31.5.-18.6.2025

MUU Helsinki Contemporary Art Centre
Cable Factory, Tallberginkatu 1 C, Helsinki
Opening hours: Tue–Fri 12:00–17:00, Sat–Sun 12:00–16:00

Opening reception on Friday, 30 May, from 17:00 to 19:00.
Opening remarks by Minka Heino, Chair of MUU Association.

Harriina Räinä’s exhibition Planetary Beings explores the presence, significance, and mutability of iron – both as a geological material and as a cultural phenomenon. The exhibition features experimental photo-based printmaking works created with iron oxide inks handmade by the artist, alongside a floor installation composed of iron-bearing material.

Iron is the most abundant element on Earth, forming the core of the planet’s interior. Throughout history, humans have utilised the iron found in the Earth’s crust in diverse and expansive ways – as a raw material for tools and structures, and as one of the earliest known sources of colour.

Planetary Beings stems from the artist’s long-standing interest in the material and cultural dimensions of iron – and from the lack of this vital trace element in her own body, which has sparked a desire for iron-red colours.

Her working process has taken her to Kolari, one of the most iron-rich areas in Finland, and into the depths of geological collections in Paris. Along the way, she has engaged with over fifty iron oxide pigments featured in the exhibition – some made by the artist herself, others originating from historically significant extraction sites across Europe, and one from a meteorite that arrived from outer space.

The artist’s work has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland and the VISEK Centre for the Promotion of Visual Art. The Planetary Beings project has been developed at the Cité Internationale des Arts residency in Paris, with the support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

Harriina Räinä (b. 1989, Kemi) is a visual artist based in Helsinki, working on Harakka Island. She holds an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Helsinki, where she graduated in 2019. At the core of her artistic practice are the nature of materials and the human relationship with the environment. Her work combines printmaking, photo-based techniques, and sculptural elements into spatial installations. 

Räinä’s works have been exhibited in solo exhibitions at HAM Gallery, Helsinki Art Museum (2022), Photographic Gallery Hippolyte Studio (2023), and Gallery Oksasenkatu 11 (2024), as well as in a joint exhibition at Titanik Gallery (2023). In 2025, she will participate in the Ecologies in the Making: Sculpting Futures residency in Scotland, supported by the Saastamoinen Foundation, and in the Triangle Arts Association residency in New York, supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

Exhibition Tour
Helsinki Art Walk – exhibition tour on Sunday, 8 June at 13:30.
The English-language tour will be guided by Jane Hughes.

harriinaraina.com