Dance!- Movement in the Visual Arts 1880-2020
Exhibition : 25.3.-11.9.2022
In spring 2022, HAM will be opening a comprehensive exhibition on dance and movement in visual arts. The exhibition highlights works of art that depict dance, dance-like movement and corporeality in the collections of Finnish museums from the 1880s to the current decade.
Different eras, viewpoints, techniques and styles alternate in the works. The dance and shapes of movement in the pieces reflect the realities, hopes and ideals of different eras. Movement and dance are connected to the way we inhabit the world. The depiction of the moving body can reveal the way we view freedom, harmony, identity and gender roles.
Movement and dance allow us to see the freeing power and joy as well as the quiet, focused examination of the essence of movement in visual arts. In the exhibition, the interaction between the works and the visitors resembles a choreography, helping us to identify with different corporeal ways of existing in the world. The dance outlined in the works reflects both life force and intensity as well as stillness and fragility. In the words of Finnish dancer and visual artist Maggie Gripenberg, who lived in the early 1900s:
”I want to dance! I will no longer only paint – I will live and dance!”
The exhibition was curated by art and culture historian Hanna-Reetta Schreck and HAM Curator Arttu Merimaa.