At the Same Time Elsewhere

Works 87–124 (in the foreground), Kyyditys, Säilö (in the background).

Sculptor Gallery, 2013

Beyond the limits of our senses lie events we are unaware of. This realization is as dizzying as the thought-provoking question of whether a falling tree makes a sound if no one is there to hear it. Scale also complicates perception. When a blade of grass falls in the forest, we do not hear it, but a beetle hears the blade, a tree on its own scale, falling.

According to zoologist von Uexküll, every organism has its own subjective environment, or umwelt, which intersect with one another because we live in the same space and world. At these points of intersection, the compatibility and tolerance of worlds, and thus the survival capacity of organisms, are measured.

Social classes and cultures are also living environments with their own languages and symbols. Sometimes it feels as though certain environments have no points of intersection whatsoever and are bordered by fences so high that we cannot hear even if a giant tree were to fall in the forest of another environment. Meanwhile, the works in the exhibition tell of these events.

“Havimäki’s steps toward a more conceptual direction are welcome, and the overall work is visually striking.”

Veikko Halmetoja, Helsingin Sanomat, August 11, 2013