Empty billboard
London, May 2024
Spring updates, London calling
Winter flew by being busy. My book Notes for Our Legacy was one of the five finalists for the Finnish Photobook Award. I didn’t win, but a book I published did: Maija Tammi’s book Hulda / Lilli. I’ve also started to prepare the exhibition of my project, for which I screen print the works on paper I make by myself. The process is laborious, and I’m just getting started, but enjoying it very much thus far.
Tomorrow I’m heading to London, will be participating at the book fair at Peckham24. We’'ll launch Michael Swann’s book Noema on Friday at 7pm onwards. Really excited about the trip to London, the fair, the launch, meeting many of you. See ya!
Notes for Our Legacy - The book
My second monograph, Notes for Our Legacy, is finally here. I’m very happy with the result and would like to welcome you all to the book release at Konstig Bookshop in Stockholm on the 25th of October, 17:30-19.
It feels wonderful to finally release the book. It’s been particularly demanding process to make this book. Running Kult Books takes most of my time nowadays, and I enjoy my role as a publisher thoroughly. I always prioritise other books that I’ve committed to over my own artistic work, which is why this book also took longer than planned. But as the production was pushed further, my ideas regarding the book matured tremendously. And now seeing the book as it is, I’m very happy that it took the time it did.
You can take a peak and read the full statement on the book page on the left bar.
Thread bound book with no covers
96 pages
46 black and white photographs
Risograph printing
20 x 28,5 cm
First edition of 300 copies
ISBN 978-91-987606-9-9
Designed by yours truly and (self)published by Kult Books.
Story on me / Kult Books in VERK
Linda Bergman wrote a profile on me and my work with Kult Books on VERK, Swedish journal of Nordic photography. We discussed everything regarding book making, from finding the works, to design, printing and distribution. The story is in Swedish, for non-Swedish speaking audience, use Google translate.
“Om jag försöker bena ut varför jag blir nyfiken på hur Riikonen arbetar handlar det om att det finns något otyglat i produktionen. Det är produktivt, titlarna är många men trots det har de kvalité och han har en egen stil – oavsett variationen i utgivningen.”
Find the article here. Thank you Linda!
Athens update
A few days ago I came back home from Athens where I spent one month making my own photography, mainly focusing on the long term project of empty billboards. Empty (working title) is a project with which I criticise consumerism as a cultural ideology by depicting empty billboards. I had a plan to attend a residency at Siilk Gallery but at the last minute it turned out to be a scam, don’t trust a the “gallerist and curator” Daniel Peace, he’s a fraud. Having planned the trip to Athens for months, I went anyways and my time there turned out to be really productive and inspiring. I made a lot of new works for the Empty-series and created contacts for possible exhibitions and release events.
Athens is a city with a great pulse and a lot of active young artists. In meeting with and Zoetrope, artist run space for photobook related events (with a great library of small-run Greek photobooks!) I learned that in Athens alone there are over 300 artist run spaces. Also bookshops and galleries are popping up constantly. It was lovely to see as oppose to the situation in Stockholm where there are not even affordable studios for artists.
I have been working on the project loosely from 2016. Now after the month in Athens, I feel like the work is finally ready to be showed to the world. The next step is to start the editing and design process for the book, which I hope to publish in spring 2023 with my publishing project Kult Books. I would like to thank Konstnärsnämnden for supporting the trip to Athens as well as their understanding for me having to postpone the use of the grant several times due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Stay tuned for the book, more news to come soon!
KULT NEWS: Il Malocchio by Andrea Simonato
Sorry for not keeping the news section here up to date. I’ve been very busy mainly working on my publishing project Kult Books. But the silence is over now, and I’m thrilled to announce the next book by Kult Books, Il Malocchio by Italian photographer Andrea Simonato. In his debut book Simonato depicts the quiet villages of his home region of Vicenza in the Northern Italy as upon a curse of unluckiness called ‘il malocchio’ or ‘the evil eye’ . On his walks through sleeping villages and their empty buildings, dark woods and resting groves Simonato makes extraordinary findings in the seemingly common surroundings. The work echoes both longing and hope, creating a beautiful and poetic, yet mysterious ode to a place called home.
