DEFENDING THE SECRET—Contemporary Art from Finland
Exhibition
In a world of constant visibility, this exhibition defends the secret. Ten artistic practices from Finland navigate the realms of dream, memory and imagination, opening up spaces of the hidden – places where not everything has to be visible or explained. They invite us to experience the ambiguous and the inaccessible as a reservoir of inner freedom.
Featuring works by Edwina Goldstone, Johannes Kangas, Satu Kiuru, Salla Laurinolli, Samuli Laurinolli, Pilvi Ojala, Kukka Pitkänen, Minttu Saarinen, Katri Stenberg and Anssi Taulu.
Curated by Olivia Franke in collaboration with Ars-Häme ry, Hämeenlinna.
Opening on Saturday, 5 September 2026, 5 pm
Speakers at the opening will include Olivia Franke – Artistic Director, Mikko Fritze – Director of the Finland Institute, and Satu Kiuru – Chair of Ars-Häme ry. Many of the participating artists from Finland will be in attendance.
The exhibition is the result of a long-standing collaboration between Künstlerhaus Lukas and its Finnish partner. It brings together ten contemporary artists from Finland – many of whom are former artists-in-residence at Künstlerhaus Lukas – and highlights the network of artistic exchange in the Baltic Sea region that has developed over the years.
The exhibition title is taken from the eponymous text by the French philosopher and psychoanalyst Anne Dufourmantelle. She describes the secret as a place of inner freedom – as a sanctuary that eludes the compulsion of complete visibility. At a time when transparency and constant self-revelation are increasingly becoming the norm, the exhibition explores the value of the hidden, the inexplicable and the inaccessible.
The works navigate the realms of nature and myth, memory and dream, ritual, the body and the imagination. They preserve secrets just as they give rise to new ones. Sometimes this is achieved through materials, gestures or symbolic forms; at other times through voids, allusions and atmospheric spaces. Together, the ten works open up a polyphonic dialogue about the invisible – and about the power of art to elude a world that can be fully explained.
Acknowledgements
Our special thanks go to our Finnish partner Ars-Häme ry in Hämeenlinna, the Municipality of Ahrenshoop, the Finnish Institute in Germany for Culture, Science and Business GmbH, Lammin Säästöpankki, Dr Ursula Schäfer-Preuss and Dr Wolf Preuss, and the NEUE KUNST HAT FREUNDE Support Group for their generous support.
Programme
STORM TALK on election night
Sunday, 20 September, 5.30 pm
When the fishermen couldn’t go out to sea because of the storm, they would meet in the pub and talk about the weather, the village and the world.
The STURMGESPRÄCHE at the Neues Kunsthaus Ahrenshoop build on this tradition: on the evening of the state election, we invite you to an open discussion. Together, we’ll follow the first exit poll projections and discuss what the election means for our society, our region and our community. No panel and no ready-made answers – open to different perspectives, questions and dissent. Because democracy needs places where we can engage in conversation with one another. Bread and lard and a glass of schnapps will be on hand – if that helps.
Wiebke Elzel Sabina. Reconstruction of an Investigation
Friday, 2 October, 3 pm
The artist and author Wiebke Elzel, a fellow at the Künstlerhaus Lukas, will be in conversation with Olivia Franke to present her book Sabina. Reconstruction of a Research Project (Textem Verlag, 2023), which was honoured by the Stiftung Buchkunst as “One of the Most Beautiful German Books of 2024”. Taking the enigmatic figure of Sabina von Steinbach as its starting point, the book unfolds a multi-layered exploration spanning archives, images and the imagination – resulting in an unusual work that bridges art, literature and history. Event as part of the Ahrenshoop Literature Days.
A mysterious guided reading
Saturday, 3 October, 5 pm
With an evening reading tour, curator Olivia Franke creates a space between the exhibition and the voice. In the exhibition she has curated, In Defence of the Secret, featuring contemporary art from Finland, she reads selected passages from Anne Dufourmantelle’s In Defence of the Secret (Diaphanes, 2021). In it, the French philosopher and psychoanalyst defends the secret, the hidden and the unconscious – not as a lack of knowledge, but as a prerequisite for freedom. Event as part of the Ahrenshoop Literature Days.
The Gate Between – Artist talk with Minttu Saarinen
Saturday, 24 October, 7.00 pm
In conversation with curator Olivia Franke, the Finnish artist Minttu Saarinendiscusses her large-scale installation The Gate Between, which serves as a portal marking the entrance to the exhibition In Defence of the Secret. The focus is on tradition and transformation, female knowledge and the body, as well as Saarinen’s exploration of Finnish folklore and history.
Closing event for Defending the Secret – Contemporary Art from Finland
Sunday, 1 November, 6 pm
To mark the end of the exhibition, curator Olivia Franke invites visitors to a special guided tour featuring selected works, short literary texts and a brief ritual.
