6.2. — 1.3.2026

The exhibition consists of two works that are connected by their relationship to light and darkness, as well as by the opposing elements of fire and water present in the works. The exhibition’s title work, Advent for a Black December, has been built on a large and worn snowplow blade that I found. This object has accompanied me for two years. I have thought about it a lot. There is something unavoidable in the size and form of the object. It has given me physical resistance and it has also been constantly in my way.

I began processing the blade by burning it in a Midsummer bonfire. Instead of a rational or functional goal, the gesture was symbolic. I wanted to connect opposites to it, from the brightest moment of the year to the darkest moment of the year. Later, using different patination and waxing techniques, I have created on the surface of the blade a pinkish and purplish tone that transitions from light to dark in a chiaroscuro-like manner. A color world that resembles the moment after the sun has set.

There are twenty-four holes in the blade. In the annual cycle, there are on average twenty-four half-moons. There are twenty-four Advent days. In the work’s twenty-four holes burn small neon flame bulbs made from Christmas light strings. Coincidences in the materials have given rise to the name of the work. In an English-language context, Black December refers to shark attacks that occurred within a short period of time in South Africa in the 1950s. In Finland, Black December brings to mind darkness caused by an exceptional lack of snow.

The second work in the exhibition is the infrasound work Infrasound Piece, completed in 2020. In the work, very low frequencies that fall below the threshold of human hearing are sounding. If darkness in sound means low pitch and brightness means high pitch, then infrasound would be located on the side of black. Instead of a clear auditory sensation, the sound can be perceived as a kind of pressure. The tunnel-like form of the Forum Box Parvi can strengthen this sensation at certain points in the space.

The movement contained in the frequencies is visible in water colored with iron oxide, as well as in the filament of an incandescent light bulb vibrating at the same frequency. A lower frequency causes larger and slower movement and a higher frequency smaller and faster. The frequencies that ended up in the work have been selected according to how they resonate in the space and according to how they function visually. As an exception, the frequency of 18.98 hertz, the so-called ghost frequency, has been included because of the images associated with it, which in popular culture are connected to haunting.

The duration of the work is approximately 9 minutes.

Timo Viialainen works in the fields of visual arts, performance art and sound art. His artistic production is embodied in sculptural works that activate viewers, as well as in performances that utilize sound elements. He graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the Sculpture Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in 2021. Viialainen’s works are in the collections of the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Fund and Kiasma. He has had three solo exhibitions, the most recent of which was on display at Sinne Gallery in 2023. As a performance and sound artist, he has performed at numerous events and festivals in 22 different countries, including Norgberg Festival (Norgberg Sweden), New Performance Turku Festival, Interackje Festival (Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland), Performance O Morir Festival (Norogac i, Mexico), Palestine Performance Symposium, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center (Ramallah, Palestine, West Bank), Sofia Underground Festival (Sofia, Bulgaria) and Asiatopia International Performance Art Festival (Bangkok, Thailand), Electric Eclectics Festival (Meaford Ontario, Canada).