This exhibition is a book of fairy tales about war. Every artwork is a chapter. I drew inspiration from the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. They are both romantic and eerie, just like my embroideries. I like to play with the viewer.

Rooted in my reflections on women’s experiences of war, the project uses embroidery to express resistance, memory, and resilience. From afar, my works may seem soft: pink, childlike, almost naive. But step closer, and you will find the second layer – stories of war, anxiety, memory, survival.I’m drawn to contrasts: sweetness and sorrow, fantasy and fear.

Like old fairy tales, my works are gentle in form, but deeper and darker in meaning. I would like to fill the space with these embroidered stories. Near each artwork, you will find a small fairy tale, a glimpse into the world behind the thread. The heart will be the common element throughout the exhibition.

Location: 6″ canteen building (View in Google Maps)

DARIA TITOVA

Daria Titova (b. 2003) is a Ukrainian artist and designer working on themes of national identity, history and colonialism. In her practice, she often uses embroidery and craft and poetic devices to speak about her personal memories and sensitive experiences. Through individual narratives, Titova conveys to the viewer expressions of collective memory.

In my doctoral research, I examine spaces and structures designed to harness, study, and stage natural forces and weather phenomena indoors. For the past two years, I have been exploring these unique spaces. I wonder who controls fire, air, and water in stories and mythologies. And what are the real-world methods for harnessing and simulating weather and natural phenomena? What do they reveal about our desire to control and our need to survive? The ANEMOI exhibition features a series of sculptural objects and sound inspired by these spaces and stories.

The project has been supported by the Kone Foundation.

Location: 6″ canteen building (View in Google Maps)

AKULIINA NIEMI

Akuliina Niemi (b. 1987) studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts and classical music at the Sibelius Academy, and works with multimedia installations. She is currently a doctoral researcher at the University of the Arts Helsinki with support from the Kone Foundation. In her research, Niemi examines spaces and structures in which weather and natural forces can be studied and staged indoors. The first artistic component of the research was presented at an aerodynamics laboratory in Espoo, and the next component will be exhibited at Forum Box gallery in 2027. Niemi’s works have been exhibited at venues including Kunsthalle Helsinki, Sinne Gallery, Turku Art Museum, Helsinki Biennial, Riga International Biennial of Contem- porary Art, and the ISCP International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York.

Eeva-Liisa Puhakka arranges three open workshops and a scent walk, exploring the scents of the archipelago together. We begin with a shared walk, observing the different smellscapes of the surrounding environment, talking about scents, and gathering botanical materials for a collective distillation. Participants will distill the scent of this particular summer day and receive a small sample to take home. During the distillation, we will discuss scent memories and olfactory experiences, and perhaps even invent words for smells that have never had names before. The workshop highlights the importance of the sense of smell as a fundamental, yet often overlooked, way of experiencing the world.

Guided Walk: Wednesday, 24 June at 14:00

Meeting point: In front of the 6″ canteen (View in Google Maps)

A guided scent walk and discussion about smells and scents
(approximately 1–2 hours)

Workshop: Thursday, 25 June at 14–16:30
Workshop: Friday, 26 June at 14–16:30
Workshop: Saturday, 27 June at 14–16:30

Meeting point: In front of the 6″ canteen (View in Google Maps)

14:00 Introduction to the workshop

14:15 A shared walk exploring the smells and scents of the surrounding environment. We will collect botanical materials while discussing how the sense of smell works and sharing different olfactory experiences.

15:00 Collective distillation of the scent of an Örö summer day, accompanied by a discussion about scent memories and personal experiences.

16:30 Closing and bottling of the distillate. Each participant will receive a small bottle containing the scent of the day to take home.

Eeva-Liisa Puhakka

Eeva-Liisa Puhakka is an multidisciplinary artist whose work spans kinetic sculpture, video, bio art, installations, and olfactory art. With a background in environmental engineering, she moved from technical consulting to art driven by her passion for nature and the intersection of science and creativity.

Eeva-Liisa’s work often explore human-animal coexistence, rural depopulation, body-related taboos, the underdeveloped language of scents and smells and the experience of smells in our environment. She was a founding member of Scent Club Berlin, a Berlin-based olfactory art and research collective, and was the artist of Kouvola city (Kouvolan kuvataiteilija) in 2020–2022.