sound. He holds a degree in lighting and sound design, and he is also a visual artist. In addition to his installations and performances, Hynninen works as a lighting and sound designer for stage productions.

Daniel Canty is an author, poet and translator from Montreal who writes in both French and English. His work has been published by journals in Quebec, as well as in France and the USA. Canty has also written and directed several short films and media art installations.

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Finlandia Hall
Juha Rouhikoski: Changing Landscape

The light installation “Changing Landscape” explores the prominence of Finlandia Hall from the perspective of its rapidly changing surroundings. As the landscape is changing, so too has time changed.

The installation begins slowly and cleanly but grows into an accelerating movement, a shifting landscape of shadows and rapid flashes. Ultimately the viewer is carried from the world of shadows to a new dawn and a scene of birdsong beside the sea.


Duration: approx. 10 min. Repeats nonstop 31.12.2011–9.1.2012, 4pm-10pm.

Juha Rouhikoski is a lighting artist from Koijärvi in Forssa, Finland. He is a member of both the Artists’ Association MUU and Ars-Häme ry. He graduated from the Tampere School of Art and Media in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in lighting, followed by a master’s degree from the Department of Lighting and Sound Design of the Theatre Academy of Finland in 2011. Rouhikoski has used light as a tool since 1995. As a lighting designer, he has done a wide range of work in the fields of architecture, the performing arts and light art. As a light installation artist, he strives to find new opportunities for using light as a means of expression.

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Hesperia Park
Various Creators: Lantern Park

“Lantern Park” consists of ten colourful and unique lanterns that transform the park between Finlandia Hall and the National Opera into a path of light. The installation is part of a multi-year student project curated by the artist Kaisa Salmi and professor Markku Uimonen. Over 50 design lanterns were created in the first year of the project by artists and art students.

Participants in the first year of the project include students of Aalto University, the Theatre Academy, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and Finnish Academy of Fine Arts.
The artists are Timo Aalto, Katarzyna Balcerowska, Paola Balitro, Nanni Clusker, Meri Ekola, Hanna Enbuske, Eero Erkamo, Mia Erlin, Mika Haaranen, Ada Halonen, Patricia Hansen-Wagner, Tristan Hamel, Johanna Ikäheimo, Oskar Johnström, Matti Jykylä, Olli-Pekka Koivunen, Tiina Koivusalo, Ronny Korn, Katja Koskela, Heta Kuchka & Luca Balac, Hanna Käyhkö, Myriam Leblanc-Van Neste, Laura Lehtinen & Piia Lääveri, Anu Mattila, Jonathan Miller, Sara Pathirane & Henrik Amberla, Maikki Pekkala, Joel Pihlaja, Georgia Psyrri, Eero Pulkkinen, Resman & the Boys, Mimmi Resman, Kaisa Salmi, Sirje Ruohtula & Silva Suhonen, Shugin Shen, Luca Sirviö, Markus Sokolnicki, Milka Timosaari, Emma Tuhkanen, Petri Tuhkanen, Iiro Tujula, Nanni Vapaavuori, Otso Vartiainen, Anniina Veijalainen, Minjia Wang, Yasmine Zein.


Nonstop 31.12.2011–9.1.2012 after sunset.

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Finnish National Opera
Antti Suniala, Steve Joshua Dyffort ja Valerie Sealey: Fire Circus Walkea

The Fire Circus Walkea once again goes into battle against the coldness of winter with fire performances that delight audiences. In this warm-hearted, family-oriented fire performance, top international fire artists demonstrate their amazing skills with burning ropes and flying torches. The circus dog Romeo also performs the “salto mortale” through a burning hoop.

Performances in the open-air amphitheatre behind the Finnish National Opera:

6 January at 6pm and 7:30pm

7 January at 6pm and 7:30pm

8 January at 6pm and 7:30pm
9 January at 6pm and 7:30pm


Duration: approx. 25 minutes

Suniala, Dyffort ja Sealey have performed together as the Allstaffs at the European Juggling Convention’s fire gala in Germany in 2011, at the closing gala of the Future Circus festival and in the Elements performance as part of the main event of Turku’s European Capital of Culture in 2011. With the Fire Circus Walkea they perform excerpts from their circus acts and hot new tricks in their humoristic street circus spectacle.

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Olympic Stadium Tower
Jukka Huitila: Variant Spectrum

“Variant Spectrum” illuminates the Olympic Stadium Tower in a colourful spectrum that emphasises its role as one of the main landmarks in Helsinki – now in a completely new light. Seen from afar the light installation creates a varying spectrum the entire height of the tower. Up close the colours of the spectrum stand out more clearly and create a wavelike movement that brings the structural rhythms of the tower’s façade and its balconies to life.

Nonstop 31.12.2011–9.1.2012, 4pm-10pm.

Jukka Huitila (MSc, Theatrical Arts) has worked as a light, sound and video designer for public spaces, events and the performing arts. Huitila has been involved in the visualisation of more than a hundred performing arts productions, and he has international design experience since 2002. His work is characterised by the seamless combination of video images with lighting design. His career occupies the middle ground between visualisations and the performing arts, and it ranges from marginal creations to massive implementations. 

 

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