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Antero Kahila

Clothes of Strangers, Faces of Others
31.3.–22.04.2023

Antero Kahila, visual artist
Kirsi Poutanen, poet-musician

painting, sound installation

Toolbox Kabinett: Kata Unger, Berlin

for German, please scroll down

Welcome to our opening on Friday, March 31, on 7pm

Opening times: Wed– Sat 15–19
Kolonie weekend: Fri 31. 03 2023: 19–22 ,  Sun 02. 04. 2023;  14–18

Clothes of Strangers, Faces of Others is the second multidisciplinary collaboration for Galerie Toolbox by visual artist Antero Kahila and musician-poet Kirsi Poutanen. In their previous project the couple explored the experience of meaning and its possibility for the contemporary individual. This time their themes are insecurity, disintegration and loneliness. Clothes of Strangers, Faces of Others consists of a two-channel sound installation by Poutanen and thematically linked paintings of clothes and faces by Kahila.

Antero Kahila is an acclaimed and award-winning visual artist and painter from Finland. The recurring thematic focus in his most recent paintings is on humanity and the human condition, which is explored through the depiction of skin, bodies, faces, fabrics, clothes and membranes. These elements tend to appear as interfaces between the identifying subject and the world, between the subject and the other. The space in Kahila’s paintings is often a kind of reduced stage that permits the depiction of the desired function, gesture or act. Humanity as seen in Kahila’s art is often fragile, vulnerable yet tuned to consciousness in a highly distinctive way.

Kirsi Poutanen is an all-round artist and well-known singer, musician and poet based in Finland. She has also featured on stage as an actress, performer and scriptwriter. Poutanen constructed her sound installation by closely attuning her creative work to Kahila’s process of painting. Her installation aims to reflect the thematic world of the paintings while resonating as an independent audio image in the gallery.

Kahila and Poutanen’s Clothes of Strangers, Faces of Others is a complex and multi-sensory project that can be viewed from many perspectives that deals with the topics insecurity, fear of disintegration, and loneliness.

Artwork: Rose Garden, 2023, Antero Kahila, oil on cotton, 270 x 200 cm

Deutsch

Clothes of Strangers, Faces of Others

[Kleidung von Fremden, Gesichter von Anderen]

Antero Kahila, Bildender Künstler
Kirsi Poutanen, Dichterin-Musikerin

Malerei, Soundinstallation

Toolbox Kabinett: Kata Unger, Berlin

Herzliche Einladung zur Eröffnung am  Freitag, 31.  März um 19 Uhr

Öffnungszeiten: Mi,  Fr , Sa 15–19 Uhr und Do 16–20 Uhr
Kolonie-Wochenende: Fr 31. 03. 2023: 19–22 Uhr ,  So 02. 04. 2023;  14–18 Uhr

Clothes of Strangers, Faces of Others ist die zweite multidisziplinäre Zusammenarbeit des bildenden Künstlers Antero Kahila und der Dichterin-Musikerin Kirsi Poutanen für die Galerie Toolbox. Ihr voriges Projekt beschäftigte sich damit, wie das zeitgenössische Individuum Bedeutung erfährt und welche Möglichkeiten sich dadurch eröffnen. In der neuen Arbeit sind die Themen Unsicherheit, Desintegration und Einsamkeit. Clothes of Strangers, Faces of Others besteht aus einer 2-Kanal-Soundinstallation von Poutanen und Kahilas thematisch Bezug nehmenden Gemälden von Kleidung und Gesichtern.

Antero Kahila ist ein anerkannter und preisgekrönter bildender Künstler und Maler aus Finnland. Der thematische Schwerpunkt seiner jüngsten Bilder liegt auf dem Menschsein und dem menschlichen Zustand, dem er sich in der Darstellung von Haut, Körpern, Gesichtern, Textilien, Kleidung und Membranen nähert. Diese Elemente fungieren als Schnittstellen zwischen dem identitätsbildenden Subjekt und der Welt, zwischen dem Subjekt und dem Anderen. Der Raum in Kahilas Gemälden ist oft eine Art reduzierter Bühne, die die Abbildung der gewünschten Funktion, Geste oder Handlung erlaubt. Die Menschheit, wie sie in Kahilas Kunst erscheint, ist oft zerbrechlich, verletzlich, dabei aber in einer sehr distinkten Weise auf Bewusstheit ausgerichtet.

