AVATAR INFLUENCE GAME @ MAUNULA, HELSINKI, JUNE 2018

In Avatar Influence Game, commissioned by m-cult, three different groups from Maunula neighbourhood try to influence their surroundings through an avatar. They control the avatars real time – played by actors Outi Vuoriranta, Niina Sillanpää and Max Bremer – as the avatars move within the local ‘game zone’.

Public can follow the gaming 6 June 5-8pm / 7 June 2-6pm / 10 June 1-6pm at Maunulatalo.

COMMON GROUND – A PUBLIC SPACE GAME @ RAUMA, FINLAND (2018-2020)

We are happy to announce that our project proposal, submitted to the open call of Lönnström Art Museum, was selected. The generous production sum of 150 000 euro allowed us to think big, and we developed the concept COMMON GROUND – A Public Space Game.

We´ll invite 36 people to turn an appointed piece of land into a public park within a two year process. The design process has six devolvement stages, which we call “the moves”. The 36 people are representative for the age distribution in the area.

The project is a journey from individual visions into a collective process. For each of the moves the participants can use 200 euro each. In the first move the participants implement their individual ideas to their own small plot, basing on their own vision of the park. The moves 2-5 bring them into interaction with the ideas of the other participants, and they can choose whether to continue working alone or combine ideas, plots and the money with some fellow participants. The move 6 is a collective one, and it takes place only if the group has a consensus of what to do with 14000 euro. When the park is ready, we´ll celebrate!

Locals and the internet audience can follow how the park develops. The interviews, which are done before and after the process, capture the participants´thoughts about ownership, differences and collective decision making. The interviews can be listened in the park after it gets ready.

101 FOR ALL @ SEINÄJOKI ART HALL 18 Nov, 2017– 4 March, 2018

101 For All -video installation, containing 65 hours of video, is now fully translated in English. The work can be seen at Seinäjoki art hall! See the trailer here.

DREAMLAND @ RIIHIMÄKI GLASS FACTORY, FINLAND, 1 JULY –3 SEPT, 2017

Dreamland is part of “Joka hetki on poikkeus” – the 60 year anniversary exhibition of The Finnish State Art Collection at Riihimäki Glass Factory. Dreamland is a film montage containing dramatizations of dreams of Finnish citizens in which the President of Finland makes an appearance.

TEMPORARY PAVILION FOR PERMANENT NEGOTIATIONS AND PEOPLE IN WHITE @ AMSTERDAMSE BOS 4 JUNE – 16 JULY, 2017

One needs creativity in dealing with conflicts. Welcome to explore that at
TEMPORARY PAVILION FOR PERMANENT NEGOTIATIONS at Cure Park / Amsterdamse Bos, Amsterdam 4 June – 16 July.

Kalleinen & Kochta-Kalleinen created a space for playing with conflicts. They called on people to tell a story about a conflict: at work, in a relationship, in the neighborhood or on a world scale. The collected conflicts have one thing in common: they were (ultimately) resolved. What happened, and how did the situation transform? These conflicts and their resolutions will be retold by a facilitator Chantal van Doesburgh every Saturday and Sunday 4 pm (except June 17 and 18).  See the full schedule here The work is produced by TAAK and supported by FRAME Finland.

PEOPLE IN WHITE, a film that explores the relationship between doctor and patient in mental health care from the point of view of 10 patients, is screened 5 June 6pm at Care Centre of Cure Park / Amsterdamse Bos. In the film a central artistic device is re-enactment of key moments in the therapeutic process in which former patients play themselves as well as their doctors. Memories vary from beautiful, healing moments to the horrors of isolation and abuse.

101 FOR ALL @ LAPPEENRANTA & SEINÄJOKI, FINLAND

101 For All at Lappeenranta art museum 3 June – 30 July 2017, and Seinäjoki Art Hall 18 November 2017 – 4 March 2018.

Imagine a Finland of 100 inhabitants. 51 of them would be women, 13 would be over 70 years old, one would be from Asia and one would hold a Ph.D.

101 For All offers a glimpse behind the statistics. Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen visited one hundred homes around Finland and interviewed people about their personal relationship with 30 topics of discussion that tend to divide opinions. The 100 interviewees form a cross-section of the Finnish population in terms of gender, age, region, education, level of income, country of origin and mother tongue.

Why do we think like we think? The interviewees try to pinpoint experiences and influences that play a role on how their opinions are shaped.

A question that arises is that of representation: can one individual or small group of people ever represent “everyone”? What about the ones left in the margins? The exhibition is based on encounters and reveals how people’s opinions are much more complex, rich and contradictory than what statistics have us believe.

The exhibition challenges to pursue one of the most radical acts of our time, listening to others without prejudice.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR SUCCESSFULLY RESOLVED CONFLICTS!

We are looking for your stories about conflicts that were amicably settled. They can be stories from your own life, from your workplace, neighbourhood or town. They might be also about conflicts on a global scale. Either you were directly involved, tried to settle the conflict as a third party or just learned about it without being involved. What happened and how was the situation resolved?

A selection of the stories will be re-told for audience within our new project Permanent Negotiations as part of the Cure Park project at Amsterdamse Bos.

How to proceed
In this point it is enough you write us a short description of the conflict and the process of resolving it. We will ask you for more information if needed. Anonymity is guaranteed for those that wish to remain anonymous. Specific names of people or organisations involved in the conflict can be omitted. You can send the conflicts during May and June 2017 to kochta@nexgo.de

This project is part of Cure Park June 4 through July 16, 2017 – a big outdoor event organised by TAAK this summer.

HELSINKI COMPLAINTS CHOIR -VIDEO @ TAMPERE ART MUSEUM, 18 NOV 2017 – 25 FEB 2018

Helsinki Complaints Choir, photo Petri Summanen, Central Art Archives

Helsinki Complaints Choir -video is part of Kansan asialla / For The People -exhibition at Tampere Art Museum. The exhibition looks into the relationship between art and citizens. The choir music is composed by Esko Grundström.

ARCHIPELAGO SCIENCE FICTION PART OF SPLICE EXHIBITION @ OULU ART MUSEUM, 20 MAY – 12 NOVEMBER, 2017

  Arhipelago Science Fiction is part of SPLICE exhibition, which focuses its gaze on our relationship with nature, including diverse approaches towards the transforming environment. Canadian curator Nina Czegledy and the Finnish Bioart Society compile a review of relevant ideas approaching it from a cross-disciplinary viewpoint. The exhibition presents a showcase of contemporary artistic perspectives with the aim to unfold a new understanding of our changing environment.

PROFESSORSHIP AT THE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS, HELSINKI

We are excited to work as visiting professors at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki during 2017. Our course creates a complex artistic snapshot of Finland in the year 2017. Together with the students we will map and discuss current tendencies, conflicts and phenomena  and will process them with the artistic tools at our disposal.  Looking behind the curtains of the 100 years of independence celebrations the course asks what’s actually going on in the state of Finland?