MINNA VIRKKI | ARTIST PORTFOLIO

MINNA VIRKKI | CV

BIO

Minna Virkki (b. 1985) is a multidisciplinary visual artist and an alum of the Royal College of Art. They have exhibited their work in group exhibitions in Finland and London, and held a solo exhibition What Void Whispered at Kalleria, Helsinki, in 2024.

CONTACT

EDUCATION

2021-2024
MA, Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art, Aalto University

2017-2019
MA, Digital Direction, Royal College of Art

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

What Void Whispered, Kalleria, 2024

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Vapaus, Galleria Toinen Silmä, 2024

Informal Circuit, Väre/Aalto, 2022

Intelligent Mobility, Hockney Gallery, 2019

WIP Show, White City Place, 2018

( ) SCAPES - Close Encounters with the Contemporary World, The Putney Arches, 2018

CO-CURATION

Fog is a cloud that touches the ground, Tilajakamo, 2023

MEMBERSHIPS

Artist’s Association MUU (Since 2022)

EXHIBITIONS

VAPAUS

7—23 November 2024

Toinen Silmä
Sturenkatu 43-45
Helsinki

Intuition, 2023, monoprint on paper, framed, 21 x 30 cm

A group exhibition at gallery Toinen Silmä in Helsinki.

Artists:

Jarl Hohenthal
Taru Samola
TanjaSinikka
Mirella Koskinen
Minna Virkki
Tiina-Liisa Kaalamo
Julia Jussila
Tomi Hyttinen
Sara Moyayed
Santeri Niemi
Heidi Krogerus
Gaiane Pogosova
Ida Rusava
Laura Tas
Tuomas Aitamurto
Hanna-Maija Pääkkönen
Elina Kervinen
Sanna Juujärvi-Bremer
Kaisa Viitasalo
Seppo Alanissi

WHAT VOID WHISPERED

4—17 March 2024

Kalleria
Kaarlenkatu 10
Helsinki

Drifting in Void, 2023, monoprint on paper, framed, 29 x 41 cm

Midnigt Murmurs, monoprint on paper, 29 x 25 cm, 2023

Deassamble / Assamble, 2022, recycled leather, yarn, zipper, 20 x 25 cm

Untitled, 2022-2023, acrylic & ink on canvas, 80x90 cm

What Void Whispered, the first solo exhibition by Minna Virkki (b. 1985), presents twelve works related to the theme of silent observation and drifting. Comprising paintings, printmaking and textile, the body of work focuses on the integration of intuition into an interdisciplinary approach to abstract art.

While working, Virkki dwelves into the process of intuitive making - she paints and photographs spontaneously and gathers ideas from her environment using wandering as part of her artistic practice. The works often originate from an initially unrelated but memorable remark, which, taken out of its original context, is later transformed into something else.

In her artistic practice, Virkki seeks to move towards a more autonomous and undefined way of creating, and away from the idea of the artist taking control and producing.
It is not the function of the form, which is shapeless and in flux, to represent anything.
In the exhibition, the forms of the works appear as they appeared on the printing plate or canvas, and the impressions they evoke, whether they are pleasing or irritating, are left to the viewer to judge

INFORMAL CIRCUIT

3—13 March 2022

Väre/Aalto
Otaniementie 14
02150 Espoo

In his book “Beyond Modern Sculpture”, American art critic Jack Burnham proposes to divide modern sculpture into two categories: object and system. According to Burnham, the object relates to sculpture in its traditional physical form. And the system refers to an interacting assembly of varying complexity. Situated beyond the object state, the system assumes some measure of lifelike activity, and operates a reflective gesture on socioeconomic properties of objects.

The object would resemble to a moment of contemplation, where the on-looker appreciate the sculptural time. The system would develop a certain dynamic, or relation between its structural element, or materiality, and the subjectivation of the visitor experiencing the system in the space. These two abstractions found form concretely during the course Digital Sculpture 3, programming for sculptor.

The course advanced in phases in which we collectively learned the basis of motion using electric energy. We visited together how to control this motion both in time and duration, the essential concepts in programming, variables, condition statement, iterations, and the methods to interface the digital processing unit with physical analogue world both in term of inputs and outputs. The following phase introduced the idea of structure. An automated motion can happen only within a fixed framework, a structure to attach parts. This phase requires precision and a clear decision process. The structure works as the foundation of the exhibition building. The synthesis of the two phases produced a collective artwork exhibited in Väre building.

