The Mindscapes exhibition presented works by nine Finnish artists: Göran Augustson (1936–2012), Juhana Blomstedt (1937–2010), Mauno Hartman (b. 1930), Reino Hietanen (1932–2014), Kimmo Kaivanto (1932–2012), Ahti Lavonen (1928–1970), Aarno Salosmaa (1941–2008), Jaakko Sievänen (1932–2013) and Kain Tapper (1930–2004).

The exhibition examined the ways by which images, memories and moods are transferred into a work for the spectator to behold. Each artist chooses, consciously or unconsciously, the images of the past that end up in a picture and how they are filtered into it. Certain images and moods can be abstract, while others are delineated sharply in the mind. Likewise, each viewer sees the works and interprets them from his or her own perspective: a scene is filled in with private memories. But in spite of all this, we are governed by cultural models of thought. The private is often more public than we imagine.

While the works in the exhibition were mainly non-figurative, they were not unequivocally abstract. Each of the artists has consistently created images consistent with his principles and conceptions of art, and all the works contain a scenic element. The exhibition highlighted themes that unify the works. The main focus was on interaction. The thematic examination took the form of a division into conceptual pairs. These pairs of concepts, which are certainly not opposites although in some cases they might appear to be, were: private – public, logical – contingent, man – the world, geometrical – natural, the psyche – the surface. The concepts entered into a dialogue with each other, and their interrelationship was illustrated by the different artists.