Exhibitions

Women on Waves

Date

05.08.2026–

30.08.2026

Women on Waves*
AaltoSiilo, Paalikatu 21, 90520 Oulu
5.8.-30.8.2026

Lauri Astala’s and Elina Brotherus’ exhibition Women on Waves brings the architecture of homes designed by Alvar Aalto to life through fictional stories. The exhibition will be in Alvar and Aino Aalto’s first modernist industrial building, the Aalto Silo in Meri-Toppila, Oulu, in August. The silo has been given a new life in recent years by the Factum Foundation. The exhibition is part of the Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture programme and is arranged in collaboration with Photo North – Nordic Photographic Centre.

Photo and video artist Elina Brotherus is one of the most famous contemporary artists in the Nordic countries. However, few people know that she has roots in Oulu: Brotherus’ grandmother Elsa was from Värttö. Brotherus has become known above all for the fact that she appears in her works herself. However, the photos are less often self-portraits and they often contain art historical references. Brotherus has brought works from several photo series to the AaltoSiilo exhibition, which she has taken in buildings designed by Alvar and Aino Aalto. Brotherus’ photographs allow you to sense the layers between different eras – stories and moods created by the relationship between people and space. Both the photographs and their presentation venue draw on Aalto’s architectural philosophy, which combines functionality with a bold aesthetic vision.

Lauri Astala’s video work Se voisi olla melkein kuka tahansa (2026), which will be shown in the exhibition, operates on two different time levels and is based on photographs taken by Brotherus at Maison Louis Carré. The rooms and views of the private home designed by Alvar Aalto serve as stages for memories captured on film decades ago and for a ghostly nocturnal wandering in the present. Astala has directed, written and edited the work, the video material of which was created using artificial intelligence. He is also responsible for the sound and music of the work.

Astala and Brotherus will participate in various program segments of the Alvar Aalto Week to be held in Oulu in August on Friday 28th and Saturday 29th of August. The artists will participate in both the Another Gaze seminar for professionals on Friday and the public event at AaltoSiilo on Saturday.

*The Finnish word “aalto” means “wave” in English.

Main image: Elina Brotherus: Piscine (Transat) from the series Les Femmes de la Maison Carré (2018)

Additional Information

Lauri Astala & Elina Brotherus

Lauri Astala lives in Helsinki and Avallon, France. He graduated from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 1989 and from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2001. Astala makes sculptures, videos and video installations. The themes of his works are related to the experience and concepts of space and the cultural structures that shape them. Astala’s works have been seen in numerous solo and group exhibitions and international film festivals in Finland and abroad since 1989. The most important solo exhibitions are Oboro – Labotatoire nouveaux médias, Montréal/Canada (2016), Eyebeam, New York/USA (2013), Helsinki Art Museum (2010), Estonian Art Museum KUMU Tallinn/Estonia (2008) and Institut finlandais in Paris/France (2008). In 2007, Astala was awarded the State Prize for Fine Arts.
https://www.lauriastala.com/

Elina Brotherus is one of the most recognized contemporary artists from Scandinavia. Brotherus’ art has been alternating between autobiographical and art historical approaches. Her early series on subjective experiences gave way to works dealing with the human figure and the landscape, the relation of the artist and the model. In her current practice she is revisiting Fluxus event scores and other written instructions for performance-oriented art of the 1950s-70s. Another recent theme is architecture: Brotherus photographs in private houses designed by important architects, taking roles of various imagined characters. Her tranquil presence breaths life into these iconic spaces of architectural heritage.

Elina Brotherus lives and works in Helsinki, Finland and Avallon, France. She has an MA degree in Photography from the University of Art and Design Helsinki (now Aalto University) and an MSc in Chemistry from the University of Helsinki. She has been awarded, among others, the Artist Professorship Grant of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (2022-2026), Carte blanche PMU, France (2017), the Finnish State Prize for Photography (2008), and the Prix Niépce of Gens d’image (2005). Her works are in over 80 public collections including the Pompidou Centre, Paris, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, LACMA, Los Angeles, and Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
https://www.elinabrotherus.com/