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Clip from the video work Recess
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![Recess]( "Recess")
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![Recess]( "Recess")
infoInstallation view
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![Recess]( "Recess")
infoStill from the video work
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![Recess]( "Recess")
infoStill from the video work
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Clip from the video work Counting stars, shooting sheep
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![Garden at the end of the tunnel]( "Garden at the end of the tunnel")
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![Counting stars, shooting sheep]( "Counting stars, shooting sheep")
infoStill from the video work
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![Dancing]( "Dancing")
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![Biomechanist]( "Biomechanist")
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![Biomechanist]( "Biomechanist")
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Lyy Raitala (1999) is a Finnish lens-based artist living in the Netherlands. She stages reality by composing images and video scenes and by creating interventions in space. In her work, she plays with familiar elements unexpectedly and uses everyday absurdity as a tool to suggest narratives that combine fiction with the autobiographical and documentary approach. Her work tackles different topics, such as various forms of femininity, the compulsion for productivity, and the artificiality of surroundings. She is interested in how the staging of reality has both humoristic and eerie qualities. Her inspiration comes from the daily choreographies and moments that break the normality and mundane.
Websites
Social media
Curriculum vitae
Education
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2020 - 2024The Bachelor of Photography Den Haag, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten diploma
exhibitions
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2024No strings attached Anafi Film Festival Anafi, Greece Screening of my video work "Recess" as a part of the Anafi Film festival program "No strings attached." www.anafifilmfestival.com Group
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2024Graduation show The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague The Hague, Netherlands Showing video work "Recess" in the Royal Academy of Art graduation show as a part of my Bachelor degree. www.kabk.nl/en/graduation-show Group
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2024Lucky potato under the bed Asbestos Art Space Helsinki, Finland Duo show with artist Sanna Nykänen in the Asbestos Art Space in Helsinki. The work looks at the potato as a symbol of luxury, rest, and ease. The exhibition considers how the potato-driven life of previous generations was run on intensive physical labor, and how automation introduced leisure and luxury to that life. www.instagram.com/asbestos_art_space/p/C4N6Y3JNoCi/?__d=11 Duo
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2023ARTSEMESTR léto 2023 Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design of Prague Prague, Czech Republic Showing my work "The garden at the end of the tunnel" as a part of the art semester 2023 group exhibition as a part of my exchange semester. www.umprum.cz/cs/web/katedry/artsemestr-leto-2023 Group
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2023, the pigeons took the house Brouwersgracht 25 The Hague, Netherlands Self-organized group exhibition at our artist-run space Brouwersgracht 25 together with the collective of The Hague-based artists. Group
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2023As above, so below The Grey Space in The Middle The Hague, Netherlands Group exhibition by the Fool Collective. thegreyspace.net/program/as-below-so-above-19-22-01-2023/ Group
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2022A mouse took my homework, I took the mouse, the pigeons took the house Brouwersgracht 25 The Hague, Netherlands Fist edition of a self-organized group exhibition at our artist-run space Brouwersgracht 25 together with the collective of The Hague-based artists. Group
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2022Concrete Affection Off-site Nikosia, Cyprus Concrete Affection is an offsite art exhibition that comes from a force to emphasize and frame an unexpected abandoned public space. The works presented in this exhibition have a symbiotic relationship with one another; together they respond to the space, creating an experience of order and delicacy existing in chaos and accidents. This show aims to question the inside by going outside, challenging the dynamics of authority and the value of traditional exhibiting locations. The artists involved are sparked from industrial and performative matters. soloshow.online/concreteaffection.html Group
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2022We do/are photography International Photoszene Cologne Cologne, Germany www.photoszene.de/en/discourse/we-do-are-photography/ Group
Projects
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2024
Recess The Hague, Netherlands lyyraitala.com/recess-1 The video work delves into the dynamics between leisure and labor portraying a fictional corporate space as a stage where both performers and automated machines partake in a synchronized performance. The workers are entering a trance-like state, aking to hibernation, while the tireless machines continue their tasks. The work ‘Recess’ explores the notion of invisible labor and the way we are being seen and observed in the everyday environment where the work takes place. The video presents a clinical, neutral, and recognizable setting where resting workers break the usual behavioral codes of the workplace. By showcasing the space through the perspective of a robot vacuum, the installation makes public the ways labor occupies both our mental and physical spaces, highlighting the automated routines that define how we humans function. The work is embracing boredom and rest while questioning our compulsion to define ourselves through productivity and action.
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2024
Lucky potato under the bed Helsinki, Finland //lyyraitala.com/lucky-potato-under-the-bed I woke up and picked up a potato from under the bed. I looked at it and it was unpeeled; the new year started with good financial luck. Days filled with crossword puzzles and the luxury of garden-variety that emerged from aimlessness, uselessness, and a generous amount of time. Straight lines after each other, disappearing behind the horizon. I still measure distance with potato fields. The new terrace is ⅙ . It was finally time to start sunbathing by the infinity pools filled with soil and dream of the productivity that only happens under the ground. In the project ‘Lucky potato under the bed’ Sanna Nykänen and Lyy Raitala look at the potato as a symbol for luxury, rest, and ease. The work considers how the potato-driven life of previous generations was run on intensive physical labor, and how automation introduced leisure and luxury to that life. The simplicity of the potato remains.
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2023
Counting stars, shooting sheep The Hague, Netherlands //lyyraitala.com/counting-stars,-shooting-sheep ’Counting stars shooting sheep’ is a video work which consist of five different parallel stories and fantasies that are taking place in sleepovers and parties where the innocence and power are shifting back and forth. The work is exploring the dynamics of girlhood and conventions of femininity by creating scenes where things can spark and playing take over. The work is mixing personal experiences with the observations making the reality and fantasy getting blurred in the created stage for the characters where room is left for improvisation. The video is a tool to follow the stories that are happening in which the viewer is visually guided to observe the roles and the playing while the emphasis is in the absurdity of domesticity. The childlike imagination and created worlds around are morphing with the unconscious mind and desires. In the end of the day the power dynamics are clear in this story just like when playing house as a child: everyone wants to be the big sister and you have to fight who becomes the dad.
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2021
Dancing The Hague, Netherlands //lyyraitala.com/dancing I met Carla when she was dancing in the square in my neighborhood. We talked and she invited me to her house. She was 67 but she told me she felt 25, and that her legs were broken but she still danced. The weekly meetings continued into an exploration of aging and what it means when you’re house becomes the universe.
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2021
Biomechanist The Hague, Netherlands //lyyraitala.com/biomechanist Mariam showing her poses for the upcoming bodybuilding competition, bringing the glamour of the stage to her private home and the surrounding fields.
International exchanges/Residencies
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2023Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design of Prague Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design of Prague, Czech Republic Exchange semester in the Studio of Fine Art Photography. www.umprum.cz/en/
Publications
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2024Catalog of Domestic Daydreams Book self-published Lyy Raitala The Hague, Netherlands Self-published
Awards and grants
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2023Grant for artistic work Oulu Educational Foundation Oulu, Finland Grant for artistic work