Kirsi Poutanen ist eine sehr vielseitige Künstlerin und bekannte Sängerin, Musikerin und Dichterin aus Finnland. Sie hat auch als Schauspielerin und Performerin sowie als Skriptschreiberin für die Bühne gewirkt. Poutanen hat ihre Soundinstallation entwickelt, indem sie ihre kreative Arbeit eng auf Kahilas Malprozess abgestimmt hat. Die Installation spiegelt die thematische Welt der Gemälde wider, während sie auch als eigenständiges Klangbild im Galerieraum zu hören ist.

Kahilas und Poutanens Clothes of Strangers, Faces of Others ist ein komplexes und mit verschiedenen Sinnen zu erfahrendes Projekt, das unter vielen Gesichtspunkten betrachtet werden kann, darunter Unsicherheit, Angst vor dem Ausgeschlossenwerden und Einsamkeit.

Abb.: Rose Garden, 2023, Antero Kahila, Öl auf Baumwolle, 270 x 200 cm


Galerie/Projektraum TOOLBOX
Koloniestraße 120
13359 Berlin-Wedding
U-Bahn Osloerstraße

Wed, Fri-Sat 15-19, Thu 16-20
An Feiertagen ist die Toolbox geschlossen
On Bank holidays Toolbox is closed

Painting Kimi Somervuori

A Horse With A Name
26.02.–25.03.2023

Kim Somervuori (Fi)

Malerei / Zeichnung | painting / drawing

Toolbox Kabinett: Ute Lindner (Berlin)

Welcome to our opening on Friday, Februar 24, on 7pm

Opening times: Wed,  Fri. , Sat 15–19 and  Thu 16–20 Uhr
Kolonie weekend:   Fri: 19–22 ,  Sun: 14–18

Find attached the Kolonieflyer with all open spaces on the Kolonie Weekend


Kim Somervuori (b. 1975) represents his own unique style, swimming against the current of contemporary Finnish painting. The themes of his artwork draws widely from art and culture; alongside Modernist history of painting, there is a presence of both classic Western poetry and alternative hits of popular music. His gritty painting style has been honed to perfection. The strokes are skilful, as if they were made effortlessly. The composition falls into place as if by itself. And yet, everything is carefully crafted: The materials and handiwork are present. They are not hidden but they are still discreet. The artwork can be viewed without being aware of the presence of the artist. Consequently, Somervuori doesn’t charge his paintings with angst, doesn’t delve in action painting nor aestheticizes by reduction. The mainly good-humoured artworks rife with cultural references are rich and thoughtfully painted. The titles of the artworks matter, should the viewer want to find context offered by the artist, but this is by no means necessary. The weave of visual elements is sure to offer something for everyone.

Curator and gallerist Veikko Halmetoja has been working with Kim Somervuori for already a decade. Somervuori has held four solo exhibitions at Halmetoja’s gallery, but the collaboration between the curator and the artist has also proved fruitful in other exhibitions and projects. Somervuori’s exhibition at Toolbox is his first solo exhibition in Berlin. It has been organized by the artist in collaboration with Gallery Halmetoja.

Kim Somervuori’s art has been acquired in numerous significant Finnish art collections. The largest series of Somervuori’s artworks can be found in Kiasma, in the collection donated by Seppo Fränti to the Finnish National Gallery. Somervuori has graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki after previous art studies in Stockholm.

