solo exhibition Terms of use (still reading) at Coulisse Gallery, Stockholm
Have you ever watched a slug slowly inch its way across a garden lawn? Seen the apple core tossed out of a car window? Noticed how weeds persistently push through the cracks of terrace tiles? Watched the clock ticking on the wall and felt certain it must be ticking more slowly than usual? These organic and inorganic remnants of everyday life form the visual language and material foundation of Matti Sumari’s artistic practice.
In Terms of Use (Still Reading), Sumari continues his exploration of material reuse and the relentless cycle of capitalist consumption in the 21st century. His sculptural methods range from ancient techniques—such as bronze and aluminium casting—to self-taught, improvised approaches. Having mastered the art of anodising aluminium, this new body of work features a range of coloured metals, a technique that has allowed Sumari to introduce bold pops of colour into his already expansive world of metals. Hammering, polishing and welding, he transforms found metals into new, gleaming objects. Sumari spends endless hours in his studio workshop, melting, casting, shaping, and refining detritus. This physically demanding process wears down the body even as it strengthens it. Sculptures become bodies; sculptures become architecture— structures that obstruct movement, their barbed wire edges echoing thorns and spikes. The act of making—of labouring to transform the old into something new—mirrors our own experience of living within the everyday capitalist machine.
The exhibition title takes its name from the sculpture at the centre of Sumari’s parallel world, Terms of Use (Still Reading). Hanging on the wall facing the windows, it becomes a mirrored portal, absorbing and reflecting the outside street as people pass by, commuters lost in thought or trapped in digital distractions. The sun rises, office workers rush to their jobs, delivery trucks zip past. The hustle and bustle of the city are reflected in this sculptural wonder turned funhouse mirror. The once-attainable balance of eight hours of work, eight hours of leisure, and eight hours of rest has faded into a distant fantasy. Our freedom, our leisure, our work—each bleeding into the next, without pause. We work relentlessly, pay our bills, try to eat well, exercise, and fight against the inevitable decline of our bodies.
Suspended between the ephemeral and the physical, we find ourselves trapped—our minds confined within bodies, our bodies entangled in digital and physical systems that dictate our every move. Locked into the relentless machinery of time, the hours, and days fly by, our lives sustained just enough to keep us moving forward. But does it have to be this way? What are the Terms of Use we signed up for?
Sumari’s transformed everyday objects—the apple core, the ticking clock, the slugs, the pickles, the weeds that stubbornly grow in cracked surfaces—nudge us with jest and humour, “Hey— isn’t this all a little bit absurd?” In times of great unease and madness, irony, and absurdity—perhaps it is refreshing to be reminded of the humour and futility of it all. Maybe we can take a step back and enjoy the bumpy ride—after all, we are only in the funhouse for a brief moment!
terms of use (still reading)
2025, anodized aluminium, steel from legal & illegal catering operations, 115 x 150 x 12 cm
solo exhibition Terms of use (still reading) at Coulisse Gallery, Stockholm
