Lauri Ainala: Unien Savonlinna 6.-25.1.2026

Lauri Ainala: Unien Savonlinna

Opening 6.1. 17->

7.1.-25.1.2026 open hours:

Mon: closed

Tue-Fri: 15-20

Sat-Sun: 13-19

Unien Savonlinna (Savonlinna of dreams) is a long-term art project, a constructed mythical place, composed of actual elements yet reaching beyond reality and change. I view the kaleidoscopic, fractal-like forms of the universe through details of my home region and environment: how familiar places appear from different perspectives and angles, what lies hidden behind the visible veil and consensus, and what kinds of divergent realities can be found beneath the surface; its beauty in unexpected places.

You can hear Savonlinna cackle and wail.

You can see it seep, flutter, and radiate.

Its peripheral non-places, in-between spaces, and old buildings hang on the threshold of change, where decay, demolition, and transformation intertwine. The translucent construction plastics, temporary structures, and forgotten, overlooked or unseen places open up gateways to Unien Savonlinna. From its slowly decomposing ruins, new forms, fractals, and passageways may later sprout.

The exhibition brings together fragments of the past and looking forward in time, woven into a map of Savonlinna of dreams.

In the sound piece based on field recordings of Savonlinna, the sounds of the environment transform into abstractions, as the town becomes unrecognizable fragments and the sound once again forms into a place inside the listener's imagination. The partly documentary video guides the viewers to the corners of a small town that few ever look at.

The basis of the work is my hometown Savonlinna and South Savo region, but through them I explore broader questions of memory, change, and the experience of belonging. I aim for Unien Savonlinna to materialize as both site-specific representation and timeless space, a dream-like image or an unconscious memory.

The Savonlinna I've built cannot be demolished - it continues to exist in ruins of memory, visions, and in layers of time.