Photo artwork

Kimi Somervuori, Crysis, 2023
acrylics, ink on canvas
30 x 25 cm


Galerie/Projektraum TOOLBOX
Koloniestraße 120
13359 Berlin-Wedding
U-Bahn Osloerstraße

Wed, Fri-Sat 15-19, Thu 16-20
An Feiertagen ist die Toolbox geschlossen
On Bank holidays Toolbox is closed

soundscapes 32

Concert: soundscapes 32 | 22.02.2023

Concert: Soundscapes 32
Wed 22. Februar 2023

Musicians
Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg voice
Lawrence Casserley Signal Processing Instruments
Guilherme Rodrigues Cello
Harri Sjöström Sopran- und Sopraninosaxofon

Eintritt auf Spendenbasis | on donation
Einlass | doors: 19.30 Uhr, start 20 Uhr
Koloniestraße 120 | 13359 Berlin

Heimo Suntion

Circle of Reduction and Small Monuments | 27.01–18.02.2023

Heimo Suntio

Sculptures and installations

Toolbox Kabinett: Stefan Roigk, Berlin

Opening: Friday, 27 January 2023, 7pm

Open (Kolonie Wedding weekend) on Sunday 29 January 2023, fron 2–6pm


Heimo Suntio

Some of my works are based on older works of art, in this exhibition 1. Hokusai 2. Leonardo 3. Hugo Simberg. I make sculptures based on these older works and, from the two-dimensional images, transform them back into three-dimensional works. Before photography, it was incredibly laborious to make images of objects, transformations from three-dimensionality to two-dimensionality, on which ability the value of art is mostly based. Sometimes I call my works as small monuments, as with the sculpture of the writer David Foster Wallace, who hanged himself. In a way, my works are quite traditional, in the sense of a modernity after the death of history. I call this the circle of reduction.

cv
In Finland works by the artist are in many private and public collections, Kiasma contemporary, HAM, Wihuri collections and works  have been exhibited for example in Japan, Chile, Germany, Denmark and Norway.

German

Einige meiner Werke basieren auf älteren Kunstwerken, in dieser Ausstellung 1. Hokusai 2. Leonardo 3. Hugo Simberg. Ich mache Skulpturen, die auf diesen älteren Werken basieren, und verwandle sie von den mir vorliegenden zweidimensionalen Abbildungen in dreidimensionale Werke zurück. Vor dem Fotografieren war es unheimlich aufwendig, handgemachte Bilder von Objekten, Transformationen aus der Dreidimensionalität in die Zweidimensionalität zu machen, auf welcher Fähigkeit der Wert der Kunst meistens beruht. Manchmal bezeichne ich meine Arbeiten als kleine Denkmale, wie zum Beispiel bei der Skulptur des Schriftstellers David Foster Wallace, der sich erhängt hat. In einer Weise sind meine Werke ziemlich tradtionell, im Sinne einer Moderne nach dem Tod der Geschichte. Ich nenne das den Kreis der Reduktion.

CV: In Finnland befinden sich Werke des Künstlers in vielen privaten und öffentlichen Sammlungen, z. B. im Kiasma contemporary, HAM und Wihuri. Werke von Heimo Sunito wurden unter anderem in Japan, Chile, Deutschland, Dänemark und Norwegen ausgestellt.

Artwork: Death scates again, 2020,
based on Hugo Simbergs graphic work Death skates, pronze and whistle pipe, 35 cm high


Stefan Roigk

Musikalische Grafik 2019

Stefan Roigk (*1974) works with the intermedial interweaving of abstract sound collages, installations, drawings and text-sound compositions. Sound as an artistic-aesthetic field of research is the starting point as well as the central medium of his works.
His artistic focus lies on the dynamic staging of context-related fragments of everyday life, which he transforms into narrative-like, stage-like spatial compositions in the sense of visual music. In his work, he reflects on his own living and production conditions, examines the political potential of aurality and traces the subjective construction of reality.

