Mikko Rikala’s works represent research into spatiality and temporality, emerging from both philosophical as well as scientific, nature-related thoughts. If one is to condense the themes that the artist is submerged in, it would come down to something as complex as the cyclical and interstitial passage of time and the traces it leaves on our surroundings. Many times we will find works where Rikala observes a certain temporal phenomena, taking it as a starting point for his further research. He reflects on and compares philosophical thoughts of the East and concepts related to minimal art, to the experiences of the relativity of time, speed, distance, presence, and absence. Repetition as a working method, with its voiding effect, challenges the fundamental notion of time and space. It offers new perspectives on how to perceive the nature of distance. What we see, in the end, are not only the traces that time leaves behind but – with an equal importance – the voids, the unsaid, the silence in-between.
Mikko Rikala (*1977 in Tampere, Finland) graduated from Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 2015. His recent solo exhibitions include Overlapping Instants with Juuso Noronkoski, Gallery Alarcon Criado (Sevilla, 2018), Emptiness Ceases to Be Blue, Rotwand Gallery (Zurich, 2016/17), and 10 Weeks by the Sea, Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin, 2015). Recent group shows include Zeitspuren–The Power of Now, Kunsthaus Pasquart (Biel, 2018), Considering Finland, Kunstverein Ludwigshafen (Ludwigshafen, 2018), and A Meeting Point:Communication/Translation, R/E Projects (Madrid, 2018).