Senyati, Botswana, 2013, 90 x 130 cm
Annika Dahlsten and Markku Laakso are visual artists from Finland. Together they work with photography, media art and performance. Dahlsten & Laakso have exhibited in various exhibitions and performed in festivals both in Finland and abroad.
ANNIKA DAHLSTEN
Born 1975 in Vaasa.
Annika studied art at Turku Arts Academy and graduated from printmaking (BA 2003) and animation (BA 2016). She also studied at Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, Belgium (1997) and Turku university (BA 2008). Part of her artistic pursuit is teaching, curating exhibitions and writing about art.
Born 1975 in Vaasa.
Annika studied art at Turku Arts Academy and graduated from printmaking (BA 2003) and animation (BA 2016). She also studied at Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, Belgium (1997) and Turku university (BA 2008). Part of her artistic pursuit is teaching, curating exhibitions and writing about art.
MARKKU LAAKSO
Born 1970 in Enontekiö, Hetta. Grew up in Koppelo, Inari.
Markku studied art in Turku Arts Academy and graduated from painting department. He has been active in art organisatorial field in South West Finland region.
Sámi heritage is a part of Markku's heritage. Defining the Sámi identity has been a long process and a journey to his own history and persona. Thus it is also an inevitable part of his art work.
Born 1970 in Enontekiö, Hetta. Grew up in Koppelo, Inari.
Markku studied art in Turku Arts Academy and graduated from painting department. He has been active in art organisatorial field in South West Finland region.
Sámi heritage is a part of Markku's heritage. Defining the Sámi identity has been a long process and a journey to his own history and persona. Thus it is also an inevitable part of his art work.
NEWS
Campfire in a Zoo
Campfire in a Zoo (2019) is a puppet animation installation that explores and makes visible the complexities of performing and being seen to perform. The exhibition is based on the story of Markku Laakso’s great-grandparents, who with a group of other Sámis toured Germany in 1930 in ethnographic exhibitions, known as Völkerschau, that were presented in zoos.
Skábma
Festival för samisk samtidkultur
14.-19.11.2018
Lebesby kommun, Nordkyn, Norge
14.-19.11.2018
Lebesby kommun, Nordkyn, Norge
Diorama
10.2. - 15.4.2019
Röda Sten Konsthall, Göteborg
Röda Sten Konsthall, Göteborg
Annika Dahlsten & Markku Laakso: Etosha Pan, Namibia. 2013. C-print. 70 x 105 cm.
Jump in Diorama
4.2. - 28.2.2016
Gallery Joella, Turku
”Jump in Diorama” focuses on the documentative nature of photography, on staging, and the questions of
real and authentic. A photo displaying indigenous Sámi-looking people, elephants and wild nature is
puzzling; it cannot be true. Yet it is documentation of a staged situation. ”Jump in Diorama” also explores
the question of authenticity by asking who has the right to define what is authentic, who is real and when?
The artists have taken photos and shooted videos in various natural landscapes in Finnish Lapland, Germany,
and Southern Africa, including accidental passer-byes, humans and animals, in their pictures.
They are wearing Sámi dresses: inherited, selfmade, or tailormade outfits. For them, this dress symbolizes
questions of authenticity and origin.
The project was inspired by Markku Laakso's family history. In 1930, his father's grandparents travelled
together with Sámi people in Germany, taking part in human exhibitions in various zoos.
www.turun-taidegraafikot.fi
www.facebook.com/Galleria Joella
Gallery Joella, Turku
”Jump in Diorama” focuses on the documentative nature of photography, on staging, and the questions of
real and authentic. A photo displaying indigenous Sámi-looking people, elephants and wild nature is
puzzling; it cannot be true. Yet it is documentation of a staged situation. ”Jump in Diorama” also explores
the question of authenticity by asking who has the right to define what is authentic, who is real and when?
The artists have taken photos and shooted videos in various natural landscapes in Finnish Lapland, Germany,
and Southern Africa, including accidental passer-byes, humans and animals, in their pictures.
They are wearing Sámi dresses: inherited, selfmade, or tailormade outfits. For them, this dress symbolizes
questions of authenticity and origin.
