Opening 10.8, 17-19

Fri 11.8.2023 - Sat 26.8.2023 Caisan Galleria

Kaikukatu 4 B, Helsinki

Free entry

Welcome to join us at the Emergent Properties duo exhibition Opening 10.8 17 - 19 at Caisa Gallery!

The artist siblings Gabriella & Kristian Presnal are Finnish-American artists and have lived in Finland for the past 6 years. Previously in their childhood, they lived in Canada; multiple states in the U.S., and Sweden, and each was born in different countries. Gabriella was born in Germany, while Kristian was born in New York.

The namesake of the exhibition, emergent properties, is used in biology as well as other fields to describe how isolated individual parts of a system are not enough to know how the entire system itself functions, like organs in a body.

This also offers an analogy for how we begin to understand our identities as well. The works within this exhibition are inspired by interviews conducted by the pair of artist siblings, Gabriella and Kristian Presnal. The duo presents their artistic research using video, photography, and painting to illustrate the stories told by queer nomadic persons living in Southern Finland. 

Gabriella Presnal is a 21-year-old artist who has primarily worked with mediums such as painting, video, sculpture & installation and has also done projects using 360 videos, AR (Augmented Reality), as well as applied fine arts. At the root of many of their works, there is an ongoing conversation with themself on how they exist within dynamics like relationships, spatiality, land, and culture. For example, feeling both at home and alien while living in Finland. Gabriella has recently graduated with a Bachelor in Media & Art from Tampere University of Applied Sciences and will continue their studies this autumn at Aalto & Aalborg Universities studying a Nordic Master in Visual Studies and Art Education.

Gabriella had their first solo exhibition in 2019 for Pride Month at Utua Brand Shop. In recent, they have most notably exhibited in galleries and festivals such as Himmelblau Gallery, ARS108, Pinni47, Musikkitalo, and more in Southern Finland. As well as internationally in Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA) in Korea, Post Office Projects in Australia, DigitalBigScreen in Slovenia, Leopoldo Gotuzzo Museum of Art (MALG) in Brazil, and other exhibitions in Italy & New York. They also have upcoming exhibitions in Yö Galleria in Helsinki (November ‘23) and Galleria Ars Liberia in Kuopio (June ‘24). 

Kristian Presnal is a 20-year-old fashion photographer and lens-based visual artist based in Helsinki. A majority of his photographic work is shot on film, and his multimedia and graphic works incorporate analog processes and textures. Their international background has influenced his interest in broader depictions of identity expression, as well as his interest in structural and radical approaches to international relations and political philosophy. While studying a Bachelors in Art & Design at Aalto University this autumn, Kristian will continue to develop ways to explore his conceptual interests through visual media. 

He has previously exhibited at Lapinlahden Lähde as a part of The Darkroom Collective and he has produced this exhibiting series of works for his recent Artist of the Year solo exhibition for Helsinki Fashion Week 2023 (20.7-23.8) at Nordic Culture Point in Suomenlinna. 

Emergent Properties exhibition is taking place at Caisa Gallery from the 11th to the 26th of August, 2023. All are welcome!

Free admission, family-friendly, wheelchair accessible.

Contact: gabriellapresnal@gmail.com, kristian@presnal5.com 

gabriellapresnal.com, kristianpresnal.com

@gabriellapresnal & @kristianpresnal via Instagram

Caisa

Kaikukatu 4

00530 Helsinki

Mon–Fri 9 – 19, Sat 10 – 19, Sun closed

Exhibition sponsored by City of Helsinki.