Further informations: www.stefan-roigk.com/PORTFOLIO_2021.pdf

Stefan Roigk (*1974) arbeitet mit der intermedialen Verschränkung abstrakter Klangcollagen, Installationen, Zeichnungen und Text-Sound-Kompositionen. Dabei ist das Geräusch als künstlerisch-ästhetisches Forschungsfeld der Ausgangspunkt wie auch das zentrale Medium seiner Arbeiten.
Sein künstlerischer Fokus liegt auf der dynamischen Inszenierung kontextbezogener Alltagsfragmente, die er im Sinne der Visuellen Musik als narrativ anmutende, bühnenartige Raumkompositionen umsetzt. In seinem Werk reflektiert er die eigenen Lebens- und Produktionsbedingungen, untersucht das politische Potenzial der Auralität und spürt der subjektiven Konstruktion von Realität nach.

Weitere Informationen unter: www.stefan-roigk.com/PORTFOLIO_2021.pdf


Galerie/Projektraum TOOLBOX
Koloniestraße 120
13359 Berlin-Wedding
U-Bahn Osloerstraße

Wed, Fri-Sat 15-19, Thu 16-20
An Feiertagen ist die Toolbox geschlossen
On Bank holidays Toolbox is closed

Finissage Toolbox Art Space

Finissage Deliver from Evil
25.11.2022

You are warmly welcome to celebrate the finissage of our last exhibition this year, “Deliver from Evil” by @ilkkasariola and @ahorn814 , on this Friday 25th of November (19:00)!

At 19:30 we have a performance by widely celebrated performance artist Pavel Semchenko @pxe74 . After this, get ready to experience live music by duo Catherine Lorent @studiocatherinelorent & Tom Früchtl @tom_fruechtl (GUITAR AXE DOOM).

So come and spend the cold and dark Friday evening with us enjoying good art, drinks and pleasant company!

@koloniewedding
#koloniewedding #kunst #kunstinberlin #art #artinberlin #artgallery #taide #taidenäyttely #finissage

drawing Ilkka Sariola

Deliver from Evil |
28.10.–19.11.2022

Ilkka Sariola, drawings

https://ilkkasariola.com

Kabinett: Alexander Horn

https://www.alexanderhorn.net


Opening: Fri, 28.10.2022, 7pm

Exhibition: 28.10.–19.11.2022

Open on 30.10.2022 (Kolonie Wedding weekend): 2–6pm
Download Kolonie Wedding Flyer 10, 2022

Artwork: Ilkka Sariola, Neverland, pencil and graphite on paper, 150×115 cm


Galerie/Projektraum TOOLBOX
Koloniestraße 120
13359 Berlin-Wedding
U-Bahn Osloerstraße

Wed, Fri-Sat 15-19, Thu 16-20
An Feiertagen ist die Toolbox geschlossen
On Bank holidays Toolbox is closed

artwork

Elina Försti & Wolf Hamm | 01–22.10.2022

Paintings and Drawings

Vernissage: Fri, 30.09.2022, 7pm

Exhibition: 01.–22.10.2022

www.elinaforsti.fi

www.wolfhamm.de

artworks:
top: Elina Försti: “Drying Barn From Tarvola”, 2020–2021, 180×280 cm, oil on canvas

down: Wolf Hamm: “In The Same Boat, Till the End”, 2022, 24×18 cm,  ink on paper

 

Galerie/Projektraum TOOLBOX
Koloniestrasse 120
13359 Berlin-Wedding
U-Bahn Osloerstraße

Mi-Sa/Wed-Sat 15-19
An Feiertagen ist die Toolbox geschlossen
On Bank holidays Toolbox is closed

artwork illka sariola

TOOLBOX Berlin anniversary
exhibition | 27.08–24.09.2022

10 Jahre TOOLBOX Berlin 2012-2022
10 years anniversary exhibition

27.8.-24.9. 2022

Artists: Maija Helasvuo, Sampsa Indren, Mika Karhu, Niina Räty, Ilkka Sariola, Juha Sääski, Andreas Wolf

Austellungseröffnung / Vernissage: Freitag / Friday 26.08. 2022,  19:00
Performances 20:00: Ilkka Sariola, Rag Elnyg, Kainulainen&Latva

The exhibition takes place on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Finnish-German project space Toolbox in Berlin.

