Art Centre Itä is a gallery space and an art rental shop maintained by The Artists’ Association of South Karelia and The Finnish Jewellery Art Association. Itä is situated in the centre of Lappeenranta. Itä offers changing exhibitions of contemporary art in two gallery spaces, Roikka and Riutta. Jewellery art has a special place in the exhibition program of Itä.
Valtakatu 66
53100 Lappeenranta
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0400 313 824
taidekeskus.ita@gmail.com
Website
Opening hours
Tue-Fri 11-17, Fri June 9th 11-19, Sat June 10th 11-15, Sat June 17th 11-16
Itä is accessible. There are movable ramps at the entrance if necessary. The ramps are a bit steep, so if someone arriving in a wheelchair does not have an assistant with them, the gallery staff is happy to help.
“You’re on Earth. There’s no cure for that” -Samuel Beckett
In the exhibition Here is always elsewhere, Tuomas Ollikainen shows fresh works of sculpture, and series of photos from past years.
Galleriatila Roikka
In Elina Priha’s exhibition you are met with an ensemble consisting of textile pieces, ceramic installations and a work of video art.
“In the summer of 2021, I spent two weeks in solitude on an island that belongs to my maternal family. The island is called ‘Kalmonsaari’ which means Island of Dead Bodies. Despite the ominous name, some of my fondest childhood memories are from this island. Our family has spent summer holidays there since the cottage was built by my grandfather in 1972. During the two weeks I spent alone on the island, I reflected on my relationship with the place and its inhabitants. Though I consider Kalmonsaari as one of the places I am most familiar with; on the island I am still a visitor and I have no knowledge of what happens to/in the island in winter. The island and I were both familiar strangers to each other. Childhood memories, imagination, past and present started to blend in interesting ways where the boundaries of ‘self’ are no longer so clear or rigid.”
The exhibition shows a tactile collection of iterations based on these embodied memories.
Galleriatila Riutta
Tuomas Ollikainen (b. 1982, Oulu) is an artist living and working in Joensuu. In the Meet the artist -talk, he will discuss his practice and the themes of the exhibition Here is always elsewhere. Ollikainen studied fine arts in Saimaa University of Applied Sciences (present day LAB), and he considers his years in South Karelia as an important period on his path of artistic development. He has been working in many different fields of art, but last years his main focus has been in sound art and experimental
music.
TJ Hämärä is the solo act of experimental music by Tuomas Ollikainen. TJ Hämärä uses electronic and acoustic instruments in a set of semi-improvised music, at the moment inspired by the spectrum of light, and various hidden and slow processes of nature.
Galleriatila Roikka
Elina Priha (born 1987) is a multi-disciplinary artist currently based in Helsinki. Priha completed a MA degree in Visual Cultures, Curating & Contemporary Art at Aalto University in 2022.
Through a very process-lead approach, a way of thinking-through-making, EP uses textile, film, drawing, walking and storytelling as methods into exploring notions of how to become familiar with a place and developing an intimacy with place and material.
Galleriatila Riutta
Video art by the members of The Artists’ Association of South Karelia and The Finnish Jewellery Art Association.
Valtakatu 66, 53100 Lappeenranta