Cette exposition présente le travail de 14 jeunes artistes photographes tous formés dans la prestigieuse University of Art and Design d'Helsinki Elle tentera de rendre compte, à travers une cinquantaine d'oeuvres, du regard porté par cette jeune génération d'artistes sur des notions telles que le paysage, le portrait, la mémoire, l'architecture… une programmation culturelle (table ronde, conférences, concert) viendra compléter ce programme. Cette exposition s'inscrit dans le cadre de la saison finlandaise, initiée par CulturesFrance en avril, mai et juin 2008 Commissaire(s) de l'exposition : Henry-Claude Cousseau, Timothy Pearson, Eric Féloneau

The exhibition The Helsinki School - La nouvelle photographie finlandaise will show eleven photographers and five video artists of the youngest generation of the so called ´Helsinki School´. The works will be presented at the famous Ecole des Beaux Arts right in the centre of Paris. They will be shown in the major hall for exhibitions in a space of 600 m2. All artists currently study at the Department of Photography at the University of Art and Design. The exhibition will be divided in four thematic sections: Nordic Landscape Reflection of Personal Stories Portrait Structures The first topic is landscape, especially the Nordic landscape. In the landscapes the use of colour often defines an emotional state of mind. Some landscapes deal with man made changes of the environment. Others reflect the medium of photography and show the world that surrounds us in a way where it is hard to tell what is real and what is only a model. Especially the works concerning personal stories will contain some installations. They reflect human behavior, feelings like grief after the deaths of close relatives. Portrait has been a huge subject within the Helsinki School ever since. Also the youngest generation deals with this classical photographic genre. In this section one will find works that experiment with the depiction of the human face. Sometimes colour transports the character of the depicted person instead of the facial features or the pictures are out of focus. The last topic - Structures - deals with questions of abstraction, perspective and with the film material itself. The exhibition will show how the University of Art and Design has successfully managed to create unique educational tools. It´s the first exhibition of its kind. There will be published an 128 pages exhibition catalogue for the exhibition with contributions by major writers. A cooperation of The University of Art and Design Helsinki The Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts Paris Curated by Timothy Persons and Eric Feloneau Coordination Katrin Blum, Berlin