In his Visual Artist of the Year exhibition named Interface at the Oulunsalo Soi Chamber Music Festival, 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 Oulunsalo 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.
The Oulunsalo Soi festival takes place in and near Oulu from 9 to 13 August as part of the Oulu August Festivals.
Mika Kiviniemi
Interface
Visual Artist of the Year, Oulunsalo Soi Chamber Music Festival
10 August – 28 September 2023
Oulunsalo Library, Kapteeni Shopping Centre
Karhuojantie 2, 90460 Oulunsalo
For further information, please contact:
Taija Jyrkäs
Producer
Photo North – Pohjoinen valokuvakeskus
+358 40 128 1150
taija@photonorth.fi
Anu Lähteenmäki
Producer
Oulun kulttuuritapahtumayhdistys ry / Oulunsalo Soi – Chamber Music Festival
044 333 558, anu@oulunjuhlaviikot.fi
Open: Monday to Thursday from 8.30am to 7pm, Friday from 8.30am to 5pm.
Picture: Mika Kiviniemi: a still image from a video work Performatives, 2023
