Pedro Hurpia & Harriina Räinä | Clutch

11.8.–10.9.2023
Titanik
Itäinen Rantakatu 8
20700 Turku, Finland

In the exhibition Clutch, artists Harriina Räinä (Finland) and Pedro Hurpia (Brazil) present works that focus on the ways oysters and lianas cling and attach and thus create reefs and blankets with other entities and organisms. The artists have previously worked at the Saari Residence, an international residency for artists and researchers, and were invited to the exhibition by Saari Residence and Titanik.

The front of the gallery, with its glass walls facing the river, features Harriina Räinä’s artistic research project Volatile Shells (2022–2024). The project examines oysters’ agency and the shape and essence of their shells. The project focuses on edible true oyster species: Pacific, European flat, Atlantic, and Itabo.

Oyster is the common name for salt-water bivalves that stick to one location for their entire lives. When growing freely, they form reefs, which are rich ecosystems that prevent erosion, clean the seawater and provide habitats for hundreds of other species.

The exhibition at Titanik studies how oysters attach themselves to their chosen substrate for life, and how oyster farming prevents this attachment. The artworks seen in the exhibition take the form of photographs, an installation and a painting made directly on the gallery window.

In the back of the gallery, under the trees in Runeberg Park, Pedro Hurpia’s new work Torção is on display. The work stems from Hurpia’s observation of and fascination with the lianas growing in his nearby forest.

Lianas are clinging plants that use woody vines to climb trees and other vegetation in search of sunlight. They spin, climb and grab on to others in a continuous twist – spreading across layers and surfaces in continuous movement. Lianas are important ecosystem engineers and provide pathways between canopies for canopy-dwelling animals.

The installation consists of videos and structures speculating on the formation, entanglement and dynamics of the lianas. For Hurpia it is an exercise in attentiveness and in seeking different perspectives. Some species of liana plants are used medicinally, and samples of Aristolochia Gigantea Brasiliensis, a plant used for a wide range of physical and spiritual purposes, are on display in the exhibition.

Thanks to Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova museum for technical support.

HARRIINA RÄINÄ is a research-oriented visual artist based in Helsinki, Finland. Her artistic interests lie in topics such as corporeality, the dynamics in the experience of observing, and the animal question, i.e., humans’ relationship with and attitudes towards non-human animals. She graduated with a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2019. Volatile Shells is supported by the Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish Art Society and Kone Foundation.

PEDRO HURPIA is a Brazilian visual artist and researcher. He is interested in invisible structures, speculative devices, forgotten stories and divination practices as ways of grasping what lies beyond our perception of nature. Hurpia is a guest artist at TSOEG – Temporal School of Experimental Geography (UK) and a collaborator at the SEA Foundation Tilburg (NL). He studied visual arts at the State University of Campinas (BR).