Public art

Jussi Goman was chosen as the artist for the Oravankatu roundabout. The roundabout was looking for a visual artist to realize a work of art or a set of works. A total of 78 artists received applications for the open call for artists. Among the high-quality applications, visual artist Jussi Goman was chosen as the author. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts with a master's degree in 2008 and held solo, joint and group exhibitions both in Finland and abroad. The work was published on Riihimäki Day, 11.9.2021 September XNUMX.

Visual artist Antti Tenetz's Kuppikivi media artwork is an extended portrait and landscape from Riihimäki. In the past, cup stones connected the surrounding nature and man in one place, it is claimed that the locations and maps of celestial bodies or terrain points can be found on them. They were places where food was brought and where people met.

The idea for the work comes from the sacrificial or cup stone located near the station in Szolnokinpuisto. The work is inspired by the environment and connects different times and places to the underpass of the railway station. The media artwork changes according to the seasons, each season has its own video piece. The work has been made with the help of machine learning competing artificial intelligence models, which learn to produce an image from the material and materials fed to them. The models are developing and evolutionary. The footage is played on LED screens, mobile devices and the website.

The work is divided into two parts that change according to the seasons, which can be seen in the station tunnel as long video projections throughout the year. The first section that opens now contains images of winter and spring, and later pictures of summer and autumn will be presented. The projections are videos converted by artificial intelligence, which are based on materials filmed on Riihimäki and in the museums. The pictures include landscapes from, for example, Hatlamminsuo, people from Riihimäki, graffiti, deer and birds. The soundscape of the piece is also built around sound material from Riihämäki.

For the work, 3D models of a cup stone, a Stone Age ax and skis found in the marshes have been made using laser scanning and photogrammetry. All these sets of images serve as material for machine learning and neural networks, according to which the final work is compiled. The work has been made with the help of competing artificial intelligence models, which learn to produce images in a controlled manner from these materials and materials fed to them.

Asematunnel art competition

As part of the overhaul of the Riihimäki railway station's underspending, public art was acquired for the space. To implement the artwork, the city opened an invitational media art competition in July. Five competition proposals were received by the deadline of 16.11.2020 November XNUMX: Kuppikivi, Travelogue, Pieni suuri matka, Uusi normali and Puukansan tarina.

The prize committee chose the proposal Kuppikivi, created by visual artist Antti Tenetz, as the winner of the competition. In the award committee's opinion, the winning proposal best suited the goals set in the competition program. The subject of the work is current, but at the same time based on local history and acts as an element that connects city dwellers and neighborhoods.

Antti Tenetz (b.1975) is a visual artist who works at the interface of media art, biological art and urban art. He often uses various technologies in his works, such as drones, satellite tracking, game engines and machine learning.

Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier - the work of public art is located in Riihimäki's summer theater on the outer wall of a building near Penttilänkatu. The artwork was made by visual artist Viljami Heinonen (b. 1986). Heinonen lives and works in Vesilahti. He has held several solo exhibitions and his artworks include, for example, In the collections of the City of Tampere, the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM) and the Wihuri and Saastamoinen foundations.

Viljami Heinonen's recent works are a kind of painted collages that depict tropical forests and the animals of these green and lush environments. The paintings move between abstract and figurative expression. The artist's works have an expressive and lush color scheme. The visual language and treatment of the subject of his works have connections with punk aesthetics and the tradition of post-war informalism and neorealism.

Riihimäki's multi-professional art group Rita was responsible for the selection of artists. Representatives of Riihimäki Theater and Riihimäki Youth Theater participated in the selection process. The work was realized in connection with the construction of the summer theater on a percentage basis, in accordance with the principles of public art approved by the city government in 2021. The artwork was unveiled on June 6.6.2023, XNUMX.

Sculptor Tommi Toija's bronze Eksynyt sculpture was unveiled at the Keskuspuisto roundabout in October 2018. The sculpture was cast in bronze at Taidevalimo Sinisalo in Säkylä. After this, the finished bronze sculpture is patinated and painted. Small, expressive figures are a recurring theme in Toija's sculptures. According to Toija, the emotional state that is conveyed by the faces of the characters is essential in "ukkels". The familiar questions of being human get a revealing form in Toija's multidimensional works. Toija made his first ukulele sculpture in 2003, and since then more than 150 figures have been created.

Sculptor Jaakko Pernu's work Crossroads was unveiled at the intersection of Kulmala puistokatu and Etelän Viertotie in November 2019. The material for the nine-meter-high work is around 500 pieces of old spruce branches, which have been worked by peeling, drying, carrying with a band saw and painting. The conceptual starting point of the work mirrors the sign sets of the interaction between man and nature, both in terms of natural and structured landscapes. According to its name, the external shape also refers to the traffic divider as a node of movement, with its node-like shape also referring to the helical structure of the DNA molecule. Since 1988, Pernu has been working on outdoor projects that are more or less disappearing in material.