A base for a crane: a home of materials, nets, machines, spirits and workers; a community of connectors nestled together. From liquid to fixture, from grass to sky, from lifting to landing. A complex tapestry of intricate root systems, remaining fragments and heartbroken ridges.

A savannah of reeds holding hands and arms to form a foundation of support; a base for flight, movement, and time.

The exhibition includes collaborative works made by sculptors Maija Fox and Valo Vairio, created under the mist and moon down Yhdystie, a passage from the city to the swamp. Flying machines flying over woven wetland grasses, while ovens full of handcrafted laces and wax hooks cook over time. A familiar trust, a sense of compassion, lingers in the spines of leaves, arms of branches, chains of tracks, in the heart of the function. This environment, with all its internal logic, has continually fed and fuelled the process of making.

Maija Fox (she/her) is a Helsinki-based artist whose work is characterized by material-based explorations. Her sculptures and installations are created through an intricate combination of metal fabrication techniques such as metal casting. Fox often incorporates personal elements drawn from both rural and industrial contexts as a way to illustrate the interrelationship between natural and human-made mechanisms. In addition, Fox seeks to highlight the intersections between feminist and environmental perspectives; reflecting on the identity of utilitarian objects, material processes, spirit, and function within their respective environments.

Fox’s work is supported by the Kone Foundation and Terästarvike.

Valo Vairio is a visual artist based in Helsinki. His artistic practice is informed by a recurrent reflection on popular culture and consumerism, which manifests in a surreal yet imaginative deconstruction of tradition and form. Vairio is primarily working within the medium of sculpture; utilising the techniques of metal casting whilst simultaneously playing with the contrast of both DIY-style fabrication and conventional methods such as mould-making and wax modelling. Vairio draws inspiration from his immediate surroundings, inventively using and collecting objects such as vegetables, cakes, pipes, machines, and other kinds of useful treasures.