Time scedule

The Light and the Dark

Wed 24.08.2022, 7pm, location: Gallery Wolf &Galentz
there’s a third exhibition celebrating the 10 Years Anniversary of Toolbox Berlin. This exhibition is a return-exhibition to the Särkyvää | Zerbrechlich (‘fragile’ in Finnish and German) organised by Toolbox, currently on display in Riihimäki (FI), with works by Berlin and Finnish artists in an old glass factory.

Hannelore

Thu 25.08.2022, 7pm , location: Gallery Wolf &Galentz
Concert Hannelore (Catherine Lorent and Tom Früchtl)

Performances

Ilkka Sariola, Rag Elnyg, Kainulainen&Latva

Fri 26.08.2022, 8pm, Location: Toolbox

artwork: Illka Sariola: Brazen Bull, 115 x 150 cm, lyijykynä paperille / pencil on paper, 2021

Galerie/Projektraum TOOLBOX
Koloniestrasse 120
13359 Berlin-Wedding
U-Bahn Osloerstraße

Mi-Sa/Wed-Sat 15-19
An Feiertagen ist die Toolbox geschlossen
On Bank holidays Toolbox is closed

Jan Bejsovec

„Spezialoperation“
29.07.–20.08.2022

Jan Bejšovec – Konfliktstoff

Einzelausstellung vom 29. Juli bis 20. August 2022

Vernissage: Friday 29. 07. 2022, 19 h
Öffnungszeiten / Opening hours: Mi–Sa 15–19 h

An Feiertagen ist die Toolbox geschlossen
On Bank holidays Toolbox is closed

www.konfliktstoff.org


Solo exhibition

“Special Operation”

29. 07. –20. 08. 2022

Konfliktstoff has been investigating the interaction of conflict and war for many years, as well as the possibilities of an artistic approach to this difficult topic.

The picture “Woman in the Park (of Lugansk)”, the depiction of a woman killed by an artillery attack in the Ukrainian city of Lugansk, was already created in 2014. This city is the capital of the so called “Lugansk People’s Republic” recognized only by Russia. Its supposed protection is one of the official reasons for Russia’s open entry into the warlike conflict since February 2022.
The use of the term “special operation” instead of the word “war” in Russian propaganda shows the sensitivity of language, which itself is used as a weapon of war in the battle of propaganda.
Language and images are the means of confrontation between the parties to the conflict on a global scale, alongside the actual fighting, the deaths of soldiers and civilians, and the destruction of a country.

The exhibition “Special Operation” shows a selection of textile images that deal with this sort of conflict.

Artwork:  Frau im Park [Woman in the Park], 2014, applications on textile, 120 x 75 cm


German

Konfliktstoff untersucht seit vielen Jahren die Wechselwirkung von Konflikt und Krieg
sowie die Möglichkeiten einer künstlerischen Auseinandersetzung mit diesem schwierigen
Thema.

Bereits 2014 entstand das Bild „Frau im Park (von Lugansk)“, die Darstellung einer durch
einen Artillerieangriff getöteten Frau in der ukrainischen Stadt Lugansk. Diese Stadt ist die
Hauptstadt der nur durch Rußland anerkannten „Volksrepublik Lugansk“. Ihr vermeintlicher
Schutz ist einer der offiziellen Gründe für den offenen Eintritt Rußlands in den kriegerischen
Konflikt seit Februar 2022.

Das Verwenden des Begriffs „Spezialoperation“ anstelle des Wortes „Krieg“ in der
russischen Propaganda zeigt die Empfindlichkeit von Sprache, die selbst als Kriegswaffe in
der Propagandaschlacht zum Einsatz kommt.

