ARTIST CATARINA RYöPPY
Catarina Ryöppy (photographer Santtu Särkkä)
Catarina Ryöppy studied painting and sculpture in Switzerland but
has now for many years concentrated on installation art using photographs and
videos.
Time unknown. Photo Catarina Ryöppy.
Ryöppy's works have exhibited widely both in Finland and abroad. Her works
are included in many significant museum, company and city collections. She is
a recipient of numerous awards and grants including the State Art Award 2010
and Pro Finlandia medal in 2011. She has also taught drawing and painting e.g.
in the Helsinki School of Art and Design.
Time,
Limits, Relatio Artis -seminar 26.05.2011
In her speech Time,
Limits Catarina Ryöppy focused on the essence of time and cultural borders
through her works. She explored the process of interpreting the perceived strangeness
in others and what it results to. Why is it, that otherness is rendered different,
inferior, unacceptable, despicable, scary and threatening? Where does the need
to draw borders stem from and how do we overcome these self-constructed obstacles
between us and the world? And how to deal with the ultimate strangeness that
is within ourselves? Will the recognition of our fears and insecurities result
in better understanding of others?
Waiting for. Photo Catarina Ryöppy.
To quote Georges Perec in Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, "Borders
are only lines, but millions of people have died for these lines and thousands
have died because they have not succeeded in crossing them."
Ryöppy’s
works deal with the presence of absence, the perishability of life, the arresting
of time and death. In her works nothing really happens and yet, to quote John
Cage, "Even if nothing happens, something always happens." Our thoughts evolve
and shape us - even unconsciously.
Katariina Lipsanen
Relatio Artis
page
Kalevi Aho
Reija Hirvikoski
Juhani Pallasmaa
Catarina Ryöppy
Jussi Tiainen
Timo Valjakka