Art in Hotel AX

An Orc, Stefan Lindfors

Stefan Lindfors An Orc piece greets the customers of Hotel AX on the facade of the building above the main doors. The work is an eye-catching focal point that the viewer’s eye will inevitably find when walking towards the building. Lindfors tells about the origin of the character and the birth of the idea that the character originated in the world of dreams and appeared to him in a nightmare. The piece continues in the lobby of Hotel AX and the two-headed figure hovers from the main doors all the way over the reception and the hotel lobby.

Stefan Lindfors tells about the process of creating the work:
I stated that AX needs a frontal artwork above the front doors. I thought that the sculpture should of course attract attention, but at the same time I wanted to create an imaginary character that would leave the viewer room to think about what kind of creature it really is.

Humor is a key ingredient in the concept of this work, so that the guest arriving at AX would feel welcome. “Örkki” continues deep into AX’s lobby and in this way binds the exterior & interior to make them cohesive. Finally, I put balls of light in the paws of the two-headed whacky monster and let it’s lipping tongue glow.

Split Views, Tommi Grönlund & Petteri Nisunen

Split Views is the facade relief of Hotel AX, which surrounds the two street facades of AX up to the sixth floor.

The facade relief consists of a total of 480 elements, which come in six different models. The elements are made of polished, stainless steel disks, which are perforated and profiled to the desired shape. 24 variations can be obtained from six different element types in four different positions. The seemingly random composition forms a living entity.

When viewed from the direction of the street, the facade relief appears as a closed surface that reflects its surroundings like a kaleidoscope. Looking straight ahead, the concrete facade and windows behind it shines through. When you look at the facade while driving or walking by, the reflections that change according to your own movement create a kinetic impression.

Alive and reflecting the environment

The look of the facade relief varies depending on the weather conditions and the time of day and season. In gloomy weather, the surface is revitalized by the movement of reflected clouds. On a cloudy day, it reflects the blue of the sky and in the evening the redness of the setting sun.

In the dark, the vertical appearance of the facade relief is emphasized with narrow-beam LED lights, which are controlled according to the DMX protocol.

In the evenings, the lighting lives subtly and then during the night it becomes dimmer and static.

UGO 1 & UGO 2 – Unidentified Glowing Object, Stefan Lindfors

Stefan Lindfors’ work is located in the lobby of Hotel AX and is an impressive eye-catcher when a guest enters the hotel after the reception. The work emphasizes Hotel AX’s significant room height and gives the glow to the entire space above the Community Table.

What Stefan Lindfors tells about the process of creating the artwork:
For AX’s lobby, I definitely needed a “ceiling lamp” that would create a lounge atmosphere and emphasize the impressive height of the space. I was thinking of a kind of flying plate that would float as a glowing piece to give light to the space. Since our world and the surrounding space are basically organic, I decided to build this “ufo” as a light sculpture, the structure which refers to the texture of insect wings or plant leaves.

Arctic starflower, Hanna Vihriälä

Hanna Vihriälä has two art facade art pieces: Arctic starflower and rose. The artworks consciously play in the middle ground between sculpture and decorations, the subjects being an image from both popular culture and the history of sculpture. With the materials and design language of the reliefs, Vihriälä has sought warmth and recognizable details, as a contrast to the concrete and steel surfaces of the building.

The visual starting points of the works can be found in the plants and illustrations of textbooks, as well as in the decorative sculptures of 19th-century facades.

What Hanna Vihriälä tells about the process of creating the work:

The hotel, Tyynenmerenkatu and the port took my own thoughts strongly to travel, the moods of departure and comeback. A longing for somewhere, somewhere far away and waiting to return home again soon, an approaching sadness.

The harbor rose can be a dream of adventure,

or maybe it’s a souvenir tattooed on the skin?

Arctic starflower, white light in the twilight of the trees.

Finns have several names for this flower: Metsätähti, päivänkämmen, aamutähti, tähtikukka, sammaltähti.

Rose, Hanna Vihriälä

Hanna Vihriälä has two art facade art pieces: Arctic starflower and rose. The artworks consciously play in the middle ground between sculpture and decorations, the subjects being an image from both popular culture and the history of sculpture. With the materials and design language of the reliefs, Vihriälä has sought warmth and recognizable details, as a contrast to the concrete and steel surfaces of the building.