Sprache und Bild sind neben den eigentlichen Kampfhandlungen, dem Sterben von
Soldaten und Zivilisten und der Zerstörung eines Landes die Mittel der Auseinandersetzung
der Konfliktparteien auf globaler Ebene.
Die Ausstellung „Spezialoperation“ zeigt eine Auswahl textiler Bilder, die sich mit diesem
Konfliktstoff auseinandersetzen.

www.konfliktstoff.org

10 Years Toolbox

10 Years Toolbox | 2012–2022

Read in German (PDF)

Read in Finnish (PDF)

Chronicle

Foto

In Berlin’s district Wedding, more precisely in the lively Koloniestraße, lies Gallery Toolbox, which for ten years has provided a showcase especially for the diverse world of Finnish contemporary art. This Finnish-German project space, “taidetila” in Finnish and “Projektraum” in German, was established in 2012 and has organised more than 80 art exhibitions and dozens of other events over the past years. At the time of this publication, the members of the Toolbox are the artists Maija Helasvuo, Sampsa Indrén, Minna Jatkola, Mika Karhu, Niina Räty, Ilkka Sariola, Juha Sääski and Andreas Wolf.

Gallery Toolbox is currently run by an artists’ cooperative with eight members and, from the very beginning, it has been quite an ambitious art export project in Berlin, which is, without a doubt, one of the most important centres for contemporary art in Europe. The importance of the Toolbox is particularly emphasised by the fact that it is one of the few still active galleries in the city that is mainly specialised in Finnish art. However, the success of the project space can by no means be taken for granted, as, in addition to its achievements, the Toolbox has experienced both small and sometimes greater challenges on its ten-year journey. The main reason for the success of the project may be that, from the very beginning, it has been primarily a project of passion by artists for artists.

The Toolbox is a space between the Finnish and German art worlds, where people from inside and outside of the art field can meet each other.
Andreas Wolf

happy endBut how did it all actually start? Gallery Toolbox, which is now celebrating its milestone anniversary, was officially established in 2012. However, the first discussions about a Finnish gallery in Berlin already date back to the early 2010s. Juha Sääski, one of the founding members, recalls how the topic came up regularly with Mika Karhu, for example, in the break room at Aalto University, where they both used to work at that time. These vague visions surprisingly concretised into an executable concept when an opportunity arose in 2012. Mika Karhu was visiting Berlin for his planned exhibition at the Finnish-owned Kuma Gallery in the district of Mitte. However, to the surprise of the artist, who had already arrived in Berlin, the gallerist Suvi Lehtinen informed him that the exhibition could not be organised after all, as Kuma’s activities unfortunately had to be terminated. Yet, after talking to the gallerist for a while, Mika Karhu came up with the idea that he himself could possibly rent the premise left vacant. Lehtinen provisionally agreed on the proposal, and Karhu promised to gather the required members in the coming days.

Nevertheless, the implementation of Mika Karhu’s plan was not written in stone. Although there was great interest among the invited artists in establishing a gallery, the other side of the scale weighted heavily with the challenges of a project space. Firstly, it was obvious that activities in Germany would further increase the workload of the ones who would join as members. In addition, the financial risk and burden connected to the project lead to many invited persons rejecting the offer. For example, for establishing the gallery, each member had to contribute a starting amount of 2,000 euros for the kickoff of the activities, and at that time, it was still unclear which kind of bottomless pit for money this project could possibly become in the future.

Despite these factors, the decision to establish the gallery in Berlin was made shortly after the premise in Mitte was offered for the use of a new Finnish gallery. The artists who were interested in the project understood how important it was to start activities in Germany, both for the expansion of their own exhibition activities as well as for the export of Finnish fine arts.

Over night, I pondered over Mika’s inquiry and considered the possible financial risks and the additional amount of work for my life, which was already filled with work. My biggest concern was the financial risk, but I realised that this was one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, and I joined in and have not regretted it.
Juha Sääski

Already during the same spring, the Artists’ Cooperative Toolbox started its activities with its founding members Maija Helasvuo, Minna Jatkola, Mika Karhu, Jukka Lehtinen, Niina Räty, Juha Sääski and Jan Kenneth Weckman. The first opening of the new gallery located at Novalisstraße 7 was celebrated on 1st September 2012 with the members’ group exhibition “Social Box”.
However, starting activities in a foreign country brought its own challenges which, according to Sääski, were greater than the members could have expected. Especially the fact that the members of the gallery did not live in Germany themselves caused surprising problems. According to Helasvuo, even managing seemingly simple things, such as concluding an electricity contract, depended on, among other things, the friendliness of the clerks who dealt with the matter. Networking and publicising of the project space also had to be started practically from scratch.

