Mikko Kuorinki

Somebody Said She Finds Triangles Scary I Can Understand That

Exhibition

07/09/2013 –

– 05/10

05/10/2013

Strange to be ignorant of the way things work / Their skill at finding what they need, / Their sense of shape, and punctual spread of seed, / And willingness to change

– Philip Larkin

Wooden piano keys, peanuts (with the shell still on), earplugs, an old espresso cup, a bullet proof transaction tray. The choice for these things in the work of Mikko Kuorinki comes from an unexplainable fascination, sometimes inspired by a scene from a film or a phrase from a book that he needs to realize.

Kuorinki sees his work as traces or fragments of reality, as constellations of objects and words, where he is just documenting. Fascinated by the lifespan of an object and its different stages the objects can be unused, worn out, broken, fixed, handmade or factory built. Seemingly unrelated the objects are taken out of their usual, daily context, gaining a new kind of autonomy.

This also occurs in the texts that he uses. The words that he collects are, like his objects, not explanatory, symbolic or representational but are rather treated as objects as well, listed as an inventory.

Both objects and words ask for a reconsideration of meanings and associations and demand a new way of looking at things. At the same time they are carefully put together, taking the space and shape of the space the objects are presented in as one other element that takes part in this new presentation, forming a scene together. We look at the objects with new respect, as if they are now part of some ritual or sacral ceremony. New stories are formed between the pieces while carrying along their cultural, social or personal histories provoking a chain of associations. An unstable boundary exists between the material autonomy of the object and its understanding as a sign.

Info

About Mikko Kuorinki: Kuorinki (b. 1977, Finland) lives in Helsinki. Kuorinki has studied at the Arts Academy at Turku University of Applied Sciences as well as the University of Art and Design Helsinki from which he graduated in 2008. Please visit the website of the artist for more information.

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