Mental Alchemy

Mental Alchemy exhibition trilogy

The exhibition is a visual study of secrets invisible to the human eye such as thoughts and the essence of the human mind. The viewer is faced with a multilayered series of fairytale portraits of people who have become acquainted with this invisible world.

The artworks of Harry Potter Layer are presented in a special 3D–format. The works on display are outwardly photographs but the pictures they provide are seen in three dimensions and even appear to move as you look at them from different angles.

 

Harry Potter Layer Matrix Layer Avatar Layer

Harry Potter Layer

2011

The exhibition is a visual study of secrets invisible to the human eye such as thoughts and the essence of the human mind. The viewer is faced with a multilayered series of fairytale portraits of people who have become acquainted with this invisible world. The artworks of Harry Potter Layer are presented in a special 3D–format. The works on display are outwardly photographs but the pictures they provide are seen in three dimensions and even appear to move as you look at them from different angles.

New Dimensions of Photography

“Stimulating questions cross the walls of Kuopio´s VB-Photographic Centre. To their side Partanen has hang large, miraculous photographs which seem to move and change their shape. Look at the image from the side and you will see a profile of a woman. Move a little – and now you see the woman in the image looking straight into your eyes. The illusion of three-dimensionality is suddenly real. One has to linger by the image.”
– Katja Hedber in the newspaper Savon Sanomat

3D photograph from the series Mental Alchemy, size: 1 x 1 m.

Can one hope to explain everything, and is it always necessary?

Harry Potter Layer – 3D photographs

nine 3D photographs

The artist Jaana Partanen has set out to explore the riddles of the human mind and consciousness, approaching her subject in the manner of a scholar but presenting her findings, discoveries and new ideas through the medium of art. The work she has done in preparation for this exhibition has included meetings and interviews with experts in medicine, brain research and alternative healing practices, filled out with a certain amount of bold, open-minded personal experimentation.

Is there after all something eternal and secret in the background of the visible world? Can people have inexplicable abilities? Can there exist alongside our ordinary everyday world an invisible level on which the supernatural can become quite natural? The “Alchemy of the mind – Harry Potter Layer” exhibition dives deep into the enigmas of the mind and consciousness. The works have been realised with 3D technology which brings quite new dimensions to the images.

Science has conquered new areas and made it possible for us to look at things that we were not previously able to see. New imaging techniques have made movements in our blood circulation and nervous system, the various layers of the brain, the world beneath our skin with its cells and fatty tissues and the energy radiating from our bodies into parts of the visible reality in which we live.

3D photograph from the series Mental Alchemy, size: 1 x 1 m.

3D photograph from the series Mental Alchemy, size: 1 x 1 m.

What is supernatural, and what is possible?

Harry Potter Layer -audio voyage

“When researching for works, the artist sought out experts and researchers of the mind. Through discussions with them, the works started to find form. Excerpts from these discussions can be heard in the audio installation of the exhibition.”
Raisa Jäntti, in the newspaper Keskisuomalainen

When preparing the exhibition, Jaana Partanen interviewed many people versed in the questions of the mind. The large group of interviewees included also the persons depicted in the works. The sound voyage is built from the discussions with them. It invites you to join the artist’s expedition and acquaint yourself with the enigmatic sphere of the mind. In the exhibition you can also tell and record stories of mental experiences important to you. They may become a part of forthcoming projects…

Only in Finnish.

Harry Potter layer -audio installation, Jyväskylä Art Museum, 2011. Photo © Jyväskylä Art Museum.

Harry Potter Layer -documentary

duration 5,32 min

We have seen here the outcome of the artist’s efforts, but we can only guess how she has brought all this about. What kind of work has gone into producing it? The musical documentary tells the story of the exhibition. The spotlight is on the people involved in the project.

Virtual exhibition

  • 1—5

    Joensuu Art Museum, 2013.

  • 2—5

    Northern Photographic Centre in Oulu, 2013.

