5.9. — 4.10.2026

MUU Helsinki Contemporary Art Centre
Cable Factory, Tallberginkatu 1 C, Helsinki, Finland
Open: Tue–Fri 12–17, Sat-Sun 12–16

Opening Saturday 5 September 2026, at 13:00 – 16:00
Opening speech: member of MUU’s Board, Tuuli Malla Manninen.
Musician Larisa Ljungkrona-Mönttinen will be performing at the opening.

Maria Koolen Hellmin and Johanna Byström Sims are holding an artistic dialogue around a shared interest in science, space, transparency, musical form and language, which has lead to the finding of a common basis in the intersection of the material and the immaterial. It is an exploration of the shift that occurs when interpreting different forms of language, where distortions and gaps in ourperception arise.

In this context they direct their attention to the North wind. This wind, historically a common denominator for the Nordic countries, something that brings together, that spreads, that blows away, suddenly turns and brings back. At this point in history perhaps the North wind stirs up and fragments rather than keeps together?

The title The McGurk Effect refers to a perceptual phenomenon that ships an interaction between hearing and vision that occurs when the auditory component of a sound is paired with the visual component of another sound, generating an entirely new sensory experience.

The artists apply the McGurk Effect to the Nordic countries and their respective languages. Using a broad definition of language including musical elements they introduce a collaboration with musicians Maria Kalaniemi and Larisa Ljungkrona-Mönttinen. With the accordion being a wind instrument the exploration of its possibilities becomes natural within the theme.

The artist Frans Koolen has contributed as a video editor and creative resource. A special thank you to Jon Nyström for technical expertise.

Maria Koolen Hellmin and Johanna Byström Sims collaborate with ideas orbiting around a shared interest in science, space, sound and movement. The artists are working separately while developing a platform for a joint body of work based on the dialogue between the two practices. While they have been showing separately in Sweden and internationally this joint venture is a new constellation.