Anna Menskanen

Bronze – 2025

Taking a coffee break is a common social event in Finland and Sweden, a veritable institution. A cup filled to the brim, from which coffee spills onto the saucer, has been a sign of hospitality and generosity. Coffee should be served with coffee bread. Anne Meskanen-Barman's coffee table is set with full coffee cups, pastries, a candle, a cake tray, and a vase with wood anemones. The table is set for two.

On closer inspection, however, this coffee break is not quite ordinary. A hand pours cream into a cup, another reaches for a pastry, and a third raises a coffee cup. The surreal and playful atmosphere is reinforced by the shape of the lips on the surface of the coffee cup, a kind of reflection of the sitter, history, and time. Our brains and imaginations form a continuation of the work and its characters, and what is not visible is also important.

Anne Meskanen-Barman (b. 1966) has created several multi-part works for public spaces, including Lähteellä (“By the Source”) for the Karin kampus in Rauma (2024), Jäljenjättäjä (“The One Who Leaves Traces”) in Länsiranta, Porvoo (2023), Etsijät (“Seekers”) in the Multisilta district of Tampere (2020) and Hyppy (“Jump”) in the Ruusupuisto underpass in Jyväskylä (2015).

The work Coffee Break was produced in collaboration with the Espoo Museum of Modern Art EMMA, and it is a gift from the City of Espoo in honor of Hanaholmen’s 50th anniversary. The artwork is part of the Hanaholmen art collection. It is located in the front yard of Hanaholmen, on the left side of the road when approaching from Länsiväylä.