  • 3—5

    Joensuu Art Museum, 2013.

  • 4—5

    Joensuu Art Museum, 2013.

  • 5—5

    Voipaala Art Center in Valkeakoski, 2014.

Can we ever ignore something that we have once experienced?

Matrix Layer

2014

Can a dream be a premonition of the future? What do dreams mean and what can we learn from them? How are dreams born?

Second part to Jaana Partanen´s trilogy of exhibitions about the mysteries of human mind, Mental Alchemy – Matrix Layer delves into the world of dreams and dreaming. We spend about 1/3 of our lives sleeping. When evening turns to night, time zone by time zone we fall asleep. Dreaming is common to all humanity. When we close our eyes an fall asleep we enter to a subconscious world where everything is possible. In dream we possess abilities we can only dream about awake.

There is a mythical aspect to dreaming. The dream state is familiar to the belief systems of many ancient cultures from the dream catchers of Native Americans to the creation myths of Australia’s Aboriginals. In Matrix Layer Ms. Partanen continues her exploration of the secrets of the human mind. The artist approaches the thematic of sleep with the help of experts who have investigated dreams through personal experience or by the means of scientific research.

Mysterious Dreams

The subject of premonition dreams continues to be a subject of interest, debate and discussion even today. During sleep our minds can receive messages and ideas. Rest unleashes creativity. Sleep is the subject for scientific research at dream laboratories around the world. Using new imaging techniques our knowledge about sleep and dreaming increases every day. We are intrigued by the idea of controlling our dreams in the manner of Trinity or Neo of the Matrix movies. Is it really possible to control our sleep reality?

What happens in our minds when we are asleep?

Matrix Layer approaches the thematic of sleep with the help of experts who have investigated dreams through personal experience or by the means of scientific research. Ms. Partanen prepared the exhibition by interviewing them. Matrix Layer has also attracted other interesting partners in co-operation for example musicians, software experts, professional designers, furniture manufacturer, loudspeaker and projector companies, dancers and circus performers.

Matrix Layer -interactive media artwork

In the interactive media artwork, the sound-activated image changes at the instance of the visitors to the exhibition: the artwork changes the shape and order of the images and effects in the space, timing the experience to be unique to each visitor. Ms. Partanen and her team have shot parts of the media artwork with the Kinect camera technique based on three-dimensional motion detection. Through the artworks, the visitor to the exhibition gets a new kind of experience of his or her environment and its different levels.

Matrix layer interactive media artwork, still image, 2014. Photo © Jaana Partanen.

What do dreams mean and what can we learn from them?

Mental Alchemy - Matrix layer, 2014.

Matrix Layer mixed reality -media artwork

Art, science and technology meet, when artist Jaana Partanen exploits the studies of top researchers and physicians and the latest 3D technology and presentations in her works. Ms. Partanen approaches the topic like a researcher, but translates the research results, ideas and insights into the language or art, without forgetting visuality and poetry.

The Matrix Layer is a pioneering entity of works in bringing 3D techniques and new innovations of the gaming industry into the scope of art. It creates a dazzling spatial experience which envelops the spectator. By putting on the mixed reality spectacles (Oculus Rift), the viewer is in a world in which reality and the virtual world are blended with each other like in the dream world. The mixed reality spectacles are seen for the first time as a part of the artwork in this exhibition.

From the point of view of experiencing the surprising virtual reality and the co-ordination of movements, it is important to anchor the experiencer/spectator safely in place. For that, special light-glowing furniture, protective screen divans, has been designed for the showroom. They change according to use into a protective screen or a divan on which to lounge and delve into the multidimensional world of the Matrix layer entity of works.

Matrix layer mixed reality - media artwork, Kuopio Art Museum, 2014.

Matrix Layer -audio voyage

Jaana Partanen prepared the exhibition by interviewing many of the leading experts of their fields: physicians and researchers. Listen to the interviews which take you to the wonderful world of sleep.

