After a previous collaboration with Ola Kolehmainen in 2014 in Berlin, the exhibition design for Sacred Spaces at Helsinki Art Museum is another occasion for Sauerbruch Hutton to collaborate with the artist on a site specific installation.

The concept behind Sauerbruch Hutton’s exhibition design is firstly to give each artwork its own space, defined through colour, so that it can be appreciated alone within its particular chromatic context – whereby the placement of each photograph was agreed in discussion with both Ola Kolehmainen and the curator, Claire Gould.

Secondly, through physical, optical and temporal adjacencies a Farbraum has been created that is experienced both visually and kinetically-corporeally as one moves through the sequence of coloured spaces. Thirdly, the simultaneity of a physical and optical sensation deliberately sharpens awareness of one’s spatial-corporeal perception, and so confrontation with Kolehmainen’s various works brings further ambiguities as the different depths within his two-dimensional images contrast with the optical compression of the three-dimensional setting of the exhibition. Further richness is added by the reflective surfaces of the photographs that, depending upon one’s point of view, introduce ever-changing dialogues with the surrounding space, as well as with other works of art. The spatial sound installation by Petros Paukunnen, completes the synaesthetic offer of the exhibition.