SPARK IN THE SHOE – Poriginal Gallery 20 Years

This year, Poriginal Gallery celebrates its 20th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Poriginal and the Pori Art Museum are organizing a special anniversary exhibition featuring three leading Finnish artists: Anne Alho, Kaisu Koivisto, and Riitta Uusitalo. Accompanying the exhibition is a 200-page book that introduces the artists and their work while also chronicling Poriginal’s two decades as one of Finland’s few municipal galleries.

SPARK IN THE SHOE – It’s an experience one cannot truly understand unless it has happened to them, says Anne Alho when discussing the daily life of a sculptor working with welding techniques. Alho, along with Kaisu Koivisto and Riitta Uusitalo, is one of the three artists featured in Poriginal Gallery’s 20th-anniversary exhibition. Each artist has a strong, independent role in the Finnish contemporary art scene. Beyond their success, which has followed their exceptionally intriguing artistic practices, the three share a common history: they all graduated from Kankaanpää Art School and have a professional connection to Poriginal Gallery.

SPARK IN THE SHOE is not only the title of the anniversary exhibition but also the name of the book documenting the gallery’s history. The title reflects both the artist’s profession and the gallery’s communal role, as well as the everyday reality of cultural work in general. There must be a spark—movement in the legs, in the shoes. But a spark alone is not enough, no matter how essential it may be. It also takes work—lots of it. And as Anne Alho puts it, a spark in the wrong place burns and brings only pain.

In his reflection on Poriginal’s role, artist and art critic Hannu Castrén states:

“Independence and non-commercialism grant a municipal gallery a unique space within Finland’s gallery landscape. In this context, the often vaguely defined concept of non-commercialism becomes quite precise. The gallery’s continuity does not depend on art sales, and it does not necessarily charge artists an exhibition fee—or, if it does, it keeps it reasonable. Since the only profits are of an intellectual nature, the gallery staff can dedicate their expertise and ambition entirely to this purpose. Independence also brings another important element: the possibility of being an alternative. The gallery’s mission is not to showcase artists and artworks that have already been embraced by the contemporary art mainstream. Instead, it operates at the dynamic end of the spectrum, where the new and different are still searching for their place in the art world. Art that is still on the margins but boldly challenges the status quo and signals change—this should be the ultimate ambition of a municipal gallery.”

“Objectivity is essential if art is to touch another person,” says Anne Alho, adding, “When self-evident things come together in just the right way, the artist can experience a moment when their work transcends personal matters and becomes something of much broader significance.”

Has Poriginal Gallery, over the past two decades, met the challenges posed by Castrén and Alho? Has it succeeded in its mission, or has it remained just a spark in the shoe? Each visitor can seek their own answers through the exhibition and the SPARK IN THE SHOE publication.

This text was created with AI assistance