The project was inspired by Markku Laakso's family history. In 1930, his father's grandparents travelled
together with Sámi people in Germany, taking part in human exhibitions in various zoos.
www.turun-taidegraafikot.fi
www.facebook.com/Galleria Joella
Sámi Contemporary – zeitgenössische samische Kunst in den Nordischen Botschaften
10.7. - 27.9.2015
Die Ausstellung Sámi Contemporary zeigt vom 10. Juli bis 27. September im Felleshus, dem Gemeinschaftshaus der Nordischen Botschaften, aktuelle Arbeiten von 23 Künstlern aus Finnland, Norwegen und Schweden.
Mehr zu Sámi Contemporary unter
www.facebook.com/samicontemporary
www.nordischebotschaften.org
10.7. - 27.9.2015
Die Ausstellung Sámi Contemporary zeigt vom 10. Juli bis 27. September im Felleshus, dem Gemeinschaftshaus der Nordischen Botschaften, aktuelle Arbeiten von 23 Künstlern aus Finnland, Norwegen und Schweden.
Mehr zu Sámi Contemporary unter
www.facebook.com/samicontemporary
www.nordischebotschaften.org
Annika Dahlsten & Markku Laakso: Kalleyi's family. 2013. C-print. 70 x 105 cm.
Perintö - Inheritance
20.2. - 31.5.2015
Virka Galleria, Helsinki
Kahdeksan erilaisista kulttuuritaustoista tulevaa taiteilijaa käsittelee menneisyyttä nykyhetken kautta. Taiteilijat rakentavat teoksissaan perheensä, sukunsa tai yhteisönsä perinnön uudelleen.
Valokuvat, installaatiot, esineet, videot ja käsityöt kertovat, että perintö muuntuu ajan ja ympäristön vaikutuksesta. Se vaikuttaa yhtälailla nykyhetkeen ja tulevaisuuteen kuin menneeseenkin.
Taiteilijat ovat: Annika Dahlsten ja Markku Laakso, Edwina Goldstone, Dzamil Kamanger, Bita Razavi, Jana Romanova ja Kukka-Maria Rosenlund. Kuraattori on Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger, Suomen Valokuvataiteen museon intendentti.
20.2. - 31.5.2015
Virka Galleria, Helsinki
Kahdeksan erilaisista kulttuuritaustoista tulevaa taiteilijaa käsittelee menneisyyttä nykyhetken kautta. Taiteilijat rakentavat teoksissaan perheensä, sukunsa tai yhteisönsä perinnön uudelleen.
Valokuvat, installaatiot, esineet, videot ja käsityöt kertovat, että perintö muuntuu ajan ja ympäristön vaikutuksesta. Se vaikuttaa yhtälailla nykyhetkeen ja tulevaisuuteen kuin menneeseenkin.
Taiteilijat ovat: Annika Dahlsten ja Markku Laakso, Edwina Goldstone, Dzamil Kamanger, Bita Razavi, Jana Romanova ja Kukka-Maria Rosenlund. Kuraattori on Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger, Suomen Valokuvataiteen museon intendentti.
BACKLIGHT 14 Holding Cohesion
Backlight Photo Festival 2014 continues the triennials tradition with focusing on social themes; relations between individuals, communities and societies. Backlight ´14 wants to provide thematically and functionally a platform for research and discussion about trust, and how trust and dependencies create tensions and shape cohesion in modern societies.
Exhibitions Exhibitions are devided in three categories. Firstly Holding Cohesion -exhibitions are juryed from international open call. Exhibitions in Tampere and Valkeakoski are produced by Backlight main organizer.
Secondly Shared Realities -invitation exhibition is curated by Backlight and organized with Art Museum.
Thirdly Backlight offers several exhibition in collaboration with partners.
Artists Backlight ´14 represents 30 artists in main exhibitions: Backlight received 840 applications from 71 countries by international open call: 25 artists were selected all over the world. Additionally five artists were invited to Tampere Art Museum. Moreover over 30 photographers are exhibited in co-operation exhibitions.
Voipaala Art Center 6. – 16.11. 2014
Juryed artists from open call:
ALVAREZ DIESTRO Manuel (Spain/UK)
DAHLSTEN Annika & LAAKSO Markku (Finland)
GREEN Pak (Korea)
KIATSIRIKAJORN Lek (Thailand)
NIITTYVIRTA Pekka (Finland)
Exhibiton at:
Voipaala, Sääksmäentie 772, Sääksmäki
Puh./Tel. +358 (0)40 335 7071
ti–pe 11–17, la–su 12–18
