Echoes from the Past | Tokyo | Berlin | Kerava

Echoes from the Past celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Kalevala Society’s project, The Artists’ Kalevala. Over the years, artists from different cultures have taken a closer look at the Finnish national epic Kalevala and commented on it.

The foundation for this exhibition comes from two shows debuted in 2017. Do you remember? compiled by Dr. Christine Nippe was displayed at the Finnish Institute in Berlin, and Universal Nature, curated by the Japanese Kenji Kubota was seen at the Sezon Art Gallery in Tokyo.

Artists based in Berlin approach the themes of cultural memory and identity in their own personal ways, taking critical distance to the national discourse. The Japanese examine the relationship between humans and nature, but most of all human nature; which stories and beliefs are we made of?

Returning from the first Artists’ Kalevala exhibition is the work Ilmarinen by Marjatta Tapiola, portraying Ilmarinen in grief over the loss of his wife. The Finnish artists reprise and reaffirm the themes of nature and memory – letting them resonate at the frequency of our present day.

The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Kalevala Society, the Finnish Institute in Japan and the Finnish Institute in Germany and it is part of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 program. The exhibition also marks the beginning of the 20 Year Anniversary Celebrations of the Finnish Institute in Japan, the co-producer of the exhibition in Tokyo.