Arte Povera Poetica

Arte Povera Poetica presents a group of artists who transform found objects into captivating visual poems. The exhibition takes its name from an Italian art movement that sought to blur the boundaries between art and life. The artists embraced everyday materials and created fascinating object assemblages.

Like their Italian colleagues, Juhani Harri and Ismo Kajander discovered the world of assemblages already in the 1960s. “Poor art”, surrealism, dada and new realism (Nouveau Réalisme) have since inspired the other artists featured in the exhibition as well. Time has left its mark – and its own energy charge – on the materials, which the artists retune to a new wavelength. It feels as though the emphasis on everyday materials and handmade work is back again.

The exhibition has received state funding from the Finnish Heritage Agency.