The Heikkilä brothers are the stars of the Alvar Aalto Museum and Jyväskylä Art Museum’s anniversary exhibition

Alvar Aalto Museum and Jyväskylä Art Museum celebrate their joint history this summer with “Räppänä – the Vent” exhibition, 3.6–18.9.2016. The 50th anniversary exhibition spanning both museums shows the handiwork of the renowned brothers from Jyväskylä: visual artist Jussi Heikkilä and designer Simo Heikkilä.

Jussi and Simo Heikkilä each represents Finland’s front rank in his own field. The connection between these makers creates a fascinating link between the exhibition’s visual art and design.

“Staging an exhibition that combines conceptual art with design is not necessarily all that easy a task. On the other hand, its creators have many things in common – an observant approach to nature, plays on words and metaphors, and a respectful attitude to handicraft and its makers. In an aesthetic sense they also share a certain lightness and airiness of structure,” says exhibition curator Teija Isohauta.

The exhibition spread across the two museums consists of furniture, lamps, photographs, artworks, installations, videos and interviews, with retrospective material and new works by both Heikkiläs.

“The Alvar Aalto Museum’s section of the “Räppänä – the Vent” exhibition consists of Jussi Heikkilä’s visual studies of the literature of different disciplines, which are linked to his observations of birds and the environment. And from Simo Heikkilä we can, for instance, see the writer’s chair designed for the author Harri Tapper and light fittings,” Isohauta continues.

This summer event is a milestone in the long joint history of the Alvar Aalto Museum and Jyväskylä Art Museum, which goes back fifty years to the founding of the Alvar Aalto Museum’s visual-art department. The visual-art department became an independent unit in 1998, under the name Jyväskylä Art Museum.

“The Alvar Aalto Museum first took wing as an art museum. It is inspiring to return to our roots and collaborate on this joint exhibition with Jyväskylä Art Museum to commemorate this anniversary year,” says Alvar Aalto Museum Curator Mari Murtoniemi.

Exhibition workgroup: Jussi and Simo Heikkilä, exhibition curator Teija Isohauta, Director, Alvar Aalto Foundation Tommi Lindh, Director, Jyväskylä Art Museum Päivimarjut Raippalinna, Chief Curator, Alvar Aalto Museum Katariina Pakoma, Curator, Alvar Aalto Museum Mari Murtoniemi and Curator, Jyväskylä Art Museum Leena Lokka.

R Ä P P Ä N Ä – T H E  V E N T
June 3–September 18, 2016

Alvar Aalto Museum Gallery
Alvar Aallon katu 7, Jyväskylä, Finland
Open Tuesday-Sunday 11 am–6 pm
www.alvaraalto.fi

Jyväskylä Art Museum
Kauppakatu 23, Jyväskylä, Finland
Open Tuesday–Sunday 11am–6pm
www.jyvaskyla.fi/taidemuseo/english