Jonne Väisänen (*1994, Kuopio, Finland) was awarded an MA degree from UMPRUM Prague in 2020, a photography studio led by Aleksandra Vajd. His artistic activity is focused on materialization and visualization of current social themes of connected European spaces. This geopolitically defined space with its diverse combined histories and contemporalities is still undergoing a process of identification within the wider global environment. Real social context is the source of his artistic working material. Our current reality and social debate is happening on different levels that are not always material and permanent, despite the full dynamic of our neoliberal society being present. Jonne Väisänen works with this immaterial material,the character of which is dynamically changing, to achieve processual outcomes. When we look at it from a distance, we can observe some performative or action art aspects in his work that otherwise comprises typical physical/visual artwork. We find ourselves embedded within a process where the immaterial materializes.

The project by the artist for the 35m2 Gallery is also his final project at Prague´s UMPRUM from autumn 2020. We find ourselves somewhere in the middle of a viral pandemic, and while this project was not properly exhibited, it was successfully defended.

The character/name/meme of Jonne was introduced during the 1980s in Finland. With the foundation of the Internet, it became associated with teen culture where acting cool, hanging out, and consuming energy drinks was dominant. This notorious memetic character of the early Finnish Internet has been given a new contemporary test by an author of the same name. Interactive online platform Galleria IRC still exists and is functional, but it is not present in mainstream culture these days. The memetic character of Jonne has been codified — the word has been added to the official Finnish dictionary. The author is exploring this online Galleria IRC platform in its current state. Here, memetic characters are created, defined, given life, and interacted with. For his art project, the author is recycling online resources and images that are associated with the Jonne character, and using them as templates for his own memetic action (also replicated) that finally circulates the internet together with the original images from various authors. His attempt to create circulating memes almost failed, as they generated only a few likes and comments.  Through engagement with this platform, he is analyzing personal identity, the creation of common interest groups, and also analyzing the function of our society as a whole. The more progressive/dynamic elements of our society are shifting towards the internet. How can virtual spaces effect the material foundation and organization of our world and lives?

The author´s exhibition is a physical framework where this full cycle (loop) of metamorphoses of the material and virtual qualities is resolved with retroactive but changed materialization. It is an attempt to catch and freeze the social phenomenon and transmit it into the gallery space where its performative/acting quality can elicit new reactions.