Persons Projects (DE)

Persons Projects was founded in 1995 in Helsinki, Finland and relocated to Berlin in 2005. Its primary focus has been the artists of the Helsinki School and the Nordic region. In 2019 Persons Projects expanded its activities to include artists from Eastern Europe. The gallery represents a selected group of established and emerging artists who work both conceptually and with the photographic process as a tool for thinking.

Lindenstrasse 34-35
10969 Berlin, DE
(+49) 30 2888 3370

berlin@personsprojects.com
personsprojects.com

Contact gallery

Curated for
CHART

For CHART 2025, Persons Projects will present eight different artistic positions, highlighting the dialogue between the conceptual approach of the Helsinki School and the original Icelandic tradition of conceptual art. The selection brings together a diverse range of practices, juxtaposing foundational figures like Kristján Gudmundsson and Ragna Róbertsdóttir—who embody the origins of Icelandic conceptualism—with a younger generation of Finnish artists, including Mikko Rikala, Santeri Tuori, and Nanna Hänninen, whose works reinterpret nature through a conceptual and abstract lens.

Mikko Rikala, The Joy Prevails, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Nanna Hänninen, Super Bloom in Sunrise, archival pigment print, paint ; 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Jyrki Parantainen, The Magic Circle, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Kristjan Gudmundsson, Helvetica Bold, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Santeri Tuori, Water Lilies #2, archival pigment print, 2018. Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Ragna Róbertsdóttir, Saltscape 9th March 2020, black lava salt, 2020. Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Nanna Hänninen (FI)

Nanna Hänninen focuses on environmental issues affecting global communities, warning of a rapidly approaching future. Her photo-based work challenges our views on climate change by exploring its gradual effects on our lives. By altering her initial subject matter, she creates a personal response to shared realities, blurring the lines between the figurative and the abstract and compelling viewers to choose between the object and its symbolic reference. The fragile yet poetic dimension of her work emerges from this interplay between reality and fiction—a space where the imagery can feel like a dream or, at times, a nightmare.

Nanna Hänninen (b. 1973, Rovaniemi; FI) graduated from Aalto University in 2002. In 2023, she received her second 5-year grant from Finland’s National Council for Photographic Art. Her work has been shown internationally and extensively in the Nordic region, including Serlachius Museum, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, and Nordic Biennial for Contemporary Art (Gothenburg).

Moody Morning Sun in JTNP

Archival pigment print, acrylic paint
2024-2025

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Sacred Mesa in Warm Yellow Color (Monument Valley)

Archival pigment print, paint
2024

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Super Bloom in Sunrise (Joshua Tree National Park)

Archival pigment print, paint
2024

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Portrait of Nanna Hänninen

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Jyrki Parantainen (FI)

His artistic practice combines the photographic medium with other genres of art. Parantainen uses anonymous lithographs from the past, adding words and concepts from art history, music titles, and other cultural references. Connecting these words to various parts of the image through the use of pins and brass wires, he creates visual tension between the image and the text.

Jyrki Parantainen (b. 1962, FI) lives and works in Helsinki. He graduated from the University of Art and Design, Helsinki in 1992, where he was a Professor of Photographic Art. Among numerous exhibitions are notable solo shows at Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, The Finnish National Gallery Ateneum, Helsinki, as well as a group show at The New Art Gallery, Walsall.

57 Optional Spots to Crack the Bone (from the series Dreams and Disappointments)

C-print mounted on aluminum,
2004

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects / The Helsinki School

Jyrki Parantainen, Alphabet of Possibilities (from the series Dreams and Disappointments)

Archival pigment print
2004

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects / The Helsinki School

Poetry of Circulation

Installation view
2025

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects / The Helsinki School

The Magic Circle

Insect pins, brass wire
2025

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects / The Helsinki School

Valse Triste

Insect pins, brass wire, courtesy of Persons Projects / The Helsinki School
2025

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects / The Helsinki School

Portrait of Jyrki Parantainen

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Mikko Rikala (FI)

Mikko Rikala’s works represent research into spatiality and temporality, emerging from both philosophical as well as scientific, nature-related thoughts. In the series 'The Joy Prevails,' morning and evening skies are placed side by side in the images. A polished brass strip running vertically through the image surface reflects fleeting glimpses of the constantly changing present moment between morning and evening.

Mikko Rikala (b. 1977 Tampere, Finland) graduated from Aalto University School of Arts, Design & Architecture in 2015. His works have been shown internationally in solo and group exhibitions, including Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin), EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art (FI), Finnish Museum of Photography (Helsinki), Innsbruck International Biennial (AT), Kunstverein Ludwigshafen am Rein (DE), Photoforum Pasquart (Biel/Bienne, CH), and Kunsthalle St. Annen (Lübeck, DE).

Cresent Moon (from the series Echoes)

Pigment print
2023

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects / The Helsinki School

The Joy Prevails (5)

Pigment print, brass
2025

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects / The Helsinki School

Watching all night to the full moon (over Lake Päijänne)

Pigment print
2024

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects / The Helsinki School

Portrait of Mikko Rikala

Courtesy of the artist and Persons Projects

Kristján Guðmundsson (IS)

Kristján Gudmundsson is one of the most important conceptual artists to emerge from Iceland in the mid-1960s. Gudmundsson’s work reflects a personal minimal aesthetic philosophy, resonating with an understated sense of poetry, humor, and pragmatism. This is most evident in his 'potential drawings,' which combine graphite rods with paper rolls, reducing the concept of the drawing to its essential components.

Kristján Gudmundsson (b. 1941, Snæfellsnes Peninsula) lives and works in Reykjavik. Throughout his career, he exhibited in numerous institutions, including the Centre Pompidou (Paris), MOCA (L.A.), Haus der Kunst (Munich), Belevedere (Vienna), EMMA (Espoo, FI), National Gallery of Iceland (Reykjavík), and Reykjavík Art Museum. His works are also included in various collections, including the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Kiasma Museum (Helsinki), and Museum of Contemporary Art (Oslo).