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A BODY CALLED PAULA (2017-2027)

A Body Called Paula, is an installation based on repetition and a meditative performance in which Ketola, taking the role of Paula, works on a large ornament on fragile paper. Paula is an allegory of a human as part of the universe and as a builder of technology. With the help of serigraphy, her hands and the space form a human printer, a sensual machine. Paula is enchanted with the ribbons, trapped in the activity and fettered by the body and matter. In Finnish the word paula is a synonym to a ribbon and a trap. The performance parts Light, Passion, Knowledge, Reality and Darkness symbolises the elements of full life. Tension is always present in the seemingly calm performance as the characteristics of the matter are in danger of being revealed when the fragile paper gets stuck. The ethereal soundscape of the performance has been created by Ketola.

A Body Called Paula, begun in 2017, is a ten-year long process. Every year three to four ornament ribbons are created in different parts of the world. The performance is physically demanding and the endurance of the artist’s hands determine the rhythm. The long timeline allows to override the control and lets the work itself find its essential form and dialogue. The task of the artist is only to maintain the movement.

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Paula is a female name. In Finnish, the word means a ribbon, something to tie or to be enchanted. It is also a synonym for a trap. Globally it is known as a name, originally a Greek word ‘Paulus’, which means small.

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The project is a performative installation that mixes screenprinting with performance. Part installation, part performance, A Body Called Paula is a piece that develops over the days of the installation through long-duration performance sessions. With the ethereal soundtrack the movements of the body become a sensual machine. The main themes addressed are time/ temporality, pleasure and the meditative process of working. The narrative story hunts beauty through light to passion, knowledge, reality, and depth to the final balance with darkness.

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What is the measure of time? An ornament is a universal form of visual art in every culture. Every individual performance exhibition is part of the long-term project. During ten years, 2017-2027, Sirkku Ketola will produce hand-printed ribbons around the world which will finally be presented as one massive installation. The photo-based patterns changes in every ornament with the motive that rises from the previous performance place. Who knows what will happen?

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Sirkku Ketola: A Body Called Paula, 2017-2027. Site-specific durational performance and installation. Photos: Katri Ketola

PASSED:

2017: Toronto/Canada, Helsinki/Finland, Turku/Finland, NYC/USA

2018: Helsinki/Finland, Liége/Belgium, Grand-Leez/Belgium, Jodoigne/Belgium

2019: Kobe/Japan, Riga/Latvia, Utö/Finland

2020: Kasterlee/Belgium, Muhu Island/Estonia, Naantali/Finland

2021: Turku/Finland, Tampere/Finland, Instagram/Online

2021: Suomenlinna Island/Finland, Wiurila/Finland, Hancock/USA

NEXT: April 2023: Quebec City/Quebec/Canada... to be continued until 2027. Stay tuned! More in INSTAGRAM: #abodycalledpaula

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STAY AND STIR - HALFWAY CURLED RIBBONS (2022)

Stir (Hämmennys, kohu, hälinä, linna, kuhina, vilske, hievahtaa, värähtää, sekoittaa, hämmentää, sekaantua, liikauttaa, yllyttää, kiihottaa, myllertää, kuohuttaa mieltä, liikahtaa, liikahdella, liikkua, liikuttaa, nousta, möyhentää, väräyttää) 

Stay (Oleskelu, tuki, staagi, harus, naula, lykkäys, oloaika, oleilu, pysyvyys, pysähdys, maltti, vahvike, este, jäädä, pysyä, lykätä, viipyä, asua, oleskella, pysytellä, bunkata, pirta, oleilla, jäykiste, tukipylkkä)

Stay and Stir – Halfway Curled Ribbons is artist Sirkku Ketola’s solo exhibition that has been created to the Jetty Barracks gallery space in Suomenlinna Island in Helsinki. The first gallery hall is composed with A Body Called Paula, a performance serie and an installation, which transforms during the weekends. The second hall is rhythmed with new smaller works, timeless compositions of love, serigraphy, wood, words and symbols.

Time is the main concept. Hands try to understand the stay and the stir of the matter. Sometimes everything flows naturally, then arrives mortality, corona or war, and the embrace fades. When my spouse fell asleep in my arms, the cosmos opened to new distances. The routes echo there and back like the purest laughter of exuberance. Time lounges, delays and trembles.