Only in Finnish.

On an audio voyage with sleep researchers

Matrix layer -audio installation, Salo Art Museum, 2014.

Matrix Layer -documentary

duration 5,19 min

We have seen here the outcome of the artist’s efforts, but we can only guess how she has brought all this about. What kind of work has gone into producing it? The musical documentary tells the story of the exhibition. The spotlight is on the people involved in the project.

Dream’s Gift

1997

The roots of the dream theme go back to Ms. Partanen’s year of solitude, when she had fantastic visions and experiences in her sleep. At that time, the dream visions transformed into text and, finally, into an entire set of artworks entitled Dream’s Gift. Ms. Partanen realised the works with the paraffin casting technique which she had developed herself and which had not been used before with photographs. The basis of the works was the negatives of her life till then.

The set also gave birth to the Dream’s Gift book, in which the artworks are intertwined with words and phrases, together creating a unique collection of stories, experiences and impressions of the rich world of dreams.

The dream theme has thus remained the inspiration Ms. Partanen’s art decade after decade, although seen from very different angles.

A Moment, 1997, a paraffin wax photograph, size 64 x 98 x 3 cm.

Misery, 1997, a paraffin wax photograph, size 32 x 47 x 2,5 cm.

Unen lahja -publication

Unen lahja, Partanen & Lamusuo Oy, 2014.

ISBN 978-952-93-3856-6
Language: Finnish
Prize 21 € (alv. 0 %) + shipping

Order here!

Unen lahja, Partanen & Lamusuo Ltd, 2014.

Virtual exhibition

  • 1—8

    Poikilo Art Museum, Kouvola, 2018.

  • 2—8

    Poikilo Art Museum, Kouvola, 2018.

  • 3—8

    Oulu Art Museum, 2015.

  • 4—8

    Interactive media artwork reacts to ones movement. Kuopio Art Museum, 2014.

  • 5—8

    Matrix layer mixed reality -media artwork. Mielen alkemiaa, Kuopio Art Museum, 2014.

  • 6—8

    Kuopio Art Museum, 2014.

  • 7—8

    Matrix layer -audio voyage. Mental Alchemy, Salo Art Museum, 2014.

  • 8—8

    Kuopio Art Museum, 2014.

What do dreams mean?
How are dreams born?

Avatar Layer

2018

Avatar Layer is the last part of the Mental Alchemy trilogy.

Mental Alchemy -media artwork

three parts, duration 7 min

When looking at the images of cells, blood vessels or nerves Jaana Partanen’s attention was drawn to the amount of movement present. Even the smallest parts of the cells revealed by the microscope are moving and changing shape constantly as if in a magical dance. Everything about a person, inside and outside, is continuously on the move, even though hidden from our everyday gaze.

Jaana Partanen’s video-installation was created in collaboration with medical experts and scientists involved in brain research and cutting edge imaging techniques. The visions from inside the human bodies capture by these new technologies reveal the true inner beauty of our bodies. The pictures used to create the piece are authentic inner visions of the human body, obtained from research archives or taken especially for this project.

Still image, Mental Akchemy - media artwork, 2011.

Mental Alchemy -media installation, Jyväskylä Art Museum, 2011. Photo © Jyväskylä Art Museum / Saara Kiviluoto.

Avatar Layer -audio voyage

You can test Avatar Layer -audio installation for a very first time in Poikilo at Kouvola 2018. Jaana Partanen interviewed top experts in their field for this voice installation (interviews only in Finnish).

Virtual exhibition

  • 1—4

    Poikilo Art Museum, Kouvola, 2018.

  • 2—4

    Poikilo Art Museum, Kouvola, 2018.

  • 3—4

    Poikilo Art Museum, Kouvola, 2018.

  • 4—4

    Poikilo Art Museum, Kouvola, 2018.

Contact

Jaana Partanen

Partanen & Lamusuo Ltd