April 18- July 31, 2011
Francine LeClercq, Andy Warhol and Pauno Pohjolainein open a new perspective on a traditional subject
Turku Cathedral, the Finnish national shrine is in for something new and unprecedented when contemporary art fills the chapels of its middle age church. Pauno Pohjolainen's powerful sculpture, the Last Supper has joined the saints painted on the Agricola chapel's walls. The small Tigerstedt-Wallenstjerna chapel features works by the world- renowned legend of pop art Andy Warhol, and a large installation, mise en [s]cène by Francine LeClercq, dominates the Pormestari side chapel. The underlying theme of all the works is one central to Christian art, namely the last Supper. R.W Ekman, who created the fresco of the last Supper in the main chapel, handled the same subject during the mid-1800s.
The exhibition is being curated by Perttu Ollila.The last Supper exhibition has been organised by Turku and Kaarina Parish Union. Financial assistance has been granted by the Turku 2011 Foundation, the Archidiocese of Turku, the Church Council and the Finnish Cultural Foundation's Varsinais-Suomi Regional Fund. the exhibition is part of the capital of Culture's official program for the year.
Turku 2011 foundation
Turunseurakunnat.fi
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| Photo: © Kantti/taloforum.fi |
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| Photo: © Kantti/taloforum.fi |
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| Photo: © Kantti/taloforum.fi |
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| Photo: © Jussi Vierimaa |
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| Photo: © Jussi Vierimaa |
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Photo: © Jussi Vierimaa |
Francine LeClercq's Last Supper Untitled is based on the famous fresco, The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci and gives the viewer a sense of participation.
The inferred meaning of the title, “mise en [s]cène”: the act of stage setting, or more pertinently: the surrounding of an event, with a bracketed “s”, is a virtual gloss laid on Leonardo Da Vinci’s La Cène (French) more commonly known in English as The Last Supper.
Nearly the same size as the original mural in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, the work consists of six suspended boxed panels washed in white gesso on projecting steel brackets attached to a wall built to counter act the weight and serve as a backdrop.
The connection to the Last Supper is immediately evident by the cutout on the panels leaving the contour of the narrative in place, the work is hence summoned in absentia. The life size contour of the humanoids at eye level together with the resulting shadow cast on the wall is a vacancy that is simultaneously occupied by the actual and the fictive, the real presence of the spectator and the story of the narrative.
A table is placed in front of the work with a canvas on which visitors are free to draw and write with the provided oil sticks. Placed at the protagonist’s position is a casing with an ip camera, while the inverted pair of gloves attached to the casing alludes to Christ’s hands, they allow visitors to move the camera, a view from the work out which is transmitted in real time on the internet. The documented images and the canvas produced by the work itself are archived for future installations.
Ollila, Perttu
Viimeinen Ehtoollinen; The Last Supper in Turku Cathedral:
Francine LeClercq, Andy Warhol, Pauno Pohjolainen
Publisher:
Turku and Kaarina Parish Union, Turku 2011
@ 2011 Perttu Ollila/Turku and Kaarina Parish Union
PURCHASE CATALOGUE HERE
TEAM:
Curator: Perttu Ollila
Project Secretary: Jaana Rantala
Graphic Designer: Jari Nieminen/Blind Design
Exhibition architect: Viivi Laine
Contractor: Niku Vaino
Press Officer: Mervi Sipila-Koski
Information: https://www.turunseurakunnat.fi/portal/fi/ajankohtaista/kulttuurivuosi_2011/viimeinen_ehtoollinen_-nayttely/
