PEKKA & TEIJA ISORÄTTYÄ

Article by Pia Parkkinen, Yle (Yleisradio, Finnish Broadcasting Company)

Robohemians 2022

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is a playful artwork that features three robots getting wasted at a bar. Two of them talk shit to each other, and the third one recites poetry. 

Robotized sculptures, mixed media; Open source;

Veke & Tortsua eyemechamisms and Tortsua mouth mechanism: open source 3Dprinting & engineering Nilheim mechatronics/Will Cogley, 

Script and realization of robot voice (Marina): Marina de Ita

Script and realization of robots voice (Veke & Tortsua): Samuli Pörhölä

Programming Jaakko Niska

Photograph: Maija Tammi

Photograph: Pirje Mykkänen

Photograph: Juha Åman

Nature Morte 2017

Material: surgical instruments, wood, acrylic glass, electronics, flowers.

Nature Morte is a multi-dimensional kinetic installation that lives betwixt and between the tensions of contemporary life and its uncertain relationship to the one beyond. It calls to mind the ambiguous relationship of the human to the mechanized and is rooted in the reuse of materials as an expression of the power of a transformative process that reflects the memory of a discourse
with our collective past. The installation encourages its audience to befriend the anxiety of the unknown, simply by inviting them to participate in it. This garden of life, and potentially the afterlife, is labyrinth-like in structure. It is composed of real and mechanical flowers and over 80 kilograms of surgical instruments, rife with their own rich histories of use, donated by the surgeons of the Länsi-Pohja
Central Hospital in Kemi, Finland. The participation of the visitor in Nature Morte is key to the conceit. The scalpels, clamps, needles and surgical tools respond to the presence of the viewers. Ultimately the deeply profound and playful Nature Morte, is a reminder of the opportunity of consciousness, hope and transcendence found in art to guide us in letting go of fears and embracing life in its fullness in the midst of an imminent and uncertain future for our contemporary world.

Kathleen Forde 

Photographs: Ville Mäkilä / Turun museokeskus

Forrest on a Safe Mode 2022

Installation size variable. 

Material Trees that have been grown over industrial objects.

Meän Jeesus 2022

Robotisized sculpture

Material:  Taxidermy moose, electronics

Song of the Moose: Adam Huuva

Lyrics: Pekka & Teija Isorättyä

Photograph: WAM Turun kaupungin taidemuseo

Photographs: Lisa Kejonen Pauker / Konstmuseet i Norr

Mechanical Wolf 2018

Robotizised sculpture: taxidermy wolf, dna test, mixed media.

The material starting point of this work is a taxidermy wolf, which had been used for biology instruction until the 1990s. It was made by Aarne Hellemaa (1905-1962), a well-known ornithologist who stuffed 22,000 animals during his career, mostly birds. 

We found the wolf in the basement of an abandoned school and sent samples of fur and a molar to the University of Oulu for genotyping. Jenni Harmoinen analysed the samples on 10 October 2018, which revealed that the wolf had lived in a wolf pack in Inari more than 100 years ago. The University of Oulu has samples from six individuals that come from the same wolf pack. Taxidermies of two of these individuals can be found at the Helsinki Museum of Natural History. Jenni Harmoinen and Eeva Jansson genotyped these old wolves for an article on the health of the wolf genome.

Photographs: Juha Åman

The Buck Salmon 2021

The Buck Salmon is 15 meters long and 3,5 meter high fish shape that has a cathedral-like space to step inside the sculpture.

It’s constructed from short stainless steel pipes.

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Love of Lunulatum 2020

Raku ceramic, wrought iron and steel sculpture is inspired by damselflies that are mating. Sculpture is raising from indoor water fountain surrounded by staircase. The ceramic floor and wrought iron fence around staircase is also designed by Pekka and Teija Isorättyä. The entirety was commissioned by Kakslauttanen Artic Resort for the Planetarium Restaurant. The design and the sculpture lure to thought play of matter of scale and beginning of life where circles and spheres multiplies.

Interstellar Wall 2021

Site specific artwork commissioned by Kakslauttanen Arctic resort for Planetarium Restaurant building. Material is casted artisan glass and blown glass conjoined in steel construction. As a material glass, that originates from stone, entwines the processes of planets and all the states of matter. Glass by Mafka & Alakoski Studio, Riihimäki, Finland.

Police's Vendace 2021

Sculptural installation of nine individual five meter long fish shapes. Stainless steel pipes are used as material which are conjoined by welding. Entirety contains more than 10 000 pipes. The Artwork won Finlands State Art commission's completion of site specific art piece for the square in front of Lappeenranta Police Department. Vendace is typical lake fish and local delight.

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Photograph: Juha Åman

Mermaid 2015

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Materials: Tuna skin, wood, water pumps, electronics, plastic tubes and bottles. Size: height: 2,5 m; length: 4 m; width: 0,5 m.

The Mermaid imitates japanese puto dance. The movements are powered by liquids running between the bottles. During this dance, the Mermaid pumps air with its heart to an air pillow and then releases the air so time to time it sings a melancholy sigh.

Photograph: Ville Mäkilä / Turun museokeskus

Lilja's Garden 2022

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Electromechanic installation

Material: IV lines 1224 pcs, hoses, waterpumps, metal 

Size of one flower height: 4 meters; lenght: 5 meters; width: 5meters

The IV lines used as the material for the piece come from eight-year-old Lilja Widenius. Lilja has a rare disease: her body cannot break down fats, which is why she cannot tolerate being without nutritional intake.  Part of the treatment for this condition is a nightly IV drip. At night, when Lilja is going to bed, her parents connect an IV line to a small port placed in her abdomen. This ensures that Lilja gets the nutrients she needs while she sleeps. In the morning, her parents clean the disposable plastic line and store it as material for artwork. This treatment will continue throughout Lilja’s growing years. With the treatment, Lilja is a healthy and happy girl. The disease and its treatment were discovered some twenty years ago, before which it invariably resulted in the child's death.

We will expand the Lilja’s Garden work as more IV lines used by Lilja are collected. The work was exhibited for the first time at the Mäntta Art Festival in 2016. At that time, there was one Lilja Flowersculpture. The three Lilja’s Flowers on exhibit at WAM are compsrised of 1,224 IV lines. Water flows through them like the water veins in plants that are also part of their communication system. As artists, we find the story of Lilja and her family to be a powerful metaphor for the well of strength that people, often unconsciously, draw from to maintain their mental well-being. The significance of this mental resilience is particularly highlighted in unforeseen and difficult situations that challenge people's habits and thoughts.

Photographs: Juha Åman

Invalid Robots 2010-2011

Series of electromechanical sculptures.

Materials: car electronics, hospital waste, hair, bones, metal. Size:1,5 x 0,8 x 0,5 meters.