8.–31.5.2026

JANNE RIIKONENNOTES FOR OUR LEGACY8.–31.5.2026Hippolyte Studio

Billboards are strategically placed in high-traffic areas, designed to capture our attention. Positioned atop buildings, along highways, and in market squares, they continue to draw our gaze even when devoid of advertisements. Their sculpture-like metal frames and blank surfaces serve as reminders of things that have come and gone.

The primary message of advertisements is clear: whether promoting a product, a service, an educational programme, or a political agenda, they are ultimately designed to sell something. Beneath this obvious message, however, lies a more subtle, subliminal undertone of inadequacy—suggesting that we can do, look, and behave better. Even when empty, a billboard remains a medium of communication. But when stripped of its advertisement, what message does it convey?

Janne Riikonen’s Notes for Our Legacy is a statement against the unsustainable culture of consumption and the values typically projected by billboards. When these often massive structures, which dominate our shared public space, stand empty—no longer fulfilling the singular purpose for which they were created—that is when the photographer finds them most compelling. Riikonen portrays them as sculptures, reimagining them as art pieces in their environment.

Through a variety of techniques and materials—silkscreen and risograph printing, spray paint, and diverse papers, some of which are self-made—the works in the exhibition become ephemeral, changing over time, just as the billboards themselves rust, fade, and bleach in the sun.

Janne Riikonen (b. 1988) is a Finnish photographic artist and photobook publisher based in Stockholm. He holds a Master of Arts degree from Mid Sweden University and specialises in analogue techniques in his artistic practice. His work is grounded in material exploration, tactility, and photographic storytelling. Riikonen is also the founder, publisher, and editor of Kult Books, an independent photobook imprint he established in 2017. The photobook Notes for Our Legacy was released in October 2023 and was selected as one of five finalists in the Finnish Photobook Award  that same year.

The exhibition has been supported by the Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation.