“Happy!” I saw the picture Seppo Seitsalo the end result, when the sculpture park was opened in the park of the Surgical Hospital in Helsinki at the beginning of the summer. “The sculptures are in a great location, easier to reach and see than before.”
A year ago, the situation did not seem so happy. The sculpture park was further away from the center, in Ruskeasuo, in the park of the hospital and rehabilitation center of the Invalid Foundation built during the war. During the turmoil in healthcare, the hospital had changed its name to Orton and eventually the building was sold to the asset management company eQ. In the spring of last year, the new owner eQ announced that the sculptures must be moved. Service apartments for the elderly are being built in the park.
Matti Peltokanka’s Merliklinen sade last night (2007) consists of several elements.
The Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district’s Husi art committee, of which Seitsalo had been a member for a long time, came to the rescue. Husi already had a sculpture park at the Women’s Clinic, but there was no room for more works. “As soon as we visited the old Kirra, we saw that this was the place,” says Seitsalo, the retired chief physician of Orton Hospital.
Ossi Somman’s Globalization (2006) hides in the middle of greenery.
New sculpture park is great. It is something that has been missing in Helsinki as an art city. The place is in the middle of southern Helsinki, at the corner of Kasarmikatu and Tähtitorninkatu. The leafy slope lined with old trees is a calming space to experience art.
Matti Nurminen’s sculpture Raja is from 1988.
The authors are the top of Finnish modern sculpture, among others Matti Peltokangas, Pirkko Nukari, Ukri Merikanto, Kaisu Koivisto, Ossi Somma, Veikko Nuutinen and Barbara Tiehao. New works can also be acquired, but carefully, Seitsalo states.
Matti Peltokanka’s La Strada (2012) glides over the surface of the stones.
Barbara Tieaho: Ammoise ajat (1990).
At Orton Hospital, art began in the gallery. It was founded in 2001, a year after Seitsalo had become chief physician. After a few years, a sculpture park was born on the initiative of the sculptors. There is also a lot of scientific research on the healing effect of culture, Seitsalo justifies his enthusiasm for art.
Pirkko Nukari: The Watering Place of the Crowned Pigeon (2002).
The operation of Galleria Live in the hospital ended this spring when eQ terminated the lease agreement for the exhibition space. A new space for the gallery has not yet been found.
Surgical hospital park, Kasarmikatu 11–13.
Sympaittinne Vötiäinen is one of the works of the park aimed at small children in Pikku Huopalahti.
The babies’ sculpture park is getting shorter
Picture gallery or the gallery is still a strange and difficult place for many. The sculpture park is easier. Art is encountered on a walk.
Art can also be introduced to very small babies under the age of three. This was the goal of an international EU project in the early 2000s. Finland’s share included Flower of life – art playground. “Or a play art park” laughs the artist Sanna Karlsson-Sutisna, the mother of the idea and the leader of the project. “The important thing is functionality, that babies can play. Art thus becomes a part of everyday life.”
The Baby Sculpture Park was opened in 2005 in Tilkanniitti along Haaganpuro in Helsinki’s Pikku Huopalahti. There were round shapes that were tempting to touch, cool animal figures, from an armadillo to a mother kangaroo with her cubs and a puppy in need of a cuddle. In addition to Karlsson-Sutisna, the authors were Jan-Erik Anderson, Erkki Pitkäranta and Johanna Häiväoja.
Sanna Karlsson-Sutisna is known for the human figures she carves out of rotten and fallen trees. They surprise passers-by in the parks of Helsinki and other cities. There is also the same sense of surprise Flower of life – in the sculpture park. “Several generations of babies have grown up in art there,” says Karlsson-Sutisna.
The city of Helsinki and its citizens received the artworks realized with EU support for free. The project, which came from outside the city’s organization, has since caused friction between the operators.
Presently the city will renovate the entire area of the lower reaches of Haaganpuro with an ongoing contract until next summer. In connection with the renovation works, some of the works of the sculpture park will be removed. Sanna Karlsson-Sutisna says it’s a shame that the park will not be preserved as an original entity, but she believes that the future generations of babies will still enjoy the sculptures.
Pikku Huopalahti park: Tilkanniitty, Pikku Huopalahti.
Fact
Other sculpture parks
■ Women’s Clinic sculpture park: in the HUS hospital area. Visit from the corner of the New Children’s Hospital on Stenbäckinkatu.
■ Didrichsen Art Museum sculpture park: Kuusilahdenkuja 1, Helsinki
■ Laila Pullinen sculpture park: Nissbacka manor, Sotungintie 4, Vantaa. Open 28.8. until.
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