HELSINKI.- From 27 February to 28 April 2024, the short film Impivaara – A New World (2024) by the artist duo IC-98 will be available to view in the Fokus Gallery at the Ateneum Art Museum. The film by the artist duo, formed by Patrik Söderlund (b. 1974) and Visa Suonpää (b. 1968), is a dreamlike imagining of Aleksis Kivi’s classic novel Seven Brothers (1870). The film reflects on humankind as the master of nature.

The short film offers a 2020s take on Seven Brothers

“But look, a man can think whatever he wants;
he can think himself the lord of creation or a grubbing dung beetle.
He can think that God’s devils, the angels
and all mankind, all living things on land and sea or in the air are dead,
he can think that earth, hell and heaven have vanished – –
[and] that darkness has taken over – –." – Aleksis Kivi, Seven Brothers (1870; translation by Richard A. Impola)

The film takes as its starting point the chapters of Seven Brothers set in the Impivaara wilds and joins them into a circular whole, uniting the past with an imagined future. The short film examines the novel from the point of view of the energetic basis of our culture, the coexistence of species, and the alternative futures emerging from the environmental crisis. The events begin with the great land reform of the 18th century and end in a 22nd-century post-fossil fuel world.

The vast vistas in the film evoke iconic landscape depictions in Finnish art, such as Eero Järnefelt’s paintings of landscapes in the Koli national park. They emphasise the fact that humans are not the centre of the universe but part of nature and its networks of interaction.

Artists from a variety of disciplines have interpreted Aleksis Kivi’s Seven Brothers, each from the perspective of the era they lived in. In addition to the film, the Fokus Gallery will display three sketches for illustrations (1908) that Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865–1931) made for Seven Brothers.

The duration of the short film by IC-98 is 26 minutes. There are screenings every half hour starting at 10:15. The last screening starts at 19:15 on weekdays and at 16:15 at weekends.

The person in charge of the exhibition at the Ateneum is the chief curator Sointu Fritze.

The work thematically linked to the collection exhibition A Question of Time

The themes of the short film by IC-98 coincide with those of the collection exhibition A Question of Time, which is on display on the second floor of the Ateneum. A Question of Time, too, raises questions about the legitimacy of a human-centric worldview, the inherent contradictions of the modern way of life based on material growth, and the ideas that define Finnishness.

The Fokus Gallery presents concise displays, with selected artists or themes from the Ateneum collection. The gallery is located on the second floor of the museum, which is also where the collection exhibition is staged.

In recent years, various exhibitions held at the Ateneum have featured contemporary art. Currently, in addition to 19th and 20th century art, A Question of Time also displays contemporary works by Sirpa Alalääkkölä, Petri Ala-Maunus and Toni R. Toivonen from the collections of the Finnish National Gallery.

The works by IC-98 explore themes related to nature and its future

IC-98 is an artist duo formed by Visa Suonpää (b. 1968) and Patrik Söderlund (b. 1974). During their 26 years of cooperation, they have created artist publications, site-specific works, public commissions, and moving-image installations. In its recent work, the duo has explored topics such as the relationship between living and non-living nature, environmental destruction, and the future in a post-human world. IC-98 represented Finland at the Venice Biennale in 2015.