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

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.

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.

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.