7. – 30.8.2026

Matter of Touch continues Pavel Rotts’ research on materiality of memory through a medium of clay. It serves as a continuation of Climbing a memory installation on view at the facade of Forum Box.

Several historical brick buildings in Helsinki, including Paavalinkirkko and the former Sinebrychoff brewery, still preserve traces of wartime bombings. Using casts taken from these damaged walls, Rotts transfers their forms into hand-made clay bricks produced throughout the exhibition.

Brick is one of the most elementary units of construction, but also a carrier of memory. Each brick is individually shaped by hand and bears the imprint of a trace left by wartime bombing, pressed into the clay while it is still soft. Throughout the exhibition, the artist gradually builds a wall from handmade bricks, eventually enclosing himself within the structure in a long durational performance.

Alongside the construction of the wall, visitors are invited to participate in brick-making workshops. Participants can produce their own clay bricks and leave personal imprints on their surfaces using objects they bring with them.

The exhibition is kindly supported by the Kone Foundation and Oskar Öflunds Stiftelse.

Producer: Jaana Denisova-Laulajainen
Technical assistance: Andreas Behn-Eschenburg
Exhibition partners: Wienerberger Oy, Material shop, Composite EE

Pavel Rotts (b. 1982, Petroskoi) is an Ingrian multidisciplinary artist based in Helsinki since 2015. His practice spans installation, performance, moving image, sound, and artistic research, engaging with histories of displacement, political violence, collective memory, and his own identity. Rotts holds an MFA from the University of the Arts Helsinki, presents work internationally, and is part of the artist duo SAHSAPASHA. He is also active in artist-led cultural initiatives and anti-war activism.

His work has been shown in solo exhibitions such as Climbing a Memory (Narva Museum, 2024) and Leave No Trace (Helsinki, 2021), and as part of SAHSAPASHA in venues across Europe, including the New Institute (Rotterdam, Netherlands) and Paradise Works (Manchester, UK). Rotts has participated in numerous group exhibitions and residencies throughout Finland and Europe, including the Joensuu Biennale MITÄ, Mänttä Art Festival (Finland), Narva Art Residency (Estonia), Pikene på Broen (Norway), and The Mirror Institution (Sweden). He has received multiple grants and awards, including the Finnish Cultural Foundation Artist Grant (2024), the William Thuring Award (2025), and project grants from the KONE Foundation and Oskar Öflund Foundation. Alongside his artistic practice, Pavel co-founded the anti-war initiative NO PUTIN NO, the KINO Club Helsinki, and the Shelter Festival.