In 2017 I begun a ten-year long process, a performance serie A Body Called Paula which is based on repetition, serigraphy printing and physicality. I wanted to indulge and let the time rule the paths of the creation. Far is the start, the motion more clear and the body more worn. It’s the sixth year – this exhibition originates folding, the halfway curled ribbon.

I’m extremely fortunate to bring A Body Called Paula in Suomenlinna, just beside the sea. The HAA Gallery space has called for it for long time. Hopefully the May wind may the doors stay open to the seaside.

Sirkku Ketola: Stay and Stir - Halfway Curled Ribbons. Process picture, includes works: Stay, 2022, serigraphy on wood & Tabula Rasa -ribbon for next A Body Called Paula -performance.

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THERE'S NO TIME (2021)

This text was published unfortunately in Finnish only.

Näyttelyssä on esillä tuore taiteilijakirja, pieniä installaatioita ja kehyksiä.

On niitä jotka nousevat virrasta ja kutsuvat tarttumaan. Ne kertyvät hyllyille, kansioihin, sydämiin. Ne tarkkailevat kunnes on aika tulla tai karata. Kirkkaimmat yhdistyvät hetkessä, sitkeimmät lähes vaiti.

En tiedä kuinka se oli sinne tullut poimiessani viisitoista vuotta sitten mökkitieltä, keskeltä ajoväylää, naudan valkeaksi paahtuneen pääluun. Se imi auringonvaloa kalliolla koko seuraavan kesän ja opetti yksivuotiaan lausumaan pehmeästi kallo.

Miksi Sam kokosi purukumista hahmon Pariisin seinille, miksi minä sen huomasin ja kuvasin, miksi painoin teokseksi ja asetin esille vasta nyt? Miksi japanissa kullataan murtumia? Miksi hylätty levy valikoituu teoksen osaksi? Miksi lyijykynä kirjoitti kalloon vasta eilen ’There’s No Time’?

Havainnoin kuiskauksia hiljaisuudesta, väkeviä, sieluun yltäviä. Niiden tempo on ajaton, vapaa ja kaikkialle kiertyvä. On kymmenen kesää kun syvimmän kaivon valo taittui kohti kaikkeuden kuplaa, ikuista ja katoavaista. Viisi vuotta kului ja installaationi Turun taidemuseossa näytti kuvallis-tilallisesti eilisen ja tulevan. Sain apua tulkinnassa mutta sanat peittyivät elämän alle. Pysähdys toi ne esiin. Viime vuonna syntyi kirja ja nyt tammikuussa kannet. Installaation nimeä toistava, käsityönä Belgiassa syntynyt taiteilijakirja ’Still Hearing the Whispers of the Queen’ on sanan ja kuvan, sekä ajan ja ajattomuuden kontrolloimaton ja intuitiivinen installaatio laatikossa. Sen sisäinen koheesio koostuu elämästä ja kuolemasta, sekä energiasta joka asemoi kontrollia ja kaaosta. Nyt, näyttely-yhteydessä julkaistava taiteilijakirja on osa hidasta dialogia, johon kutsumani kvanttifyysikko, runoilija, taidemaalari, taidehistorioitsija ja antropologi oletettavasti yllättyvät, kun virta vihdoin taas liikkuu. Valitsin tuoda kirjan ulos nyt, aikana jolloin viruksen suoma sulku hidastaa katsomaan totuttua syvemmälle. Toiseksi, elämänreitit kiertyvät ajallisesti yhteen, kun yhden teoksen sanallistajan, antropologi Maija Buttersin väitöskirja ’Death and Dying Mediated by Medicine, Rituals, and Aesthetics’ julkaistaan vain viikkoa aiemmin.

Grafoteekin pieni rajattu tila pakottaa suureen kokoon tottuneen rajauksiin. Laajan aikajanan väleissä, piilossa syntyneet tiivistymät putkahtelevat esiin. Serigrafian rinnalla on tapahtunut paljon.

Sirkku Ketola: There's No Time, 2021, site-specific installation with skull and pencil. Photo: Sirkku Ketola

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FABULA (2018)

What is and why?

