Tove Kjellmark's solo exhibition The Horse, the Robot & the Immeasurable presents sculptures, videos and drawings. The exhibition is on display from 7 September 2024 to 4 January 2025 in the Halli exhibition space of Seinäjoki Art Hall. The Horse, the Robot & the Immeasurable has been exhibited at Färgfabriken in Stockholm in 2022. Now Seinäjoki also has new works on display. Halli, an exhibition space that exudes rugged industrial architecture and the building's history, creates a background for sensitive, detailed works.
The Horse, the Robot & the Immeasurable is an exploration into the deep, silent knowledge that horses carry. Kjellmark explores the idea of what we as humans could learn from horses, both physically and emotionally. The exhibition is a song of praise both for the horse itself and for the power that enables change that a person can find in an animal.
As prey animals, horses are attuned to non-verbal communication. They can mirror a person's emotions and give immediate feedback about them, which can help develop better self-knowledge and emotion regulation. At the heart of the exhibition, however, are questions that transcend physical boundaries: are horses sensitive, highly evolved creatures that gently nurture and guide us, waiting for us to awaken to the wisdom they patiently hold? These considerations take the form of marble and bronze sculptures, video works and drawings in the exhibition, where the organic and the mechanical, the past and the future meet in a dialogue. The artist's own personal experience, the loss of a beloved horse, is cut through the works of the exhibition, which he deals with in the touching video work They Shoot Horses, Don't They.
Kjellmark's sculptures are like still images of a movement frozen into a physical echo. The works evoke an image of a decaying memory or a life that first begins and then ends, only to transform into something new. In Kjellmark's works, the horse's movement, sound, warmth and presence are central, which celebrate the horse not only as a companion, but also as a life guide.
Horses and humans have a long and multi-generational common history. The horse has been a vital companion, tool and instrument for humans for thousands of years. Kjellmark's artworks provoke us to think about our relationship with animals and machines and challenge us to question our anthropocentric worldview, which often defines it.
Originally trained as a sculptor, Kjellmark combines traditional sculpture and digital technology in his artistic work. In his works, traditional techniques and materials, such as bronze and marble, meet new technologies in the form of robotics, artificial intelligence, various measuring instruments, thermal imaging and motion capture. Kjellmark calls all this "second nature", a nature that includes all forms of being and life and their dimensions. The philosophical background of Kjellmark's art is related to the study of non-verbal communication, emotional intelligence and various connections between different forms of life. The exhibition not only celebrates the horse, but also criticizes our relationship with the world of other species and provokes thoughts about our place in the rapidly developing technological landscape.
Text: Tove Kjellmark, visual artist
Elina Teitti, i.e. art curator, Seinäjoki Art Hall
