Contemporary Art looks at manhood

The crisis of masculinity has been an issue since the 1990s. Where is man today, how is he doing? The ‘old’ idea – the one and only – of what a man is may well have been scrapped but what do we have in its place? The exhibition Measure of a Man includes works of Contemporary Art – by men and women – to be looked at from a new manly point of view. The exhibition makes no attempt to form an objective idea of man. Instead, it offers subjective views of contemporary manhood.

It is often said that Finnish men never talk. Well, in this exhibition they do talk through their artworks, not generally but personally. These men have had the courage to face themselves and their emotions. They are unlikely to observe the conventional ideal of masculinity and accept ambiguity and vulnerability.

The exhibition raises the question does art made by men differ from that made by women. Is there something male-specific about the exhibition? Could the man-made works shown in the exhibition just as well be woman-made, and vice-versa? Does gender matter? Simple answers are unlikely to exist to these questions. The exhibition and its 13 points of view seeks to raise debate and question established conceptions of manhood.

Measure of a Man is the third in a series of exhibitions on the most recent acquisitions by the Helsinki City Art Museum. It includes installations, videos, photographs and drawings.

The artists are: Stig Baumgartner, Veikko Björk, Simo Brotherus, Anssi Kasitonni, Joonas Kota, Jouni Kujansuu, Marcus Lerviks, Jouni Partanen, Heikki Rapo, Jaakko Rustanius, Jutta Räsämäki, Alli Savolainen and Maria Ylikoski.

Guided tours: guided tours are given free of charge in Finnish on Wednesdays at 18 o’clock and on Saturdays and Sundays at 14 o’clock, and in Swedish on the first and third Sunday of each month at 13 o’clock. To book a private tour, please call +358 9 310 87003.