Finland: Laura Lilja – PHILOSOPHIAE ABSURDUS PRINCIPIA OECONOMICA Vol. II 


Excerpt of press release by Photographic Gallery Hippolyte

Laura Lilja
PHILOSOPHIAE ABSURDUS PRINCIPIA OECONOMICA Vol. II
2.-25.5.2014
Photographic Gallery Hippolyte
Yrjönkatu 8–10 (courtyard), 00120 Helsinki, Finland
Open: Tue–Fri 12–17, Sat–Sun 12–16

Opening at the end of the first exhibition day, Friday 2 May 2014, 5–7 p.m. Welcome!

Currently mankind annually consumes 1,5 times the natural resources produced during each year. Should all of the world consume as much as the Finnish, would we require the resources of 3,5 globes. Constant growth on our globe’s limited resources is a logical impossibility. However the humankind is surprisingly relaxed about its future and legacy.

Laura Lilja’s installation Philosophiae Absurdus Principia Oeconomica Vol. II digs into this absurdity in the human mind; we would rather believe in the economical structures we’ve created for ourselves, than scientific facts. The name of the installation and the shapes borrowed from Newton’s cradle, point to Isaac Newton and his monograph Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), where Newton presented his three laws of motion.

Laura Lilja’s (1975) conceptual sculptures and installations explore power structures in society and possibilities for rebellion. Lilja finished her MA at the Finnish Academy of Arts in 2004. Before art she studied mathematics and physics in the universities of Helsinki and Joensuu in Finland. Recently Laura Lilja’s works have been seen in private exhibitions in Gallery Å in Turku in 2014, Pori Art Museum and the gallery Forum Box, in Helsinki in 2012. She was also invited to an exhibition of critical contemporary art and design in Fiskars in 2013.

Thank You: Arts Promotion Centre Finland / National Council for Visual Arts, Arts Promotion Centre Finland / Arts Council of Satakunta