IC-98’s ‘Khronoksen talo’ to Mark 10 Years with Seminar in Pöytyä

A seminar marking the 10th anniversary of ‘Khronoksen talo’, the conceptual environmental artwork by Finnish artist group IC-98, will be held at Pöytyän Luontokapinetti on 23 October 2026. The programme will combine talks and discussions with a visit to the work, which is located in Ortenoja, Pöytyä, in south-western Finland.

Organised by Lönnström Art Museum, the event focuses on the first Lönnström Project, the museum’s series of contemporary art commissions and projects. ‘Khronoksen talo’ was created by IC-98—Visa Suonpää and Patrik Söderlund—and was completed in 2016–17. The artists donated the work to the municipality of Pöytyä on 26 October 2016.

The work occupies a property containing a residential building and its surrounding grounds. Enclosed by a steel-mesh fence and closed to people, the site has been left without maintenance so that its buildings can decay and vegetation and wildlife can take over. Before the site was closed, its landscape and building history were investigated, while its vegetation and animal life were surveyed and documented. The property was also studied from geological and archaeological perspectives.

The project examines time and its effects on nature and the built environment. Lönnström Art Museum describes the site as a place that, over centuries, will be reclaimed by nature. The municipality of Pöytyä has committed to preserving the area and its buildings unchanged. Applications for protection under legislation concerning built heritage and nature conservation were rejected by the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for south-western Finland.

The anniversary seminar will include contributions from poet and philosopher Antti Salminen, Mikko Härö, former chief curator of the Finnish Heritage Agency, and Jenny Valli, director of Hämeenlinna Art Museum. Valli previously served as director of Lönnström Art Museum from 2012 to 2019. Suonpää and Söderlund will join the discussions, which will be moderated by Henna Paunu, the museum’s director from 1 September 2026.

The seminar will also introduce participants to Luontokapinetti before the group travels with the artists to ‘Khronoksen talo’. The museum will provide free transport to Pöytyä, with a bus departing from Rauma and travelling via Turku to the site; return transport will follow the same route after the seminar. A detailed timetable and registration information are scheduled to be published in October.

IC-98, founded in 1998, works across artist’s books, animation, film and public art. In recent years, the group has focused particularly on themes of the future and the post-human. A virtual-reality environment based on scientific research into ‘Khronoksen talo’ was produced in 2018 by IC-98 and the game studio Morrow Games. It can be experienced at Luontokapinetti and is also available as a free computer or mobile version.