Boy do we have a treat for all you art lovers out there! Her Campus Helsinki visited Kiasma’s hottest exhibition at the moment, School of Disobedience by Jani Leinonen (b. 1978), who as perhaps the most well-known social critic of our time, warmly invites every collegiette to question the very fabric of our society.
At first the subject sounds a tad too ambitious, but the exhibition reveals and questions the mechanisms of our capitalistic society using its own ways of communication. This is why one shouldn’t be baffled while first taking in the extraordinary art instilliations, from mockup fast food restaurants to a makeshift classroom, where Leinonen himself held classes on how to be disobedient in a world governed by materialistic needs. Even an art lover like myself had to ask: what on Earth are all these brand logos like Kellogg’s, Prada and Apple doing on the wall of a modern art gallery? Why use advertisements and products as materials for the exhibition?
“Products and their brands play an incredibly big part in our lives. To make them tell stories that the companies are not telling is the most interesting part of the exhibition.” says Leinonen (Kiasma). One can definitely feel the transformation from the role of the visitor to that of a social critic during the exhibition, since the artist’s way of persuasion is more than convincing: in his vivid imageries, brand mascots themselves become emblems of critical media literacy and civil disobedience, instead of being the silent marionettes of corporate marketing.
So next time you’re asking yourself what fun cultural activities Helsinki has to offer, try the School of Disobedience at Kiasma. Even if you’re not familiar with modern art, the exhibition offers a surprisingly approachable yet fresh point of view, which will certainly make you forget your fully-booked schedule for the rest of the day.
School of Disobedience is on display at Kiasma until January 31, 2016. For ticket prices and other information, visit the museum’s website. Photos © Lyra Li.