In addition to the hard work of the members, the students who traveled from Finland to Berlin and worked as interns, made it possible to set the activities in motion: Their role as link between the two countries and in running the gallery has been truly significant throughout the Toolbox’s ten-year existence. Furthermore, the Finnish Institute in Germany was of great help in building networks in the foreign city, and during the first years, financial support for art transportation was provided by the Frame foundation. Nonetheless, the most important driving force behind the project was the burning thrive of the cooperative members to contribute to the important task. This helped to overcome the arising obstacles.

Our motivation was high and we were ready for action. We felt like we were on the verge of something new. So I barely remember challenges; it felt like everything is possible.
Maija Helasvuo

In the first years, however, it slowly became clear that the Toolbox’s activities in the gallery in Mitte were not on a sustainable basis. The biggest difficulties were related to the costs, as the rental costs and other expenses of the premise in the Novalisstraße were quite high even compared to the price level of the rest of Berlin. In turn, this had lead, among other things, to the fact that exhibiting Finnish artists had to be charged fairly high usage fees in order to be able to cover the costs. Even the location of the gallery proved to be problematic: Although the Toolbox was only a few kilometres away from the lively tourist centres of downtown Berlin, the Novalisstraße itself and its surrounding quarters were located in a rather quiet, mainly residential area. Thus, it was evident that the Toolbox needed to be relocated in order to be able to keep its doors open also in the future.

In 2014, a turning point occurred after all, partly due to a coincidence which could be described as perhaps the most important one in the entire history of the Toolbox. According to Andreas Wolf, who nowadays is also a member of the project space, his partner Anna E. Wilkens invited him and the artist Jovan Balov to an exhibition opening at a Finnish gallery, which was at that point still unknown to all three of them. There, they met Mika Karhu. This encounter marked the surprising beginning of a collaboration which still lasts until this day, and which came to change the future of the gallery in a decisive way.

The timing for new acquaintances was perfect, as Wolf and Balov had a solution to offer for the relocation plans of the cooperative. That solution was the Kolonie Wedding: as the name implies, an organisation operating in the Wedding district, which today includes more than twenty non-commercial art spaces, in German Projektraum. Soon it became clear to the Finns that being part of the gallery community in Wedding would contribute to the Toolbox’s task of presenting Finnish art in Germany. First of all, it was important to the cooperative to finally increase their long-needed contacts and partners in Berlin, which joining the Kolonie Wedding could also offer to the Toolbox. Additionally, the membership was crucial from an economic point of view, as the city of Berlin supported the community, among other things, by subsidising the rent of the project spaces.

Based on these factors in particular, the Toolbox decided to apply for the membership at the Kolonie Wedding, which was accepted and the gallery relocated to its current address in the Koloniestraße in April 2015. On top of that, Andreas Wolf, who had proposed the membership at Kolonie Wedding, became a member of Gallery Toolbox in 2015, which was an essential improvement for the local management: Through him, there was finally a local member in the group, who was well-acquainted with Berlin’s art world.

In addition to these opportunities, the new location also brought forth new kinds of challenges. Firstly, the gallery in Wedding was smaller than the previous one, and there was, for example, significantly less storage space than in the Novalisstraße. Initially, the Toolbox also had a residency for artists and interns at its new location, but eventually, it had to be given up due to the fact that Berlin’s regulations on short-term rental of residential spaces became stricter. Even the district Wedding itself had its own challenges: One of the main reasons for the city of Berlin to offer support to the Kolonie Wedding community was their wish to calm down the neighbourhood, which was even considered as a part of the city with a bad reputation, through means of low-threshold culture and art spaces. However, the negative reputation of the area stuck firmly in the locals’ heads. According to Juha Sääski, for example, a Berlin-local van driver who helped move the gallery from Mitte to Wedding was amused by the Toolbox’s new location: “The person started laughing that it was impossible to run an art gallery in Koloniestraße as it is a slum.”

