You Are Here is visual artist Kaija Hinkula’s new solo exhibition at Ama Gallery. The exhibition is built around imaginary guide signs and systems of navigation, using them as points of departure for works that explore structures designed to measure, direct, and organise the world—yet gradually begin to take on a life of their own. Their geometric language becomes an open field of experimentation, where routes and connections are continually rearranged. How do we navigate a world in which the existing order grows uncertain and familiar coordinates seem to shift beneath our feet?
This new body of work continues Hinkula’s ongoing exploration of malleable geometry and the metaphorical structures of painting. Here, the symbol of the map or the directional sign no longer functions as a tool for orientation but as a speculative structure whose logic can be bent, dismantled, and reconstructed. These markers no longer lead us straightforwardly from one place to another; instead, they misdirect, delay, and open up alternative routes. The exhibition approaches orientation as both a physical and a symbolic question. The space created by the works invites viewers to linger in a state of disorientation and to imagine new ways of locating themselves in a world where position and the world order is not fixed but constantly renegotiated.
The exhibition is featured by writer Minna Mikkonen. Mikkonen’s texts open up parallel perspectives on place, navigation, and the act of locating oneself. They form an alternative cartography—a linguistic landscape where words intersect, diverge, and discover new connections.
The show creates a space where getting lost is not an exception but a way of thinking. When familiar signs cease to function, disorientation can become the condition for new ways of thinking.
Photos: Janette Holmström
.
.
Site specific / public space
Selected site specific installations and public work
Tactic Nexus, site specific installation, NYC USA, Chengdu China, Industra BRNO 2025
Read more:
https://kaijahinkula.com/?p=2248
https://fciny.org/residency/kaija-hinkula
http:// www.a4artmuseum.com/en/artist-in-residence/kaija-hinkula/
Kummeli, public work, commissioned by Finnish Cultural Foundation, painted steel, Oulu FI 2021
Collection of Oulu Art Museum
Read more: https://kaijahinkula.com/?p=1440
Two Moons, site specific installation, printed mesh, Visitors, Pori Biennale, curated by Porin Kulttuurisäätö (Anna Jensen, Eliisa Suvanto, Sanna Ritvanen), Helsinki FI 2022
Read more: https://kaijahinkula.com/?p=1517
Corner, site specific installation, fabric, Woikka Contemporary FI 2023
Read more: https://kaijahinkula.com/?p=1681
Play With Me, Dreaming of Abyss, Knipsu Fight Cage IV, site specific installation, curated by Hilde Jorgensen, Bergen NO 2024
Read more: https://kaijahinkula.com/?p=1812
Play, solo show in Oulu Art Museum FI 2022
Read more: https://kaijahinkula.com/?p=1523
.
.
.
Gardener
Gardener, solo exhibition, Turku Art Hall, Fi 2024
Read more: https://kaijahinkula.com/?p=1823
Variations exhibited in Monumentaal Gallery, Tartu Kunstimaja EE, Kumma Museum & Kemi Art Museum FI
.
Gardener / mini display closet
Mini version of my ‘Gardener / Puutarhuri’ exhibition for the Oulu Art Museum’s mini art display cabinets, designed for children in daycare. Miniature art cabinets are commissioned artworks designed for daycare centers and services for the elderly, which can be borrowed from the Oulu Art Museum.
Read more: https://kaijahinkula.com/?p=2044
.
.
Democracy
Democracy, public art work, site specific painting installation, Oulu City Hall, FI 2024
collection of Oulu Art Museum
Read more: https://kaijahinkula.com/?p=1970
.
Video performances
.
.
.
.
See also:
FINNISH PAINTERS / KAIjA HINKULA