The Tampere Biennale exhibition and Hiidenkirnu bring art that explores contemporary phenomena to Culture House Laikku

News item
Two exhibitions are opening at the Culture House Laikku, exploring the relationship between humans and nature from different perspectives. The exhibition “A Tree Does Not Sing Alone” broadens the conversation about forests and reflects on the role of trees amid global changes, while “Hiidenkirnu” transports the viewer to dreamlike mental landscapes where photography and moving images merge.
A leafless tree stands alone against a blue sky.
A Tree Does Not Sing Alone, Riikka Talvitie

A Tree Does Not Sing Alone – Gallery


Gallery’s exhibition “A Tree Does Not Sing Alone” brings together works united by the theme of trees and their multi-layered meanings: trees as individuals, myths in different cultures, the global state of forests, the politics surrounding the topic, and tree planting as a form of silent resistance. The exhibition aims to broaden the perspective of the Finnish forest debate and prompt reflection on what happens to the forest when only a single tree remains.

At the public opening, composers Riikka Talvitie and Teemu Mastovaara will present their works accompanied by musical samples. In addition, there will be an update on the situation in the Kurdish region of northern Syria and the Green Trees tree-planting project operating there, led by activist Marko Ulvila.

The artists featured in the exhibition—composers Teemu Mastovaara, Leevi Räsänen, Riikka Talvitie, and Felix Hirsch, as well as choreographer and visual artist Anne Naukkarinen—approach the theme through a multidisciplinary lens, highlighting the symbolic, ecological, and social dimensions of trees and forests.

About the artists:

  • Riikka Maria Talvitie is a Finnish composer, educator, Doctor of Music from the University of the Arts, and oboist. Talvitie’s body of work is extensive and diverse, encompassing both vocal and instrumental music, including works for her own instrument, the oboe, music featuring live electronics and radio music, as well as educational works for children and young people. She has actively collaborated with artists from various fields, such as poets, theater artists, and dancers.
     
  • Cellist and composer Teemu Mastovaara holds a degree in music education and a Master of Music. He graduated from the Contemporary Performance and Composition program, which consisted of a total of four semesters in Tallinn, Stockholm, Lyon, and Hamburg. Mastovaara’s creative work encompasses cello performance, composition, theater productions, recordings, programming, and teaching.
     
  • Leevi Räsänen is a Master of Music who studied composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow and the Sibelius Academy. Räsänen’s work combines an interest in microtonality, collaboration in multidisciplinary groups, and bringing non-musical phenomena into concert halls. He is interested in combinations of different octave divisions and natural tuning, as well as combining acoustic sound with electronics, objects, and other parameters such as light and movement.
A child hold out a hand to help another out of a giant's kettle aka hiidenkirnu.
Hiidenkirnu, Markku Hakala

Hiidenkirnu – Studio


Hiidenkirnu (a giant's kettle) is an art exhibition and a project based on an art film that depicts a “cultural trap” formed over millennia, from which a way out is being sought. The work is a lament for a world with which it is increasingly difficult to identify. Photographs hung on the walls come to life and form expressionless, dreamlike landscapes from the soulscape of hopelessness.

The exhibition consists of a few minutes’ worth of moving images and photographic prints that reflect the dualistic dynamics of the mind. Broken figures repeat the ingrained roles of civilization and seek connection with one another, with nature, and with themselves, without the visible presence of emotion.

The work is based on a six-year dialogic collaborative process between Markku Hakala and Mari Käki, which sought a new kind of space in the realm between photography and film. The process resembled art photography and digital painting in parts: months of preparation, meticulous set design and lighting solutions, as well as extensive digital post-production, brought a multi-layered quality to the images.

Hiidenkirnu has won several awards at international film and photography festivals.

About the exhibition’s creators:

The artist couple Hakala and Käki, based in Ylöjärvi, come from outside both the art and film fields.

  • Mari Käki, M.A. (b. 1973), who studied literary studies and women’s studies, also works as a supervisor and trainer. For Mari, dialogue is life, and life is dialogue. 
     
  • Markku Hakala, M.A. (b. 1975), has transitioned to being an artist from a career in growth entrepreneurship and as a researcher in computer science. For him, art and philosophy personally represent the only ways to exist in this era.

Opening of the "A Tree Does Not Sing Alone" exhibition
Wed, April 8, 5:30–8:00 p.m.
Composers Riikka Talvitie and Teemu Mastovaara will present their own works accompanied by musical samples. Activist Marko Ulvila will also be in attendance.

In the Gallery
Tampere Biennale: A Tree Does Not Sing Alone

In the Studio
Markku Hakala and Mari Käki: Hiidenkirnu

The exhibitions are on view from April 8, 2026, to May 10, 2026
Admission to the exhibitions is free.

Culture House Laikku 
Keskustori 4, Tampere

Opening hours
Tue–Fri 9 a.m.–8 p.m.
Sat–Sun 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

Further information

Irma Puttonen
Senior Coordinator
Phone:
050 553 8673
Photos: Riikka Talvitie, Markku Hakala
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