WELCOME, 2022
Koivutori, Vantaa
Vantaa Art Museum Collections
Comissioner: Seija Tulonen and Satu Onnela, Vantaa Public Utility Services Centre
Curator: Anne Kaarna, Vantaa Art Museum
Lighting Design: Ari Tiilikainen, LITE Designs Oy
Metalwork: Jukka Merta, Selki-Asema oy
Electrical Design and Implementation: Tony Nelin, SEU
The community space Kirnu (which moved in the summer of 2021 to the spaces freed up by the library in the old shopping center at Koivutori) decided to create a sign for the community space as part of the art and lighting of Koivutori during the renovation.
“Welcome” is a text artwork made of polished steel, consisting of welcome greetings in multiple languages, placed on the roof edge of the Koivukylä community space Kirnu. The artwork includes Gobo light projections onto two external walls of the building’s elevator shaft.
The greetings used in the artwork were collected in collaboration with the staff of the Koivukylä community space Kirnu. In August 2021, welcome messages were requested from the users of the space. Each participant wrote their greeting in their native language and handwriting on a collection form.
As handwritten messages, the greetings convey the personality of the speaker/writer. Handwriting is personal and reflects the identity of the writer. On the roof edge, the handwritten messages become part of the architecture and the entire Koivutori. They showcase the people who live and work in the area.
The handwritten greetings in various languages highlight the multiculturalism of the Koivukylä area. The multilingual greetings aim to make the community space more approachable by bringing attention to less spoken languages. A welcome message is an invitation to step inside; it embodies notions of acceptance, friendship, and generosity. The invitation to enter is also a call for sharing and community.
Polished steel reflects its surroundings. It lacks its own distinct color or texture, instead being a reflection of its environment. Being reflective, it is also intangible and airy. The welcome texts in polished steel absorb their environment and thereby become a stronger part of it. The lightness of the polished steel gives them an ethereal quality, akin to voice or speech, making the text feel intangible.
The welcome messages are arranged in a structure reminiscent of a musical staff. This evokes thoughts of sound and speech, as if the greetings can be sung from the artwork. The idea of song connects the artwork to the theme of "Flying Citizens" in the Koivukylä area, related to birds