Changes in Rauma Art Museum’s spring season: RaumArs artist Liza Grobler’s exhibition opens in Verstas, and Pinnala closes for renovation

There are changes coming to the spring schedule of the Rauma Art Museum. In the main building of the museum, Pinnala, a light and electrical renovation is starting, and it will be closed from April 15 until the opening of the summer exhibitions. As a result, the solo exhibition “Vulnerability – Altistuneet” by visual artist Noora Ylipieti will end earlier than announced, already on April 14, 2024.

However, the art museum will not be completely closed. In the Verstas space of the art museum, an exhibition by South African visual artist Liza Grobler titled “Aloe nielaisi droonini – Aloe swallowed my drone” will open. The new exhibition will be open to the public from April 6 and is done in collaboration with the RaumArs residency.

A hanging garden is being built in Verstas in collaboration with schoolchildren

South African artist Liza Grobler, who resides and works in South Africa, is familiar to the people of Rauma from twenty years ago, from the years 2002 and 2007, when she created environmental art installations and workshops with schoolchildren, as well as a city space game as part of her RaumArs residency.

During this year’s Children’s Culture Weeks, Grobler has collaborated with children from Rauma and created a hanging garden in the Rauma Art Museum’s Verstas space. Pieces created in a total of 24 workshops in Rauma schools, made from colored pipe cleaners, have been assembled into shared “interaction landscapes” in the colors of the South African Aloe Ferox plant.

The exhibition title “Aloe swallowed my drone” refers to a dialogue between humans, the natural environment, and machines.

– In winter in Karoo, aloes begin to bloom. There are many varieties, some with medicinal properties, but many more have thorns. Aloe Ferox can grow up to 3 meters high, and its flowers look like dark orange rockets or spears reaching into the sky. The mountains are full of aloe silhouettes, Liza Grobler describes the landscape in her hometown of Karoo.

– Once I was flying my drone in a remote area without GPS signal when an aloe’s sharp leaf pierced it. I spent over an hour searching and found the drone when I recognized the mechanical distress signal among all the bird songs. My drone was scratched and shaky but otherwise undamaged. I thought, this is a cautionary tale about our desires, our relationship with technology and nature, Grobler continues.

The exhibition will be on display at the art museum from April 6 to May 12, 2024, Tuesday to Friday from 12 pm to 5 pm, and on three weekends from Saturday to Sunday on April 6–7, April 13–14, and May 11–12 from 11 am to 4 pm. Admission to Grobler’s exhibition is free.

On Rauma Day, April 17, 2024, the artist will be present to present her work and talk about her art from 12 pm to 4 pm.

The exhibition will be closed on May 9, and on May Day, May 1.

Pinnala gets new exhibition lights

The light and electrical renovation of Pinnala will begin at the end of April. As a result, the main building of the art museum will have to close its doors for almost two months.

– We are delighted and relieved about the renovation we have long hoped for. The new exhibition lights will improve Pinnala’s energy efficiency and significantly enhance the exhibition experience. They bring the museum closer to the contemporary requirements of exhibition spaces, museum curator Heta Kaisto explains.

The art museum will reopen to the public on June 8. Then, an exhibition celebrating Jarmo Mäkilä’s 50-year career as an artist, titled “Poika” (Boy), will be on display. Other program announcements for the summer are also expected.