An exhibition by “Suva” (Suvadeep Das)
curated by Perpetuum Mobile (PM)/ Artists at Risk (AR)
7th – 29th of April, 2022
at Luckan Cultural Center, Yrjönkatu 27, 00100 Helsinki
Vernissage on 7.4. at 18:00-20:00

Artists at Risk (AR) is delighted to announce the opening of a solo exhibition by Suva at Luckan Helsingfors under the title Amalgamation of Contention. The exhibition will open in the context of the two-day art conference organised by Globe Art Point (G.A.P), together with Luckan, called GAP ART SUMMIT 2022 featuring Suva’s unique sculptural sound instruments as well as his intricate pyrography works.

Suva is a multi-disciplinary artist who has been based in Finland since 2009. He received his Masters degree in Live Arts and Performance Studies from the Theater Academy at Uniarts in Helsinki in 2015, and has been a regular participant in exhibitions and live-art events in Finland. He has performed at LAPSody, Gallery Augusta, Pixelache festival, Mänttä Art Festival and many other venues. Das holds various positions of trust within the artistic community, including acting as a board-member of Myymälä2 contemporary art gallery in Helsinki.

Suva’s creative process combines the body and the material through music, visual art and “bodily writing”, ultimately seeking not only to integrate visual art and performance, but also to find common ground across differences and address social, cultural and political issues. As such, the combination of his self-made instrument-sculptures and the pyrographic works (images burned on wood) aim to integrate performance and visual art while also directing attention to the harsh yet often hidden issues of inequality trapped and perpetuated by border relations.

Pyrography works such as Beauty and the Beast and Post of Hierarchy are complex works of draftsmanship and thought. Suva describes fire as a powerful element which makes the art “profoundly tenacious and durable”. In creating these pieces he works not one, but both sides of the wood panels. In the artist’s words, he wishes to “break the two-dimensional factor, and to break away from the wall. I abhor the walls in the context of how we deal with borders”. 

His unique instrument-sculptures such as Time and Sarcoribos, are similarly made with the desire to break away from the conventional production of instruments, by exploring the tonalities inherent to different found materials. He does so by assembling sculptures that produce multiple layers of unique sounds from recycled materials. Sound performances of his sculptural instruments will be scheduled for the exhibition period.

On display from April 7th, 2022, at LUCKAN Cultural Center in the context of the GAP ART SUMMIT (21-22 April, 2022), Suva’s works invite onlookers to explore symbols and meanings presented in different artistic expressions. They reflect on current social, political and cultural “border” practices which strengthen the existence of injustice in society. As the artist writes, 

“The combined installation of the pyrography pieces and sculptural-instruments in the same space is an effort to engage onlookers to read through the signs and symbols of the entire display. The viewer is engaged in a profound relation between art and migration, and the difference between the two poles that are culturally, politically, socially and economically entwined. This encounter with these manifold issues and their profound consequences is an adaptation to the chosen space, place and time.”

The exhibition will open with live performances at Luckan on April 7th at 6-8pm. Don’t miss it!

Suvadeep Das was an Immigré Artists (IA)-Resident hosted at AR-Safe Haven Helsinki in 2021. The AR and IA-network is coordinated by the Artists at Risk (AR)-Secretariat and curated by Perpetuum Mobile (PM).

ARTISTS at RISK (AR) is a non-profit network institution at the intersection of human rights and the arts. AR is dedicated to mapping the field of persecuted art practitioners, facilitating their safe passage from their countries of origin, hosting them at AR-Residencies and curating related projects, including the AR Pavilion .