MORE OR LESS, A FEW POCKET UNIVERSES is the second summer exhibition of HIAP, the Helsinki International Artist-in-Residence Programme. The exhibition is curated by Valentinas Klimašauskas of the Vilnius Contemporary Art Centre, Lithuania, who was chosen by committee from among three young Baltic curators who presented their exhibition plans to HIAP. The exhibition presents 20 young artists, mainly from Nordic and Baltic countries. Together, they construct an exhibition within the exhibition, a communicative and imaginary space for encounters and memories and experiencing time and space. The exhibition is open June 16–August 28, 2011 at Gallery Augusta, Suomenlinna.

MORE OR LESS, A FEW POCKET UNIVERSES is based on the idea of immersing its spectators in the show, drawing them into constructing their own universes within the exhibition space. MORE OR LESS, the first part of the exhibition’s title, points to correlations between parts and the whole, between singular signs or characters, and the phrase they constitute. The exhibition operates as a constellation of artworks. It is a dialogue between its constituents and the whole, including exhibitions within the exhibition, and narratives that are activated as spectators immerse themselves in it.

Valentinas Klimašauskas’ curatorial concept uses the notion of a “phrase universe” as a starting point. The French philosopher, Jean-François Lyotard created this notion to capture the way in which a phrase presents an entire universe of possibilities. Phrases can carry meanings and yet be indeterminate. A phrase is a transfer of information of any sort, so it may be an abstract form of speech or piece of writing, but it may also be an exclamation, a cry of an animal, a shape, an artwork – indeed, anything that tells a story.

You are warmly welcome to the opening on Wednesday, June 15, 6–7.30 pm!

The exhibition will be opened by Veikko Kunnas, the acting Cultural Director of the City of Helsinki.

The Artists and projects of the exhibition:

Baltic Notebooks of Anthony Blunt (ed. by Chris Fitzpatrick, USA, b.1978), Stefan Brüggemann (MX, b.1975), Liudvikas Buklys (LT, b.1984), Gintaras Didžiapetris (LT, b.1985), Jason Dodge (USA, b.1969), Andjeas Ejiksson (SWE, b.1978), Morten Norbye Halvorsen (NO, b.1980), Sasha Huber (FI, b.1975), Ieva Kabašinskaitė (LT, b.1985), Ignas Krunglevičius (NO, b. 1979) & Snorre Hvamen (NO, b.1974), Mikko Kuorinki (FI, b.1977), Ieva Misevičiūtė (LT, b.1982) and& Michael Portnoy (USA, b.1971), Elena Narbutaitė (LT, b. 1984), Karl Larsson (SWE, b.1977), Olof Olsson (DK, b.1965), Martijn In’t Veld (NL, b.1979), Triin Tamm (EE, b.1982) and Ola Vasiljeva (LV, b.1981).