The exhibition attempts to produce a system, reflecting on the course practice, while setting a strong emphasis on the structural work as an object.

Artists:

Patrick Bundschuh
Jamie Lin Jiayi
Mika Kiviniemi
Nahyun Kim
Anh Ngo
Colin Meyer
Minna Virkki
Eero Brandt
Zhao Xingrui
Zhou Yunran
Lauri Järvenpää
Aino Ojala

ABOVE/BELOW

18—24 February 2019

Hockney Gallery
Kensington Gore
London

Above/Below, 2019, Two-channel video installation, 3 min

Above/Below amplifies the voice of vulnerable marine organisms that do not speak the same language as us to raise awareness of the far-reaching consequences of human-caused sound pollution in the oceans.

This interdisciplinary work is experimenting with non-narrative and abstract forms in immersive storytelling through 3D soundscape and kinetic 3D sculptures in a two-channel video installation.

The work was part of Intelligent Mobility group show exhibited at Hockney Gallery in London.

WIP Show

2018

White City Place
Wood Lane
W12 7TP London

The Only Way Out Is In, 2018, VR, 3 min

Portals to the parallel world with a binaural soundscape represent the subconscious mind and the conflicting forces that pull the viewer in different directions. As in meditation, the viewer is drifting in the sea of thoughts trying not to judge them.

This experience brings the viewer into a world of escapism and new mysticism. It explores whether the shift to virtual reality is a result of the fact that humans have done all they can with the real world, and as a result, the only way out is in.

The Only Way Out Is In was part of WIP Show — a group exhibition that took place at White City Place in London.

( ) SCAPES — Close Encounters with the Contemporary World

11 April 2018

The Arches
High Street
Putney
London SW15 1SN

The Only Way Out Is In, 2018, VR, 3 min

The Close Encounters elective, coordinated by Sheena Calvert and Leah Fusco introduced a series of primary (fundamental) questions surrounding representation, creative practice and creative thinking: engaging with the complexity of these questions through a creative lens and placing experience and imagination at the heart of how we form knowledge. Seemingly simple questions such as ‘What is an Image?’, ‘What is Materiality?’ ‘What is Colour?’, and ‘What is Language?’ are in fact highly complex/layered. However, they impact upon various aspects of knowledge and human experience and intersect with how we make practice-based creative work, irrespective of medium or discipline. Running parallel to, and intersecting with, these four questions was another, implicit question: ‘What is technology?’. In other words, we examined the larger context in which creative work is created: the ‘zeitgeist’.

Engaging in a kind of ‘material’, embodied form of philosophy, the students took a journey deep into the heart of these questions and created the work you see here, with the aim of interrogating/ mining/undermining/building a series of fresh perspectives based on ‘forensic’ interrogations. This new understanding could then be dismantled, challenged, used or discarded in the context of student’s individual practice. By being invited to interrogate assumptions, and in taking a step back, the aim was to be both inspired, and challenged, and to move forward into future practice, more confidently, critically, and mindfully.

Artists:

Alexis Demetriades
Daisy Buckle
Henri Holz
Karolina Partanen
Kelly Huang
Minna Virkki
Regina Zhang
Ryan McDonagh
Sandy Leong
Yilin Wang

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ART SHOP (More artworks coming soon!)

UNTITLED

2023
acrylic on canvas
90 x 80 x 2 cm

Buy

The artwork is painted with ink and acrylics on a stretched canvas. The painting continues around the edges. The work comes with a removable hanging hook attached, ready to hang. Unframed.

Exhibited in What Void Whispered, a solo exhibition at Kalleria, Helsinki, 4–17 March 2024.

UNTITLED

2021
acrylic on board
60 x 50 x 0.6 cm

Buy

The artwork is painted with acrylics on a 6 mm board. Please note that there is some black paint on the edges. The piece comes with D-hooks and plastic-coated wire attached, ready to hang. Unframed.

BEFORE YOU PLACE YOUR ORDER

Please note that all artworks are unique and sold as one-of-a-kind pieces.

SHIPPING

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