Factory 2: Correspondences, Helsinki

Factory2 (Seoul) presents: Correspondences 2.–20.7.2025 at Lokal Gallery, Helsinki

In December 2024, the first ‘Correspondences’ exhibition at Factory2 in Seoul was like a letter that resembled a tranquil landscape, with 10 Korean and Finnish creators exchanging letters through handmade crafts and artworks instead of words. In July 2025, the flow of friendship continues to LOKAL in Helsinki, Finland. With the crystal-clear Finnish lakes as the inspiration, ‘Correspondences’ is another rendition of collaboration between Factory2 and LOKAL.

The deep resonance that comes from actions over words, intuition over explanation, comes from trust and support built over time. Friendship often asks not “what can we achieve” but “how can we be together”, and when faced with an uncertain path, heartfelt support gives us the courage to take the next step. We bring the years of friendship into the present to revisit, nurture, celebrate, and observe friendships unfold together.

Factory 2: Correspondences, Helsinki

Factory2 (Seoul) presents: Correspondences 2.–20.7.2025 at Lokal Gallery, Helsinki

In December 2024, the first ‘Correspondences’ exhibition at Factory2 in Seoul was like a letter that resembled a tranquil landscape, with 10 Korean and Finnish creators exchanging letters through handmade crafts and artworks instead of words. In July 2025, the flow of friendship continues to LOKAL in Helsinki, Finland. With the crystal-clear Finnish lakes as the inspiration, ‘Correspondences’ is another rendition of collaboration between Factory2 and LOKAL.

The deep resonance that comes from actions over words, intuition over explanation, comes from trust and support built over time. Friendship often asks not “what can we achieve” but “how can we be together”, and when faced with an uncertain path, heartfelt support gives us the courage to take the next step. We bring the years of friendship into the present to revisit, nurture, celebrate, and observe friendships unfold together.

Over the past decade, Factory2 and LOKAL have built an organic partnership through collaborations large and small. From ‘Typocraft Helsinki’ in Seoul in 2016, to the same exhibition series in Helsinki and Kyoto in 2017, to ‘Coming Home to Seoul’ featuring LOKAL artists in 2021, to Renata Schirm’s solo exhibition ‘Myriad’ in 2022, all these collaborations are a chronicle of an ongoing friendship of mutual care and support.

In this rendition of  ‘Correspondences’ at LOKAL, the artists engage with nature through their hands, allowing different senses of time and space to overlap and intertwine in one space. As they gaze at each other, engage in unspoken dialogue and respond with affection, the exhibition captures a deep, quiet “temporary commune” where long-standing relationships from different places come together for a brief stay.

Presenting the following artists and creators:

Jeong Hwa Min
Kyungwon Baek
Sanghyeok Lee
Seungean Cha
Sukyung Chung
Ananya Tanttu
Antrei Hartikainen
Heli Tuori-Luutonen
Outi Martikainen
Tuulia Penttilä

Curated by Factory2 (Bora Hong, Dain Kim) & Lokal (Katja Hagelstam)
Graphic design by Yukyung Jung
Space design by Hanni Koroma
Hosted and organized by factory2
Support from Arts Council Korea, Lokal, KWUM

Shop: Exhibition pieces

Explore: Lokal Events

SOMMARSTILLEBEN

15.6.–24.8.2025
This summer, Lokal makes an all-summer-long expedition to Billnäs, an old ironworks village to the West of Helsinki. Bringing beauty in the form of artwork, crafts and handmade homeware into a space which still starkly echoes its unique history, the Sommarstilleben exhibition is a celebration of Lokal’s core values. The still lifes are an ode to the magical, fleeting nature of the Nordic summer. The abundance consists of works in various mediums and materials, in varying scale and subject, by a number of Finnish and Finland-based contemporary artists and artisans.

Institut finlandais: Almost All the Flowers in My Mother’s Garden

Lokal x Almost All the Flowers in My Mother’s Garden marks the return of a collaboration between Lokal Gallery and Institut Finlandais. Discover a new selection of handmade art and design pieces curated in dialogue with Hilla Kurki’s photography exhibition at Institut finlandais 12.4.–2.8.2025.

Bloom 2025 / Open Call

We are delighted to be having our eighth Bloom exhibition, Lokal’s biannual young artists’ exhibition. Bloom has become an established platform for young blossoming creatives to present their works in a curated group exhibition context.

Factory 2: Correspondences

28.11.–31.12.2024, Seoul
The works of five Korean and Finnish artists, who work by hand using different natural materials, correspond as if they are exchanging handwritten letters. It creates a temporary “commune” where diverse elements such as people and objects from here and there, light and colour of time and space converge and leave a lasting impression.