The visual starting points of the works can be found in the plants and illustrations of textbooks, as well as in the decorative sculptures of 19th-century facades.

What Hanna Vihriälä tells about the process of creating the work:

The hotel, Tyynenmerenkatu and the port took my own thoughts strongly to travel, the moods of departure and comeback. A longing for somewhere, somewhere far away and waiting to return home again soon, an approaching sadness.

The harbor rose can be a dream of adventure,

or maybe it’s a souvenir tattooed on the skin?

Arctic starflower, white light in the twilight of the trees.

Finns have several names for this flower: Metsätähti, päivänkämmen, aamutähti, tähtikukka, sammaltähti.

Lost and Found, Stefan Lindfors

Stefan Lindfors’ work Lost and Found connects the lobby floor of Hotel AX with the ground floor in a unique way. The large and iron Spiral Staircase transports its experiencers not only between floors but also into the world of poems, as the railings of the rusty stairs are burning cut with phrases.

What Stefan Lindfors tells about the process of creating the work:
There is water everywhere around Jätkäsaari and many streets are named after different oceans of the world. Stairs have always fascinated me because they tie layers together. I had a vision that a huge rusted piece has been found at the bottom of the sea, which can be used as a passageway when moving between the lobby of AX and the ground floor. The rusted piece fit well with the interior of the building, but it felt a bit solid, and the owner of the hotel and I wanted to lighten it up somehow. I cut holes in rusted steel railings with a fire, which form the Thoughts of three decease Finns who had impressive careers.

Towards the Seven Seas, Pekka Jylhä

A ship that has successfully sailed all seven seas many times.

The history of the saying goes back to Mesopotamia, where seven planets were known. Through this, the number seven became a sacred number, which was then also associated with the known seas. In ancient times, the seas included: the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the China Sea, the West African Sea, the East African Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.

The Sailor’s Grave tattoo, a sinking sailing ship, means to the owner an amulet, which allows them to get home safely. The tattoo was believed to protect against sinking with the ship.

Jätkäsaari was Helsinki’s largest port in terms of traffic since the 1960s, and expansion continued in the 1970s. West Harbou continues shipping in Jätkäsaari even today.

Ship dimensions:
length 6.0 m
height 2.80 m
width 1.40 m

Material of the work:
Stainless steel, light and shade, wire.

Weight of the work:
290 kg.

Guard III, Timo Sarpaneva

Timo Sarpaneva’s work as an industrial designer was based on the possibilities of materials. He looked for implementation methods and researched for example the behavior of glass in different conditions.

Varying mold materials, and above all cooperation with factory professionals, could open up new ways of working and enable a new design language. Sarpaneva had the freedom to try something new. The large-scale casting works were realized by pouring melted glass onto a large graphite platform resting on forklift forks. Sarpaneva directed every casting step.

The glassblowers carried melted glass from the oven with large “batons”, and poured the glowing mass onto the heated graphite at the point indicated by the artist. After two days of cooling, the works were finished with sanding.

Devil’s head, Inka Kivalo

Inka Kivalo’s two-hundred-year-old looms carved from spruce roots are the starting point of her textile art. Kivalo is one of the leading names in Finnish textile art, and gets the inspiration from the tradition of textiles.

She brings the ancient weaving technique to life through play and joy, painting with threads and bringing color to her works. Kivalo also uses the embroidery technique, as in the artwork of hotel AX. When using the embroidery technique, she is free to move and is not tied to one place.

Kivalo’s works are like windows to colorful worlds. The basis of everything is a new yarn, which she creates herself. Kivalo strives to make life more beautiful: she became a textile artist because colors glow more softly in textiles. Her works suggest and bringsout the atmosphere.

Man & Woman, Stefan Bremer

Stefan Bremer’s work Man & Woman is located in the lobby of Hotel AX.

The work is a sensual black-and-white photographic work, which was photographed using the light painting technique, in an almost dark room. In addition to the photographer and models, there have been assistants in the roomto bring the desired light source to the picture. The models in the picture are professional dancers. The picture uses a long exposure time.

Messier 31, Jarmo Mäkilä

A galaxy of the universe where humans are part of the universe. Mythology and stories are part of our history and the universe binds the little things together.