Welcome to the opening of the exhibition New Standards Saturday June 8th! New Standards presents the story of Puutalo Oy, a Finnish producer of prefabricated wooden houses.
Saturday June 8th 2024 at 3PM
From 1940, Puutalo produced barracks, homes and schools for export to countries as diverse as Argentina, Central Africa and Great Britain. In just a few decades, hundreds of thousands of houses were arected on all inhabited continents, and in many countries, we can still find streets and neighborhoods characterized by Puutalo architecture.
“The modest wooden structures are referred to, for instance, as Finnenhaus in German, Finnhus in Danish, Domki fińskie in Polish, and Finskiy domchik in Russian.”
New Standards Curators
About the Exhibition
In 2019, photographer Juuso Westerlund was commissioned to photograph existing Puutalo houses in Colombia, Denmark and Finland.
Westerlund’s photographs show how the houses today, but are also portraits of today’s inhabitants, from the bodybuilder selling vitamin supplements in Barranquila, Colombia to the elderly lady in Århus, Denmark who demonstrates the hair drier she has used in the same home for decades.
In New Standards, Westerlund’s images accompany archival material related to Puutalo Oy – imcluding drawings, photographs and advertisements – that illustrate the ambitions of the post-war period, reveal new design innovations and illustrates how different building types were modified for different climates and cultural contexts.
Opening Day Programme:
14.00: Short exhibition tour with photographer Juuso Westerlund.
Approximately 30 mins, in English, free entry.
15.00:
Opening led by Marianne A. Olsen.
Director at Archinfo, Katarina Siltavuori, will say a few words before a panel discussion between curators Laura Berger and
Kristo Vesikansa and photographer Juuso Westerlund. Moderator: Marthe T. Fjellestad, curator at Perspektivet Museum.
Approximately 1 hour, in English, free entry
16.00:
See the exhibition whilst listening to tunes provided by DJ Hasto.
New Standards was commissioned and produced by Archinfo for the Pavilion of Finland at the Biennale Architettura 2021 in Venice. Original idea and curatorial work by Laura Berger, Philip Tidwell and Kristo Vesikansa.
Marthe Fjellestad and Mari Hildung have produced the exhibition for Perspektivet Museum.
