OTHER PROJECTS
Before Äkkigalleria, there was House Games, and before that there was a sheep farm.
In 2003, Anna Ruth took on her first curatorial project in Finland “Lampaan vaatteissa - Sous la peau du loup”, at the Stentorp sheep farm in Parainen. This summer exhibition presented work by a dozen artists from Canada, France, Russia, Sweden and Finland in the scrubbed out sheep barn, while the sheep left for their annual summer vacation on a nearby island.
In 2005, Anna Ruth and Juho Jäppinen opened their home in Jyväskylä for the first House Games Triennial exhibition (and sequentially in 2008, all the way until the pandemic of 2020). This exhibition opened the door to the Äkkigalleria project, Anna’s dream of a permanent, non-permanent art gallery. Together Juho and Anna began to imagine the nomadic gallery, which finally opened in 2009, thanks to a space generously offered by architect Seppo Ollikainen.
Alongside Äkkigalleria’s irregular projects, there have been other projects and farm exhibitions along the way. “Punainen hevonen” 2012 and “Musta hevonen” 2013 took place at Eeva-Liisa Sorainen’s horse farm and harness smith shop in Äänekoski. “Moovit”, (the preceder to “Bring A Chair!”) which was produced as a collective project with Live Herring, KSEK, TAIKE KS, and JYPS.
Äkkigalleria also began to branch out into different projects such as the Street Grant (Katustipendi) which invited a street artist to Jyväskylä, and the Photo Annual project at the Church park. Finally larger independent endeavors began to nestle under its wing, and Äkkigalleria became not just a gallery but a platform for a variety of experimental exhibition projects, such as Laatikkomo a 6-year photography project, Ti-La2016 a year of Finnish art, Tuokaa tuoli! (Bring a Chair!) and Aw/oT (Art without Transportation).
Before Äkkigalleria, there was House Games, and before that there was a sheep farm.
In 2003, Anna Ruth took on her first curatorial project in Finland “Lampaan vaatteissa - Sous la peau du loup”, at the Stentorp sheep farm in Parainen. This summer exhibition presented work by a dozen artists from Canada, France, Russia, Sweden and Finland in the scrubbed out sheep barn, while the sheep left for their annual summer vacation on a nearby island.
In 2005, Anna Ruth and Juho Jäppinen opened their home in Jyväskylä for the first House Games Triennial exhibition (and sequentially in 2008, all the way until the pandemic of 2020). This exhibition opened the door to the Äkkigalleria project, Anna’s dream of a permanent, non-permanent art gallery. Together Juho and Anna began to imagine the nomadic gallery, which finally opened in 2009, thanks to a space generously offered by architect Seppo Ollikainen.
Alongside Äkkigalleria’s irregular projects, there have been other projects and farm exhibitions along the way. “Punainen hevonen” 2012 and “Musta hevonen” 2013 took place at Eeva-Liisa Sorainen’s horse farm and harness smith shop in Äänekoski. “Moovit”, (the preceder to “Bring A Chair!”) which was produced as a collective project with Live Herring, KSEK, TAIKE KS, and JYPS.
Äkkigalleria also began to branch out into different projects such as the Street Grant (Katustipendi) which invited a street artist to Jyväskylä, and the Photo Annual project at the Church park. Finally larger independent endeavors began to nestle under its wing, and Äkkigalleria became not just a gallery but a platform for a variety of experimental exhibition projects, such as Laatikkomo a 6-year photography project, Ti-La2016 a year of Finnish art, Tuokaa tuoli! (Bring a Chair!) and Aw/oT (Art without Transportation).