Archiving ‘en plein air’ by Sauli Sirviö

Catalogue of Sauli Sirviö’s works and projects from Helsinki, Paris, and New York. Each handcrafted book blends diverse papers and materials, Helsinki sunlight-burnt pages, and a unique tactile experience.

"Combining a striking variety of materials with a PVC binding comb, the publication holds together because of its insightful and elegant structure. The book, fragmented yet consistently thought out, is the type of publication that could be seen more in Finnish art publishing. A monograph does not always have to be a hardcover monolith."

- The Finnish Book Art Committee, 2024

“I see Sauli’s work as gestures of containment and exposure. The contested utility of infrastructure (passageways, escalators, elevators, aqueducts and sewers of past and present) tacitly forms the city but is not meant to be explored in depth. Sauli’s artworks offer compensation for this unspoken proscription. We walk on the streets without noticing the bitumen underneath, the layers of stones and stigma. Exposing the conditions and materials that surround us requires maneuvering structures and revealing layers, as well as generating them.”

– Miina Hujala, Archiving ‘en plein air’