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Opening hours:
Tue–Sat 11–16
Sun 11–17.
Tickets:
Adults 8 €
Seniors 6 €
Holders of S-etu
benefit card 7 €
Students 4 €
Free entrance for children and persons under 18.
In association with:
Oskar Öflunds Stiftelse
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The Gallen-Kallela Museum's anniversary year ends with the exhibition Kalevala granaína (The Granadan Kalevala). In this exhibition, interpretations of the Kalevala epic by Spanish contemporary artists are given a presence in Akseli Gallen-Kallela's castle-like studio and residence. Mounted together with them are a few works on Kalevala themes by Akseli Gallen-Kallela from the museum's own collections. This exhibition addresses cultural formation and the question of what kinds of visual expression are created when the Finnish national epic is read and interpreted by people with no previous knowledge of the world of the Kalevala.
In the minds of Finns, the legends of the Kalevala with their colourful heroes have become mythical primal images. In the interpretations by Spanish artists, the poems of the epic take on a bold life in the visual idiom of contemporary art. Their works journey from an imaginary reality to a heroic era, to experiences reflecting on the mental landscape of the epic and human emotions. Each artist was given a set of poems from the Kalevala as their topic. The exhibition creates a visual dialogue between magical forces and events, the world view of the Kalevala and its heroes. Viewed from a Spanish frame of reference, exotic northern nature presents itself as steering the course of life and even as a mythical abode of fear where light and darkness alternate. The distant landscape is often shown devoid of events, with the presence of the elements of nature tacitly referring to the past.
The concept for Kalevala granaína emerged when the exhibition's working group travelled in the forests of Karelia, the regions where the Kalevala's poems were originally sung. The exhibition and research project was carried out jointly by the universities of Jyväskylä and Granada and the Kalevala Society. Professors Manuel Vélez Cea, Annika Waenerberg and Seppo Knuuttila led the project. The book Kalevala granaína. Myth, image, idea opens up new readings linking the Kalevala with the visual arts. The project also included an experimental comic-strip entitled The Sampo in Spain. Tales of the Kalevala, by students of art of the University of Granada.
The artists of the exhibition
Juan Arroyo Salome, Bethânia Barbosa Bezerra de Souza, Nacho Belda Mercado, Raúl Campos López, Ramón J. Freire Santa Cruz, Maria Santos Horcajada Diaz de Espada, Luis Alfredo López López, Fernando Machado Baldasano, Lola Nieto Vera, Juan Carlos Ramos Guadix, Bartolomé Roca García, Javier Seco Goñi, and Manuel Vélez Cea.
Gallen-Kallela Museum homepage
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