Il Malocchio by Andrea Simonato
Perfect bound hot foiled hard cover with a patterned translucent dust jacket
80 pages
49 black and white photographs
Duotone offset printing
16 x 23 cm
First edition, 250 copies
ISBN 978-91-987606-0-6
Estimated time of release: 4th of April 2022
Blueprint 2017–20 reviewed in British Journal of Photography
The shots Behrendt has selected are interesting, and include scenes that might otherwise fly by unnoticed. There are instantly recognisable politicians and emotive shots of flags and beaches, but there are also more oblique views of lecterns, or shadowy figures, or pointing fingers. “The images that I selected persuade, lie, convince, scare and seduce us,” he explains. “They are visual metaphors.”
Review of the newly published Blueprint 2017-20 by Norman Behrent out now in British Journal of Photography. Read the whole article here.
Face 16, (crying, MEPs sing “Auld Lang Syne”, as Brexit deal approved by the EU Parliament, 29 January 2020)
From book Blueprint 2017-20 by Norman Behrendt
Published by Kult Books
Blueprint 2017–20 out now!
The blue book, Blueprint 2017–20 by German photographer Norman Behrendt is out now!
Receiving the books was so exciting, but we’re very pleased with the printing and other production details. Also now due to Covid, we could not visit the printing house to observe the printing. But now holding the book in my hands I feel relieved, content and proud. This truly feel like a milestone in my young publishing career. The book has slowly started to spread to the world, which always is an exciting period in bookmaking. Blueprint 2017-20 has already been acquired to the collections of Martin Parr Foundation and the Musée de l’Elysée, as well as into Swedish libraries.
Blueprint 2017–20 by Norman Behrendt
"Blueprint 2017–20 is partially about Brexit: about nationalism and xenophobia and how they play out visually on a local and global stage. It is also about contemporary image culture, the TV and internet, and the way media images are used—both consciously and unconsciously—to persuade, provoke and influence us."
-Lucy Soutter
OTA bound paperback with coloured edges
304 pages
Duotone offset printing
17 x 25,5 cm
212 photographs
Essay by London-based artist, critic and art historian Lucy Soutter
Appendix featuring crucial texts and speeches about Brexit and EU-UK relations
First edition of 800 copies, published by Kult Books
ISBN 978-91-984059-4-1
39 €
NEW WORK: Impossible Situations: Concerts in the Making
I recently designed a book for a duo of musicians, Karin Hellqvist and Heloisa Amaral. Impossible Situations: Concerts in the Making recounts the journey of a group of artists including performers, composers, an architect, a photographer and a sound engineer, as they explore different ways of making music together. It is an experiment in creating new compositions, investigating alternative concert formats and testing new positions for sound, visuals, performers and audiences within the concert space. While the lens of photographer Ellen Inga gives a rare glimpse from behind the scenes of contemporary music production, including the more social aspects of travelling and working as a group over long periods of time, the voices of performers Karin Hellqvist and Heloisa Amaral narrate the transformation of the artists as their roles, practices and media intertwine, and as they strive to balance equality, plurality and personal autonomy in a common space of experimentation. Now, seeing the book in my hands, I’m very pleased how it turned out.
Impossible Situations: Concerts in the Making
Hard cover
160 pages
Offset printing
24 x 27 cm
Photography by Ellen Inga Hannesdóttir, texts by Karin Hellqvist and Heloisa Amaral with a contibution by Tim Rutherford-Johnson.
First edition of 150 copies
ISBN 978-91-984059-5-8
For orders and further information, see the website of duo Hellqvist/Amaral.
KULT NEWS: Blueprint 2017–20 by Norman Behrendt
Exciting news: Pre oreders are now open for the fifth book of my publishing project Kult Books, Blueprint 2017–20 by German photographer Norman Behrendt. Blueprint 2017–20 explores how the mass media has influenced political debates and democratic processes during the process of Brexit. Norman Behrendt's photographs of Brexit-related video material examine what sort of imagery is used to influence people by stirring up deep-seated attitudes around national pride, immigration and lack of control. The blue colour of the cyanotypes reflects the invisible influence of the European Union on the United Kingdom.
