In his exhibition named Interface, Mika Kiviniemi reflects on the nature of action and sound: does the action motivate the sound or does the sound motivate the action? Is the purpose of action to produce a sound that is observed aesthetically, or is the act itself what is being observed? In addition to the making of sound, Kiviniemi’s exhibition at the Tyrnävä Library explores the act of listening and the impact of sound on the interpretation of events that are seen and experienced.
According to sound artist and researcher Salome Voegel, listening is fundamentally imaginative. Sound waves do not offer information from which one can directly infer the shape, size, colour, appearance, essence or other attributes of the sound-producing object. The listener creates a picture of the source, the possible cause and the motive of the sound in his or her mind. Kiviniemi’s work has also been influenced by J.L. Austin’s speech act theory and the idea of performative expressions or performatives. Performative expressions are utterances that not only describe reality, but also change the reality they describe. In his works, Kiviniemi approaches sound as a similar phenomenon, an event that affects reality by changing the way it is experienced.
The exhibition consists of videos, still images, soundscapes and kinetic sound sculptures. The artworks were created between 2021 and 2023 and explore the act of producing sounds. In his artistic work, Kiviniemi explores new ways and perspectives from behind and within phenomena: he deconstructs, assembles, separates and combines things in search of unexpected connections. The nature of the works is often found in the combination of different media, techniques and starting points, and in the insights that come with new things.
In Interface, Mika Kiviniemi approaches the making of sound as a kind of performance focusing on the interaction between two elements. The artist invites the visitor to approach the works as an act of listening – combining different elements of sound to form a vague meaning, question or reason for the sound to happen.
Mika Kiviniemi was Oulunsalo Soi chamber music festival’s Visual Artist of the Year 2023 with his exhibition Interface.
Mika Kiviniemi: Interface
4.3.-26.3.2024
Tyrnävä Library
Meijerikatu 3, 91800 Tyrnävä
Open: Monday to Wednesday from noon to 7pm, Thursday from 9am to 4pm, Friday from noon to 4pm.
