Positioned within the expanded field of contemporary sculpture, Sari Koski-Vähälä’s materially oriented practice explores the residues of domestic life. Her slowly evolving installations are composed of surplus matter generated through the daily routines and consumption habits of her own family.
Central to her practice are acts of collecting, caring for, and transforming these materials into artworks. Through long-term, craft-based processes, she embraces decay and transience as essential elements of the work. She reflects on themes such as impermanence, moral agency, and relational empathy, drawing attention to the quiet expressiveness of lived materials and their tacit capacity to convey the subtleties of human experience.
Together with Jouko Korkeasaari and Heli Kurunsaari, she forms the artist collective Hyäryllistä. The practice of Hyäryllistä merges collective thought with a playful approach to form and material. The collaborative works are multi-material installations in which reality takes a humorously surreal twist. The group’s first exhibition took place in 1992.
Sari Koski-Vähälä graduated from the Lahti Institute of Fine Arts in 1997 and holds a Master of Arts from Aalto University in 2010. In 2020, she completed advanced studies in Applied and Participatory Arts at the University of the Arts Helsinki. Her works have been exhibited both in Finland and internationally, and are included in, among others, the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. The collective’s works are held by institutions such as the Finnish Museum of Photography. In 2024, Hyäryllistä completed a public artwork commissioned by HAM Helsinki Art Museum for Taivallahti Comprehensive School in Helsinki.
