SARI PALOSAARI

Attach, expand, collapse
2016
Solo show in Gallery Hippolyte.
`It´s a silent agent doing its thing´
Stones, soundless cracking agent, objects used in making and found in gallery or studio, sound
`Building images´
Dry walls, float glass, aluminum profiles, light fixtures, found objects
The exhibition consists of two intertwining installations. While creating new situations, they also address issues that affect the built environment and thereby the everyday life. The works were inspired by new building materials that change the perception of time and space in the living environment.
It’s A Silent Agent Doing Its Thing makes use of a soundless cracking agent, expansive mortar that was developed for splitting rock and concrete in urban construction sites without any noise or vibration. The moment when the stones crack cannot be determined beforehand, as it is the result of pressure created by the expanding agent. But whereas the silent and unobtrusive method improves efficiency in construction, in the piece the force works in the opposite direction. The time in the installation makes no concession to the gallery’s opening hours or viewers’ schedules, the rocks split in their own time, according to the materials´ autonomous law. The piece also features a studio recording of the sound of stone splitting.
Building Images extends the exhibition space with a glass-walled structure that contains traces of human gestures and activity. Increasingly common in modern construction, glass walls highlight issues of showing, concealment and observation. The transparent spaces challenge our bodily existence as they place our material lives with both the intentional and unintentional actions on display.
Photo © Kaisaleena Halinen















