STUDIO KALLEINEN

BOOK LAUNCH @ PUBLICS, HELSINKI, 30 AUGUST, 2022

CONVERSATION PARK
BOOK PRESENTATION AND LAUNCH

TUE 30 AUGUST 2022
5–7PM

On 30 August 2022, Lönnström Art Museum and Studio Kalleinenwill present and launch the English version of Conversation Park; a book exploring an in depth overview of a unique artistic experiment in transforming an abandoned plot of land into a public park in Rauma, Finland. The book, which is for sale at the event, is written by artist duo Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, and co-edited by artists, curators and researchers Miina Hujala and Arttu Merimaa.

At the book launch in PUBLICS, Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen will introduce Conversation Park project followed by response from prominent Finnish researchers on participation – Kaija Kaitavuori and Robin Lybeck  – providing additional commentary and insights with respect to their expertise on participatory art and participatory urban planning.

In 2019 thirty residents between 6 to 89 years old became players in a two-year-long “Public Space Game”. The mission was to turn thirty individual ideas for a park into a collective urban reality in 6 game moves. The cooperative park was opened in 2020. Conversation Park is a Lönnström Project and made possible by the Lönnström Art Museum in Rauma.

In the book Kalleinen & Kochta-Kalleinen describe their original intentions when designing the game and share their insights gained whilst working on the Conversation Park for four years. The book touches on core questions with regards to engaging citizens in designing urban public spaces. It is an attempt to open-source the Conversation Park project so it can be analysed, modified, and replicated. It is an invitation to learn about the many factors which have to be considered when designing a participatory project – whether it takes place in art, urban planning or politics.

Helsinki-based Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen are an artist duo whose practice merges the languages and approaches of multiple disciplines, such as film, performance, game design, experimental education, facilitation, social architecture and alternative economies.

Robin Lybeck is a researcher at the sociology department of Åbo Akademi  University. He has studied typologies of engagement in urban planning. His PhD looks at how technology is applied in the context of participatory planning and urban development.

Kaija Kaitavuori is an educator and art historian. Her research focuses on audience participation in contemporary art. Her dissertation “Art of Engagement” discusses participatory processes in terms of democracy and the extent to which participation in art can be understood as ‘democratic’.

SOLO SHOW @ KUNSTVEREIN LUDWIGSHAFEN, GERMANY

The Complaints Choirs video installation is taking over the whole Kunstverein with massive video screens spreading over the beautiful space of  Kunstverein Ludwigshafen. The installation is expanded for the first time with the Georgian complaints choir that was organised in an IDP camp in Shavshebi near Gori.

An artist talk and conversation will take place at the Kunstverein 30 June 12 o’clock  – and four local complaints choir perform in that event. Thank you curator Barbara Auer for this wonderful collaboration!

CONSIDERING FINLAND @ KUNSTVEREIN LUDWIGSHAFEN

Our work Archipelago Science Fiction will be part of the “Considering Finland” -exhibition in Ludwigshafen Kunstverein from November 10, 2018 until January, 13 2019. In the piece inhabitants of archipelago of west Finland are acting in four sci-fi scenarios imagining the future of the area. On November 10 a screening of People in White as well as our artist talk will be organised as part of the program. The exhibition is curated by Barbara Auer and Stefanie Kleinsorge.