Neurowave

In the history of arts we often find the absurd and the neurotic hand in hand - in a dominant role. They are the elements which make Piero Manzoni’s canned shit (1960s Milan) and Louise Bourgeois’s armies of tiny sketches enjoyable. They are just what Daniil Harms and Franz Kafka are about - and the same can be said already about the 1000 years old Sei Shonagon’s Pillow Book with its bizarre lists (“Things that make you feel nostalgic”, “Things that make your heart beat fast”), which Peter Greenaway turned into a (neurotic) film (1996).A political camp version of the same? The mid-50s American conservative fear - beware of the artist! - by senator Joseph McCarthy.Often N & A is about interpreting the world, but it is as much about changing it - making reality even more absurd and neurotic. After seeing a Woody Allen film life shows its comically complex side more easily. And while we work hard for our well-being, we can actually be absurdly trapped into a web of vitamin and medicine pills - to the extent that absurdity takes over.Kallio Kunsthalle presents a new Nordic wave of this artistic mentality - with a fake-finnish twist.In the main hall:1. Pimp my mountain! Mika Turkia wasn’t satisfied with Norwegian mountains - so he fixed the problem, photographically. Now one can enjoy the static harmony which nature was unable to produce, here corrected by the photographer.2. Whatta å? As a Filipino immigrant Jet Pascua’s had issues with Scandinavian languages. Solution? Take a pill.3. All names changed! Sámi artist Hans Ragnar Mathisen fixed all Nordic maps to correspond to their true aboriginal legacy.4. Lisa Erdman’s photo work on faceless women ‘discuss’ the feminine cage and objectivization through with twisted touch.5. Tanya Busse presents Hovering Facts Over Mountains of Opinions, newspaper clippings from sci-fi illustrator Rune Enger.6. Joonas Rinta-Kanto comics point out the hard work of being human - where we often end up faking and presenting us more than living our own lives. Life is hard - but so is art!7. Rakel Liekkis functional miniature sculpture asks "What if you would be here instead of being everywhere?"In the Cabinet:8. Niina Cochran’s “deep” discussion (video) with her artworks is weird, crooked, and somewhat over-sensitive. It shares the video space with Mireia Saladrigues’s cacao tab nursing project, which is about well-being with a good (but a bit of a weird) spirit!In the (table) Kallio Contemporary Art Museum:9.1. Stella Parland’s tiny ad hoc drawings are visual Kafka - fragile, twisted, and eccentric.9.2. We might have lost the possibility to get Checkpoint Guggen-Kallela to Helsinki. Well, now we have to try to get satisfied with Kiasma... Petri Saarikko’s Kiasma dildo is as well of course a possibility to “fuck with the institution(s)”! And if not, there’s always the Kiasma nightstick - get it on baby!(Dwarf exhibition under the table!)10. Appendix: Pink Twins send an eclectic neurowave down the Second Line.Last but not least ‘deep aroma roasting’ performance by Eero Alapitkä. Sparkling water served.