These organizations focus on the concomitance and communal living of artists, educators, and students hailing from diverse places throughout Europe within a region with a strong identity based on the landscape and unique housing situation: guests must help out. This way of living often becomes relevant in the development of the artists’ work.

The relationships between art and nature; art and region; and art and community were the cornerstones of the activities suggested for this new way of living. These pairings characterize the artistic research in Finland and also make up the important supporting elements of Asilo Bianco’s operative philosophy. Thus the museum area of the Tornielli palace and the neo-Gothic park have hosted work from artists who represent modern Finnish culture. This includes artwork that touches on these themes and calls into question the roles that man has traditionally assigned to himself and to what surrounds him, pushing to the background that which must in some way be debased in order to be made the most of.

Curator Seppo Salminen’s proposal is based on the interactive presence of the artist. Their work therefore requires that art be created on the premises and that the artists make time to meet the people of Ameno; the cultural operators, guests, instructors, and students gather together to engage in free, transversal discussion. Such occasions provide a means for returning to the primary function of artwork as means of facilitating togetherness through discussion, commentary, and reflection.

Artists on display:
Teuri Haarla
Antti Laitinen
Pekka Nevalainen
Kaarina Kaikkonen
Hanna Vihriälä
Seppo Salminen + Heini Räsänen
Mustarinda Group

Organized by the Asilo Bianco association in collaboration with the Finnish Academy of Fine Art.