Anikó Kuikka’s private exhibition in Fiumano Clase, London

Anikó Kuikka‘s private exhibition Your Dawn Will Come is open in the gallery Fiumano Clase in London until May 22 2021. The exhibition is Kuikka’s exploration of a primordial fear of death, counterbalanced by the hope of rebirth.

Visitors will be led through the exhibition centred around a single-channel moving image projection accompanied by an audio guide. These media elements are juxtaposed by glass-sculptures of the parasitic tinder polypore (Fomes fomentarius) and organic material including highly scented spruce branches.

This immersive, multisensory installation guides the viewer on a contemplative journey to confront fundamental human concerns including death of self, the loss of ego, and the re-birth of the soul.

The protagonist of the film is a painter who has lost her sight due to a brain tumour. We watch her live through a whole lonely day which ultimately leads to her confronting and challenging the meaning of her existence. Does the loss of her sight affect her identity as an artist? Does her new reality as a blind woman offer new opportunities and challenges to her artistic role, through other sensory means. The inclusion of an audio description suggests new opportunities for ‘seeing’, a re-birth for the artist.

Hand-blown glass sculptures of Fomes Fomentarius cling to the gallery walls, much like the parasitic fungi cling to rotting trees. The polypore’s feed on the wood in order to thrive ultimately destroying the host itself. Here the artist emphasises the fragility of the forms; the glass is easily breakable whilst the walls remain strong. The artist evokes the strength and resilience of people who experience life-altering illness. Kuikka’s work seeks to demonstrate not only human fragility but the strength it possesses to keep going in the face of such challenging circumstances.

The creation of this work has been supported by HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Program, Taike – Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Nuutajärvi Glass Village Foundation and the Finnish Art Society.

Anikó Kuikka (b.1986, Espoo, Finland) is a graduate from the Royal Academy of Arts in London awarded with a post graduate diploma in fine arts. She graduated as Master in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. Kuikka makes narrative moving image installations about the absurd construct of reality. Drawing from mythologies and fairytales, her characters play out archetypes and social power structures, aiming to deconstruct pre-existing values, the psyche, and identity.


Anikó Kuikka: Your Dawn Will Come, April 20 – May 22 2021, Fiumano Clase, London, UK

More information: Fiumano Clase