Hermanni Saarinen | A construction site

9.4.–2.5.2021

I remember an abandoned water tower in a forest. To get in, I climbed onto its roof. Inside there were crumbled leaves, branches and other partly decomposed stuff. There was no water remaining, only a cylinder-like empty space with a little light coming from a hatch in the ceiling. On its walls were scribbles made by previous visitors, names and dates. I was there maybe in the summer of 1994. 

The exhibition consists of sculptures which refer to man-made environments, either imagined or real places and buildings. They are studies of the interaction between emptiness, textures, masses and matter. Certain structures and topics repeat in the works, for example a labyrinth-theme and a modularly expanding sculpture, consisting of repetitive parts. 

A city space with a labyrinth-like structure can offer an emancipatory experience of getting lost. An odd construction seen from a far distance or a building in a dream attracts due to its inaccessibility. A lost space reappears in one’s imagination. 

Hermanni Saarinen graduated from the sculpture department of the Academy of Fine Arts in 2011. His latest exhibition Corners and edges took place in Forum Box, Helsinki, in 2020. He is a part of the artist-run space Monitoimitila O.