By Fanni Maliniemi

Exhibition called Tehonrakentajat (Power Builders) will be on display in Gallery Rajatila in January 2014. Discussion will focus on the demand of effectiveness in our society. Among other things exhibition includes a smoke bass, a music box made from a mangle and bed linen made from coffee bags. Artists have met in the TAMK Fine Arts program.

Power Builders is a six-person group of artists. Heidi Hemmilä, Matti Hyvönen, Laura Impola, Laura Laukkanen , Ismo Torvinen and Fanni Maliniemi set up a working group in Tampere 2012. Fanni Maliniemi will graduate from the fine arts degree program this spring and Matti Hyvönen is studying in Helsinki. The other members of the group are last spring's TAMK's graduates artists.

Power Builders exhibition project in Tampere is a continuation of their tour in Pori and Lappeenranta. In the Gallery Rajatila, the exhibition is a rich setting of a great diversity of works of art. The works include video art, installations, machines and sculptures. They are fueled by power and effectiveness imagery from the media.


Artists found that "teho" (=the efficiency or the power) is the most widely used word of our time - also in Tampere, Finland. It works as a commonly accepted argument and justification in the cases of personal or societal decisions. Schools are closed down, tunnels, tower houses and bodies are built. Calendars filled, and lives are managed. Even the creativity is under the pressure of effectiveness.

The works in the exhibition examine our perceptions of the productive life. Efficiency and creativity go hand in hand in the exhibition. May risk-taking be effective? Yes, if it considers creativity.