Deux Ex MachinaDespite these thoroughly negative predictions, Gallery Toolbox managed to consolidate its position as part of the Kolonie Wedding community, and with its new location, also the number of exhibition visitors increased. Furthermore, through relocating the project space, the activities became more international. Besides Finnish art, the Toolbox has particularly presented works by Berlin-based artists over the years. Through the membership at Kolonie Wedding, Gallery Toolbox has also partaken in art export projects with Sweden, Great Britain and the United States of America alongside Germany. In return, Kolonie Wedding organised a group exhibition at the Hyvinkää Art Museum in 2017. This exhibition was curated by Mika Karhu, Andreas Wolf and Anna E. Wilkens.

Silenced earsApart from contemporary art, the Toolbox has offered its spaces also for other cultural events, of which live music has achieved an important position throughout the past years. The internationally renowned saxophonist Harri Sjöström has taken the leading role in organising concerts in the premise. The musician has lived in Berlin since the 1980s and has promoted music export over the past decades. He got to know the members of the Toolbox already in 2013, and ever since, the project space has regularly functioned as a stage for the Soundscapes concerts, which were conceptualised by Sjöström and focus on improvised music. Over time, the concerts, which had started in the Toolbox, expanded from Berlin to Munich and Helsinki. A broad spectrum of Finnish and international top musicians perform at these concerts.

The cultural exchange between Finland and Berlin is important to me, and the Toolbox has offered me a unique opportunity in the realm of new music and improvised music. The concerts that are held in these spaces have also contributed to the visibility of Finnish contemporary art in Berlin, as they have attracted plenty of audiences from outside of the art world.
Harri Sjöström

However, the upswing of these years of development was slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in the spring of 2020, which severely shook the Toolbox like the rest of the cultural sector. This was especially serious for the Toolbox, as the activities of the gallery are particularly aimed at internationality. This brought forth great challenges when the borders stayed closed for one and a half years. Amidst the uncertainty and the ever-changing regulations, it was practically impossible to, for example, plan the exhibition activities so that Gallery Toolbox had to keep its doors almost fully closed for one and a half years.

Anssi TauluIn August 2021, the regular exhibition activities could finally be resumed and, although the decade that started bleakly has shown that the future is unpredictable, this has not prevented the planning for the concept’s further development. In some respects, the hopes for the next ten years of the Toolbox are clear: The long-term wish of the members has especially been to establish a second gallery in Helsinki or to organise regular summer exhibitions in Finland, which would function as a direct link between the art fields of the two countries. In turn, the development of the activities and the networking on the German side would be facilitated by a permanent gallerist. Admittedly, these dreams would require funding as background, which has hardly been allocated to the cooperative’s activities over the years, with the exception of a few project grants. In particular, the problem has been the difficulty of obtaining Finnish funding for a project space operating abroad. On the other hand, there has been just as little German funding available for the Finnish-owned Toolbox. If there was external financial support available in addition to the members’ own wallets, the development of the project space’s activities and the realisation of its full potential would be significantly facilitated.

The Toolbox is of greater importance than one might realise. The Finnish art field is observing the Toolbox from Finland’s point of view, without having a holistic understanding of our activities.
Maija Helasvuo

Nevertheless, running the project space mainly on the members’ own financing and volunteer work has not been a hindrance to producing high-quality exhibitions in the heart of Berlin, and in that way, the Toolbox has established an artistically respected position as part of the Kolonie Wedding community. One of the founding members, Niina Räty is threatening in a trustful tone that she will continue the project “at least until the age of eighty”. The future of the cooperative also continues to enjoy the complete confidence of the rest of the members. One thing is for sure: The project space in the Koloniestraße will stay indispensable for a long time to come, both as a link between the Finnish and German art fields and in order to enable this wide variety of exhibitions and events.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to and participated in our ten-year story!