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| Olhava Exhibition in MUU gallery, Helsinki October 2008
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Olhava is a small village in Northern Finland, with a population of 150, which has been decreasing in past years due to the immigration to southern Finland and ageing population. For this project Halonen worked with the inhabitants of the village. staging a new theatrical piece, entitled Olhava, which asks what happens when art gets involved with systems and rhetoric structures that organise society, communities and communication? How do we define the new neo-avant-gardism ways that contemporary art practice engages with socio/political changes? What kind of aesthetic dimensions and paradoxes politically engaged art practice includes?
This exhibition is incorporating an installation reminiscent of stage set based on flatpack furniture and inspired by Soviet constructivist art and theatre. This together with a video featuring 25 performers and a live performance of 4 slapstick male gymnasts in derelict sports arena in Olhava, juxtaposes constructivist influences with the story and traditions of Olhava village, elements of a public meeting and Nordic interior design.
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