Blueprint 2017–20 by Norman Behrendt
OTA bound paperback with coloured edges
304 pages
Duotone offset printing
17 x 25,5 cm
212 photographs and a text by London-based artist, critic and art historian Lucy Soutter.
First edition of 800 copies
ISBN 978-91-984059-4-1
Estimated date of release: 15th of April 2021.
Pre-order discount: 35 €
Empty // Stockholm, Sweden
KULT NEWS: Orange Street by Johannes Frandsen
Happy news to start the new year with: The fourth book of my publishing project Kult Books, Orange Street by Johannes Frandsen is out! Orange Street is a portrait book of the thousands of street cleaning workers in Beijing.
I first met Johannes and saw the work about a year ago in a pop-up group exhibition in Stockholm. From the first moment I simply loved the project–the concept is fantastic and the humane way of portraying the workers is captivating and touching. Right there and then I thought the project would make a fantastic photo book.
Holding the book now in my hands makes me very happy and proud. It feels like I personally know some of these hard working street cleaners, so well has Johannes portrayed them. And the text by a Beijing-based editor Chilly Chin puts the work into larger context by explaining the meaningfulness of the work from a local’s perspective. I hope many of you get to see Orange Street in real life!
Orange Street by Johannes Frandsen
Hard cover with a tipped in photograph
Perfect bound
80 pages
Offset printing
22,5 x 26 cm
First edition of 500 copies
ISBN 978-91-984059-3-4
A special edition of 25 copies is also produced, that include an original print which is made, signed and numbered by Johannes Frandsen.
Empty feature and interview online at ACAB
My project Empty and an interview regarding my practice is now online at brilliant platform of allcitiesarebeautiful.com.
“I made the first photographs for my project in Kenya in 2016. I noticed these gigantic empty billboards everywhere and made photos of them without thinking much further. But it was in New York later in 2016 when I understood this could be turned into a larger project about a theme that's very important to me. So I turned the empty billboards into a «visual statement against the unsustainable culture of consumption» that's so prevalent in all societies today.”
Have a look and read the full interview here. Thank you to the curator Alexandre Kurek for adding me into the list with so many fantastic photographers!
New work online: The Passage
Early this year I started to document a piece of fence that blocks a shortcut between the industrial area in Västberga and the Årstaberg commuter station in Stockholm. Since the fence was put up in 2019, it has been cut open and fixed again numerous times.
“The work is not only a visual examination of social disobedience, but also much of a habit–walking the paved walkway around the tracks to the station takes a minute longer, yet many people prefer this unofficial route.”
Now the first selection is up on my website, check it out here.
The Photographic Evidence installation // 4608
This past weekend I presented three installations from an ongoing project The Photographic Evidence at a 4608 pop-up store in Stockholm. 4608 is a clothing brand based in Stockholm, and the event was a release of their new collection inspired by George Orwell. I also made the photos for the collection look book, see here.
The Photographic Evidence is continuation for my graffiti related studies When Everything Comes Together but Nothing Makes Sense. The work is a collection of authentic visual evidence gathered form Swedish graffiti writers from their court cases. In the work I analyse the evidence, its visual language, relevance and objectivity, and present it along conversations or descriptions of the evidence. For the three installations that I presented this weekend I selected only evidence from CCTV footage, relating to Orwellian and dystopian society of constant surveillance and facial recognition we are heading to.
KULT NEWS: Golden Days by Max Sjödin
Big news: The third book under my publishing project Kult Books, Golden Days by the talented Max Sjödin, is out now! Golden Days is a calm portrayal of the life in the cruise ships that travel between Sweden and Finland.
I met Max about six months ago at the release event of Golden Days’ first edition. At the time Max had produced an artist book in edition of 12 copies. What stroke me the most in his photography was the focused and tranquil way he had documented the often chaotic cruise ships so familiar to me.
