IHME, the Finnish word for “miracle” or “wonder”, describes something strange or weird, something that wakens curiosity. The annual IHME Contemporary Art Festival (2009–2018), produced by Pro Arte Foundation Finland, aims to enhance the status, visibility and accessibility of visual art and to promote art as a resource for democratic society, an important part of human life and everyday existence. Now in its tenth year, the festival consists of commissioned work of art in a public space, as well as lectures, discussions, films, and workshops. This publication documents the ten annual commissions, and features conversations with the artists.

Artists featured:
Mirosław Bałka, Yael Bartana, Christian Boltanski, Jeremy Deller, Antony Gormley, Henrik Håkansson, Susan Philipsz, Kateřina Šedá, Superflex, Theaster Gates & The Black Monks of Mississippi.

Christian Boltanksi (*1944 in Paris) lives and works in Malakoff near Paris.

Photographic works since 1967; autobiographical works since 1968. Archival works since 1972, Inventorying his life and the lives of fictitious persons. 2001 Kaiserring of Goslar. 2006 Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture.

Christian Boltanksi (*1944 in Paris) lives and works in Malakoff near Paris.

Photographic works since 1967; autobiographical works since 1968. Archival works since 1972, Inventorying his life and the lives of fictitious persons. 2001 Kaiserring of Goslar. 2006 Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture.

HENRIK HÅKANSSON (*1968) studied at the University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. His unique method of blending natural and human-made elements rapidly made him famous. Håkansson’s work has been shown and celebrated internationally. Today he divides his time between Berlin and Falkenberg, Sweden.

For SUSAN PHILIPSZ (*1965, Glasgow) sound is the artistic material she uses to create sound installations.

The critically-acclaimed Danish artist group SUPERFLEX, founded in 1993 by Jakob Fenger (b. 1968), Bjørnstjerne Christiansen (b. 1969), and Rasmus Nielsen (b. 1969), create humorous and playfully subversive installations and films that deal with financial crisis, corruption, migration, and the possible consequences of global warming. The artists describe their practice as the provision of “tools” that affect or influence social or economic contexts, and often root their projects in particular local situations, inviting the participation of viewers. Their work poses questions of political, economic, and environmental behavior and responsibility. This catalogue accompanies the group’s first major museum survey in the United States and highlights video, sculpture, and installation works relevant to the history, present, and future of cities like Miami, poised on the leading edge of pressing issues such as climate change and immigration.