Exhibitions

ART CENTER AHJO, SYSI HALL: TEEMU SIIKA

Teemu Siika - Hey! Follow me beyond the rainbow. I will show you the way to the Dream Valley.
Art Center Ahjo, Sysi Hall
24.8. - 11.9.2022
Kirkkokatu 23, 80100 Joensuu

Teemu Siika's exhibition, Hey! Follow me beyond the rainbow. I'll Show You the Way to the Dream Valley, consists of a seven-member sculpture herd. A bunch of 10:1 scale ceramic My Little Pony figures. The ponies are built by hand from stoneware clay and colored with engobe, i.e. clay mud. Bristles and tails are horse's bridle. With the help of the pony flock, Siika deals with populism through satire. The designs of the ponies in the collection and the name of the collection, Hey! Follow me beyond the rainbow. I will show you the way to the Dream Valley, will be the key to the interpretation of the work.

The seven heart-melting members of the pony herd are Sparkling Boss, Basic Phasic, Baby Q, Baby PS, Stan, Machista and Japie. With Sparkling Boss as their guiding star, the other ponies set out to find their place in world history in an effort to leave behind totalitarian societies where only one truth is allowed.

Signatures as patterns on the ponies. Sparkling Boss´s autographs originally came from the pens of late despots and dictators. Basic Phasic is decorated with the autographs of today's European dictators and populist politicians. Baby Q's names are derived from the populists and autocrats of geographic North America. Baby PS (Pasific Solution) signatures are from the Oceania region, Stan's from Asia, Machista's from South America and Japie's from Africa.

With the sculpture group, Siika aims to take a stand on the rise of populism, the spread of populist rhetoric in the wider political field, the extreme right's salon eligibility and the problems these cause for the rule of law. Far-rightism, corner patriotism, opportunistic market economy and populism have already become commonplace, an almost imperceptible part of our common everyday life and threaten the humane values ​​of Europe and the whole world.