Shortly after we started to work together on the second edition. The idea was to bring the project slightly further with presentation and editing, yet to preserve the hand-made artist book feeling the fist book had. As the book now is out, I’m very proud of how it became, to the finest detail. So here you go world:
Golden Days by Max Sjödin
Hand bound artist book, edition of 50 copies
Screen printed board covers, printed by Laurens Rohlfs
48 pages
21 x 24 cm
All books are signed and numbered by Max Sjödin and come with a fine art print placed inside the front cover flap.
Empty update
Empty, video 01
Dhulabari, Nepal, 2020.
In these quiet days of COVID19, I’ve found some time to work on the apocalyptic project of mine, Empty. I updated the gallery and added the first video of the Empty-series to the site.
I wish to show the work one day in an installation that combines the still photographs and videos.
Resetting the system
A few days ago I came back home from Nepal, where I was on assignment for an NGO Operation a Days Work Finland. It’s such an honour to work for them, they do very important work to empower youth in many corners of earth. After completing the work, doing video interviews in the eastern parts of Nepal, I had some days to enjoy Kathmandu and work on my project Empty.
Empty (working title) is a project with which I criticise consumerism as a cultural ideology by depicting empty billboards. As climate change is the biggest threat to the mankind, the project challenges the current reality of economic growth being the leading value of this global zero-sum game.
I have been working on the project loosely from 2016, yet it’s now more timely than ever. As Covid-19 is taking over the world it also forces us to reset. Huge efforts and investments are made to save the market and companies from bankruptcy, yet this is predicted to be just the beginning. Is our system bases on economic growth, yet is so fragile that can be subverted and shaken so greatly in such a short time worth to be revived?
Stay safe out there!
Personalia interview
An interview about working on Personalia was published in the renowned FotoRoom photography platform. Read the whole interview here.
“Graffiti photography tends to be quite homogenous. Usually, the focus is on the action of painting and the adrenaline-filled missions, and the writers are often portrayed posing besides trains, full of boasting macho attitude. I wanted to make very calm and still portraits in locations away from the obvious graffiti spots, yet somehow related to the mysterious aura that surrounds the culture. I wanted to show who these people really are—a huge challenge when not everyone was willing to reveal, or fully reveal, their faces. Then again, there are other factors like body language, clothing or just the gaze in their eyes which are very important. I tried to form a connection with my subjects, so that viewers could sort of have a private moment with these people they have never had a chance to meet before. In fewer words, I wanted to do something new. This is also why I did not make any photographs of graffiti. Everybody knows what graffiti look like, and there are millions of photographs of graffiti online. To be honest, I find the paintings themselves rather uninteresting, but everything that goes beyond the paintings, such as the writers’ ambition, their skills planning the missions, and their dedication to their art, is very fascinating and inspiring.”
Greetings from Helsinki
Last week I presented my book Personalia in Helsinki at a photobook meeting at cozy Lavaklubi venue. It was particularly nice to meet likeminded young professionals who care about book as a presentation form and bookmaking an art in itself. So I'd like to send my thank-yous to the fellow participants for the wonderful discussions!
I'd like to highlight a book that to me stood out from the rest. Aapo Huhta's new book Omatandangole (Kehrer Verlag) is a selection of mirage-like photographs shot at a Namibian desert. Moving from a photograph to another, a scene to another, the sequence of the photos remind me of a narrative of a dream: You are unaware of where you are, what is going on and if everything is under control or not, yet somehow once in the moment so real and lifelike in the subconscious, all feels apprehensible. Huhta together with Heikki Kaski has made wonderful work designing the book and the screen-printed cover art is a cherry on top. Omatandangole is solid continuation to Huhta's debut book Block, taking another step towards the art photography world from his documentary background. Very intriguing to see where Huhta's career will lead him!
The coming Thursday I'll be signing books at Galleri Kontrast as part of the annual photobook gathering with Swedish masters such as Jens Olof Lasthein and Anders Petersen. Come by for a warm cup of glögg and some fine books!
Photographs by my man Mikko Kerttula.