ART CRITIC TIMO VALJAKKA
Timo Valjakka Photographer
Jouko Vatanen
Timo Valjakka has been an art critic since the 1980s.
His writings have been published in both Finnish and international newspapers
and magazines. Valjakka served as the editor for the Nordic art magazine BECAUSE
in 1990-94. He has written and edited numerous books as well as exhibition catalogs
for several artists including Kari Huhtamo, Reijo Hukkanen, Marika Makela, Paul
Osipow and Rafael Wardi.
Timo Valjakka is also a respected curator. He
has carried out many Finnish and international modern and contemporary art exhibitions
including Christian Boltanski and Anish Kapoor exhibitions at Kunsthalle Helsinki
(1999 and 2001), Art & Language and Tor Arne exhibitions at EMMA Espoo (2009
and 2011), Juhana Blomstedt's retrospective exhibition at the Tennispalatsi
Art Museum (2007) and The Two Faces of Modernism at the Amos Anderson Art Museum,
(2009). Valjakka was the curator for the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
in 1995.
Timo Valjakka directed the Kunsthalle Helsinki, 1994-2001 and
the Finnish Institute in London, 2001-2005.
Day in, Day out - Perspectives on the Critic’s Work.
Relatio artis -seminar 26.5.2011
Art critic Timo Valjakka’s speech Day
in, Day out - Perspectives on the Critic’s Work focused on the crisis situation
in the field of art criticism. What is the raison-d’être of critics and criticism
and are they really needed in a world where the art market largely determines
the value of art and social media gives everyone the opportunity to participate
in debate? Valjakka also explored the meaning of newspaper criticism outside
the world of art as a form of journalism and literary genre.
The key
question is simple: Why, to whom and how to write art criticism? Before art
critic was the gatekeeper and specifier of quality and meaning. The emergence
of commercial art market in the 1980s was followed by not only changes but outright
crisis in the field of art criticism. As the galleries and private collectors
began to compete for the artists and their works, the art market began to define
the artistic value and importance. When the journey from artist’s studio to
collections was sped up, critics fell by the wayside and the quality of the
work was no longer put to the test by the contemporaries. A work could literally
end up in museum collections when the paint was still wet! However according
to Timo Valjakka work of art needs to be seen and interpreted in order to exist.
It is as if it will be complete only when spoken about and compared to other
works.
Modernin kahdet kasvot (The Two Faces of Modernism) -
Paul
Osipow -
Heavy
Light
According to Timo Valjakka the critic does not define
art, artists do. He also does not define what art is right and wrong. Furthermore
“the critic should serve its readers and not try to acquire positions in the
art world. He should only be interested in writing, not in power or authority.
He should strive to translate his personal experience of a work of art in words
so well and honestly as he can. Every idea of power and authority includes pre-determined
ideas about what art must be and what it should not be. The sole power of an
art critic should be writing, how well he does it daily, how well he transmits
his ideas in an understandable form.”
Katariina Lipsanen
Relatio Artis page
Kalevi Aho
Reija Hirvikoski
Juhani Pallasmaa
Catarina Ryöppy
Jussi Tiainen
Timo Valjakka