Onoma’s 2024 summer exhibition, Fragile, is a tribute to 30 years of exhibition activities of the Onoma Cooperative of Artists, Designers and Artisans in Fiskars Village. The exhibition as a whole will be a celebration of local art, design and artisanship. The exhibition will feature works by more than 60 artists, including several artist groups.
Thirty years ago, in 1994, the first summer exhibition of works by local creatives was produced in Fiskars Village under the name 1. Näyttely ('The First Exhibition'). Two years later, in 1996, some of the core members of this community founded and registered the Onoma cooperative. Onoma’s exhibition activities quickly attracted the attention of the Finnish art world and professionals but also that of the international media. High-quality, curated exhibitions have been held in Fiskars Village, at the Copper Smithy and the Old Granary, ever since. Being featured in a Fiskars exhibition became a goal for many art professionals.
The exhibitions quickly attracted many more interested professionals from various creative fields to the village, and activities expanded as the membership of the cooperative grew. The cooperative currently has 145 members, who work in a variety of professions in the fields of art, crafts and design.
Marja Sakari, a high-profile figure in the Finnish art world, has been selected as the curator for Onoma’s exhibition Fragile. In the words of the curator:
“The (pulling) power of Fiskars Village arises from its strong tradition of artisanship, its sense of community, and its history, dating back to the 17th century. In addition to Fiskars Village being all about handicrafts, education, and the cultivation of the mind, its natural environment is special, with its forests and varied bodies of water, such as waterfalls, rivers, lakes. In the exhibition, the different layers – the past and the present, the natural environment and the human-made – become intertwined to form an organic whole. What has fallen to pieces is not broken; it is a new beginning. A wound will heal.”
“The upcoming anniversary exhibition will focus on the work of people based in Fiskars. The aim is specifically to highlight the work, skill and creativity of the locals. The open call seeks works that best fit the theme and composition of the exhibition. The underlying idea of the exhibition is the posthumanist notion of the interconnectedness of everything; there is no fragility without strength. Nature and culture are not separate, and people are not separate from nature and other living beings.”
“The anniversary exhibition now being planned will highlight recently deceased artists: the exhibition will feature works by Martti Aiha, Markku Kosonen, Stig Nordman, Jukka Mäkelä and Howard Smith. The curatorial process will also take into account Fiskars (AiR) artists-in-residence who have been based in Fiskars Village. The exhibition expands to become a kind of tribute to the diligence, obstinacy and innovation of the group of people who, despite difficult living conditions, despite the challenges related to the fragility and changeability of life, kept their belief in the future and in the power of Fiskars Village and its community.”
The artists to be featured in the exhibition will be announced in March 2024.
About the exhibition curator
Marja Sakari (PhD) retired at the end of 2023 after last working as the director of the Ateneum Art Museum. She received her PhD in art history from the University of Helsinki in 2000, and has worked extensively in the cultural sector in both Finland and abroad.
Before becoming the director of the Ateneum Art Museum, Sakari worked, for example, as the chief curator of exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma from 2003. From 2008 to 2012, she worked as the director of the Finnish Institute in Paris and was on leave of absence from Kiasma. Sakari has worked extensively in the field of art history, including as a lecturer and professor of art history at the University of Helsinki and the Academy of Fine Arts, which is currently a part of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Sakari has held several positions of trust, including a board member of the University of the Arts Helsinki (the Academy of Fine Arts, the Sibelius Academy and the Theatre Academy) and a board member of the European Cultural Foundation.
Team
Exhibition curator: Marja Sakari
Exhibition design: Mattila&Merz/Laura Mattila and Mikko Merz, members of Onoma
Graphic designer for the exhibition: Ilona Ilottu
Production: Matleena Kalajoki, executive director/production team
Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale 2024
In 2024, the third Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale will be produced as a joint effort between Luovi Productions and Fiskars Village. The biennial will consist of the main exhibitions by Onoma and Luovi Productions in Fiskars Village and a related programme of events spreading across the Raseborg area. The title of the main exhibition by Luovi Productions is Yllätysvieras ('A Surprise Guest'). In 2022, the biennial attracted more than 25,000 visitors.
Biennial's main partner is once again Fiskars. The company is particularly proud to be able to celebrate its 375th anniversary in Fiskars Village, with the Biennale, Fiskars Festival concerts, and other visits and events that bring people to the company’s birthplace.
Some 100 artists, designers and artisans will be featured in the biennial’s exhibitions. The final list of artists will be announced in March 2024.
Summer exhibition of the Onoma Cooperative of Artists, Designers and Artisans in Fiskars
Fragile
The Copper Smithy exhibition spaces, Kuparivasarantie 5
10470 Fiskars
Open daily from 16 June to 1 September 2024, from 11:00 to 18:00
Opening of the Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale on 15 June 2024 (to be confirmed)
Contact, Onoma:
Matleena Kalajoki, executive director of the cooperative/head of the production team
matleena@onoma.fi
Tel. +358 44 97 64 508
Marja Sakari, curator
sakarimarja@gmail.com
Tel. +358 40 513 7164
Kuva kuraattori Marja Sakarista / Bild av kuratör Marja Sakari / Photo of curator Marja Sakari:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/xpatybdlhos9uf5a643w4/h?rlkey=25ad5my4zh7789x6noumop1jx&dl=0
Our partners and supporters include Luovi Productions, Fiskars Village and Fiskars Group, the Sophie von Julin Foundation, Svenska Kulturfonden and the City of Raseborg.