We’re excited to welcome you to the opening on Friday, November 6th, from 6 to 9 PM!We’re excited to welcome you to the opening of the group exhibition “Summertime Helpers” and the object “427” by Lote Ķeņģe on Friday, November 6th, from 6 to 9 PM!
Summertime Helpers *
Olli Keränen, Océane Bruel, Sakari Tervo
Invited by Inga Meldere
6/11 – 19/12/2026
Harvest, eye drops
Arms outstretched,
full of miscellaneous roots
and dead ends growing inside of us
Summer comes to say goodbye, and it means it is time
to reap the fruits of our labour. It is time
to acknowledge that some seeds didn’t sprout
and some things were neglected
when we chose to waste and overspend ourselves
Yana orders a latte, which comes in a thick white cup. The hot drink pressed against her lips, she takes a sip and says:
‘Whatever you are thinking about, make sure that you tie a knot at the end of it’
As if she had decided then and there
that she no longer believes in ghosts
Or maybe it is the sadness that follows the things we leave unfinished
like J says
There is no cure for destiny
The landscape is always bigger than us, but
those who are required to cross large stretches of land
start to notice that there is a steadiness in the way
that truck drivers drink a hot coffee with cream and sugar
and smoke a couple of cigarettes
when they stop for a break at night
It is a different way of moving in between places than
how we like to speed towards the end of the rainbow
to meet the benevolent giant
with the giant heart
ready to give us everything
all at once
– Ieva Raudsepa, with the help of Kirils Ēcis
* The title of the exhibition refers to Auseklis Baušķenieks’ painting “Summertime Helpers” (1971), which is part of the Latvian National Museum of Art collection.
Olli Keränen (1979) works primarily with sculpture and moving image, constructing his pieces into spatial installations. He explores themes such as the necessity of manual craftsmanship in relation to highly developed production processes, often working with materials that possess an inherent imbalance. Drawing from archetypal forms, his works engage in a dialogue with one another, rendering their original references secondary. Olli Keränen has held solo exhibitions in Helsinki and Copenhagen, the most recent of which took place at the SIC gallery in Helsinki in 2024. His work has also been featured in group exhibitions at venues including Kiasma (The Museum of Contemporary Art), HAM (Helsinki Art Museum), Malmö Konsthall, Karst (Plymouth), Spike Island (Bristol), and Marselleria (New York).
In 2013, Keränen received a grant from the Raimo Utriainen Foundation, and in 2018, he was selected for a six-month residency at the ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program). He has created several public sculptures in Helsinki and currently also teaches at Aalto University. Keränen is one of the nine visual artists who founded the SIC gallery in the Kalasatama district of Helsinki in 2012.
Océane Bruel (1991, France) is a Helsinki-based sculptor. With a material-poetic approach she explores how corporeal everyday affects and experiences, memory and attention become form. Bruel has held solo and duo exhibitions in Finland, France and Denmark, including SIC Space, Helsinki (2025); Titanik, Turku, FI (2025); In extenso, Clermont-Ferrand (2024); La BF15, Lyon (2020); and Gether Contemporary, Copenhagen (2020). In addition to galleries, her work has been shown in group shows in institutions including Kiasma museum, Helsinki); the Modern Art Museum, Espoo; Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris; and Chart Emerging at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen. Her work is present in public and private collections in Finland and France.
Sakari Tervo (1985) is a Helsinki based curator and educator whose curatorial practice is informed by his background in fine art. He founded the Helsinki-based exhibition platform Pitted Dates in 2023 and works as a university teacher at Aalto University. Prior to founding Pitted Dates, he curated a series of online exhibitions (2018–2021) and co-directed the artist-run spaces Titanik in Turku (2012–2014) and Sorbus in Helsinki (2014–2019).
Inga Meldere (1979, Kuldīga) lives and works in Helsinki. She studied at the University of Latvia, the Art Academy of Latvia, and Uniarts Helsinki, and furthered her studies at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Her creative practice encompasses painting, installation, and site-specific environments. Inga’s artistic practice is characterized by meticulous work with source materials, an ability to weave fragments of personal experience and collective memory, references to art history, and images borrowed from everyday life into a unified whole.
The artist’s most recent solo exhibitions have taken place at institutions and galleries such as the Kim? Contemporary Art Center (Riga), Temnikova & Kasela (Tallinn), Helsinki Contemporary and Pech (Vienna); she has also participated in major international exhibitions, including the Helsinki Biennial, the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, the KUMU Art Museum, and the Latvian National Museum of Art. Melderes’ works are held in the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, the Finnish National Art Collection, the Latvian National Museum of Art, Zuzeum Art Center, and other public and private collections.
Support: State Culture Capital Foundation, Riga City Council, Nordic Culture Point, Arts Promotion Centre Finland and Latvian National Museum of Art