Anu Tuominen – DEPARTEMENT STORE

Anu Tuominen's department store has a wide selection of everything you need for everyday life; fabrics, shoes, jewellery and flowers. Goods change hands at the flea market and there's a café for a refreshing break. But is everything as it seems at first glance?

The artworks in the exhibition are made from familiar objects such as shoehorns, buttons and egg cups, as well as old, perhaps forgotten, household items. The artist combines everyday objects and materials, playing with words and ideas. There is often playfulness and humour in the titles of the works.

Anu Tuominen (b. 1961, Lemi) is one of the pioneers of Finnish conceptual art. Tuominen graduated from the Department of Interior Architecture and Furniture Design at the University of Art and Design Helsinki in 1992 and from the Time and Space Arts Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in 1995. Tuominen was awarded Finland's highest visual arts prize, Ars Fennica, in 2003. Her works are included in all the most important art collections in Finland.