26.2. - 4.6.2000
Hannu Väisänen (born 1951 in Oulu, living in Paris) is one of the most internationally respected Finnish artists. in addition to being well-known as a painter and graphic artist, Väisänen is also widely recognised for his diverse and creative work as a writer, set-designer and performer. His illustrations for the new edition of the Kalevala, published in celebration of its 150th anniversary in 1999, had brought his work to the attention of a wider public.
All the works in the exhibition were made in the 1990s, and most of them were entirely new, completed after the Kalevala illustrations. The central work of the show was Movable Chapel, a large chapel built to the artist's design. On show were also paintings and three-dimensional works which, like Movable Chapel, Väisänen had made on the basis of his interest in the myths of different cultures and their cult objects.
The exhibition was accompanied by a generously illustrated bilingual catalogue (Finnish-English) including an article by a Finnish painter Silja Rantanen about the art of Hannu Väisänen.
On display on the museum's lower floor was a selection of Finnish art from the museum's own collections.
8 536 visitors attended the exhibition.