The Surreal Midsummer pole
The success of the work on the Rastis multi-purpose house in Vuosaari, Helsinki, led to a new commission for the outside of the building. Because of the building’s connection to the Swedish-speaking minority, I wanted to use one of the symbols that is of ten associated with this minority: the midsummer pole. I also have vivid, aesthetic as well as ritualistic memories of the midsummer festivities I experienced as a boy, when I spent summers in the Swedish-speaking archipelago outside Turku.
Instead of the traditional midsummer pole’s rings made of different flowers on several layers around the pole, I designed three metal rings in the primary colours. Silhouettes of cyclists and girls and boys chasing each other were fastened between the rings so that they move around in the direction of the wind. A ballerina is dancing and juggling with stars on top of the pole.
Rastis, Vuosaari/Nordsjö, Helsinki, 1997. In the Helsinki
City Ar t Collection.
