"Where is my home?"
For the United States of Europe exhibition the artist presents new site-specific installations related to the space and to present day Europe. In each city her work is adapted to a venue and the site.
The new work that Kaarina creates for the Helsinki exhibition is called "Where is my home?"; a house made of bags and luggage of different kind. It can be seen as a small house that is collapsing or that is not completely constructed. The piece tells a story about different kind of people and states trying to live together, but it's difficult... The first work created for the exhibition in Poland was “A Connection”. Shirts in many colours and sizes were attached to a long pipe running from a walking zone in the city of Lodz, leading the visitor to the main exhibition space in an old textile factory. ‘A Connection’ represents connections between people and nations.
Kaarina is known for her large installation made from men’s jackets, ladies’ shoes, shirts and found objects exhibited in different spaces both in - and outside. She has participated in numerous international exhibitions, most recently in the Cairo Biennale 2009, the Liverpool Biennale 2010, the Vancouver biennale 2010 and in the Venice Biennale collateral event, 2011. At the moment Kaarina works on several projects, for example in Italy, in Chile and she recently did an installation at Art Miami.
Kaarina Kaikkonen - Oficial Site
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/ My european story
Finland is the best country for me, I love Finland.
My identity is very much Finnish. My parents were born as neighbourghs in Iisalmi, Eastern Finland… For my artistic work I need to travel a lot in Europe, but I do not want to stay more than 1-2 weeks -- my heart is always missing home and my children and husband, also my sisters and relatives. Finland is the best country for me, I love Finland.
My artwork, My work talks about people, how people from different backgrounds are connected together, about life as a journey...The material is used shirts.