Helsinki Biennial 2021 presented 41 international artists or groups of artists from both Finland and around the world. The artists were invited to come to Vallisaari and create new site-specific and temporary artworks or to exhibit existing artworks that will engage in a dialogue with the island.
Helsinki Biennial 2021 was curated by HAM’s head curators Pirkko Siitari and Taru Tappola.
Mutual dependence was the main theme of Helsinki Biennial 2021. Each thing and action has an impact on something else and supports the entirety. The title for the inaugural Helsinki Biennial was The Same Sea.
“The ecological crisis means we are now on the cusp of enormous changes and this is defining our common future everywhere. The biennial’s subtitle, The Same Sea, refers to this situation, which concerns everyone but affects different places in different ways. Like the sea, it is a complex, inconstant entirety that bypasses all boundaries and appears different depending on the perspective,” the curators say.