The definitions of “fabula” include a situation, story, dilemma, poem, myth, matter, legend, folktale, fairy tale, play, concern and problem.

Sirkku Ketola’s exhibition FABULA feat. A Body Called Paula consists of visual poems and situations. Separate word and image elements are placed side by side to repeat each other. Logic and intuition play with familiar symbols and are abstracted into parallel twists. A squirrel, wood, paper, bird, human, hand, foot, mark. The seeming disconnection between the works underlines the connection because everything is the same – living and dying. The universe is an ornament repeating itself.

What is a human’s size in the universe? What about that of an artwork? The most important question in the field of contemporary art, “Who’s the curator?”, has been carved into wood. The question itself is meaningless because art has no frameworks. There are only birds that grew in squirrel skins, flying alongside death while singing about life.

The largest piece in the exhibition, A Body Called Paula, is an installation based on repetition and a meditative performance in which Ketola, taking the role of Paula, works on a large ornament on fragile paper during weekends. The name Paula is derived from the Greek word “paulus” which means small. Paula is an allegory of a human as part of the universe and as a builder of technology. With the help of serigraphy, her hands and the space form a human printer, a sensual machine. Paula is enchanted with the ribbons, trapped in the activity, intoxicated by beauty and fettered by the body and matter. Tension is always present in the seemingly calm performance as the characteristics of the matter are in danger of being revealed when the fragile paper gets stuck. The ethereal soundscape of the performance has been created by Ketola.

Sirkku Ketola: Thoughts 3, site-specific installation with turned objects. Including i.a works: I See You, 2018, serigraphy on paper; The Question, 2018, ingraving and serigraphy on wood; Elements, 2017, serigraphy on wood; Four Three, 2017, serigraphy on paper and Fabula, 2018, serigraphy on paper. In Gallery Huuto, Helsinki, Finland. Photo: Pasi Autio

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CODE - Handling-ling (2016)

Thinking by hands, handling-ling.

The occupant of wisdom said: Make a square on the ground and wait, life will be visible. Succeed. The other noted: Shhh, you must always be, and go peacefully. That was more challenging, how to advance and pause simultaneously.

The code controls and escapes. Gusto Ardor and Harmony Accord twist. Order and stream alternates, the rhythm is determined by the two.

Sirkku Ketola’s solo exhibition displays some viewpoints of the stream, chosen croppings to parallel understanding and reality. They lift the veil of rationalism and unmask the structures. The photo material used is collected during past years as recorded compositions of beauty of the abrasions of time. The walls of Europe hold meanings. Paris, Brussels and Helsinki, what has happened? The matter recurs in the artworks, it dublicates and mirrors the past to the future. The image of a trance on the wooden wall repeats as a new imprint on wood. The strength of the hand has affected the outcome. The motion goes on through the material changes. The material sets the limits, the wood bends. One can find a code to the past behind the prints. Can you find them?

Sirkku Ketola: Feedback, 2016. Handprinted silkscreen on wood. 81 x 105 cm. Process picture.

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SHhh..! Still hearing the whispers of the queen (2015)

One must to be, and go on slowly. And if allowed to rest to regard, one may see. The growth through the stone is strong. I listen to the light without knowledge of its source. And I try to bow, waving in the silence.

Turku Art Museum was the venue of Sirkku Ketola’s first encounter with institutional art and it still holds a kind of sanctity for her. In this space, Ketola will now construct her own sacred story about humanity and her questioning of the code of life.

Mounted in the Studio space, Still hearing the whispers of the queen is an installation made of paper screen-printed manually by Ketola over several years. The material combines physical fragility with a heavy range of colour. The chapel-like structure spreads itself out in front of and around the viewer. The work is a scroll, opened up for reading, from the content of which the viewer selects, forms and interprets segments or details. Each path chosen from among the thousands of possible ones is unique. Instead of supplying answers, Ketola asks: What justifies us to conquer, define and control? The depth whispers in reply. Who has the knowledge?

Sirkku Ketola: Still hearing the whispers of the queen, 2015. Handprinted silkscreen installation on paper. In Turku Art Museum, Turku, Finland. Photo: Vesa Aaltonen

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Copywright © Sirkku Ketola 2023