tellervo Archipelago Science Fiction is part of Ocean Dwellers exhibition at Nordic Embassies, Berlin. The exhibition is curated by Solvej Ovesen.
The Turku archipelago on the Baltic Sea provide the framework for four sci–fiscenarios. The islanders themselves perform the hilarious and sometimes chilling episodes, which base on their own fears and hopes of how the area will develop.
As part of Real Work -exhibition of Fact, a work -related complaints choir will be created in Liverpool. Participation is free for anyone who is ready to spend some time turning complaints into choir lyrics, and practice the new great song with the fabulous choir director Jennifer John. Public performances take place 31 August – follow Fact web site for details! I will be present at Fact 12 September at the premiere of the video, which documents the new choir piece.
A storyteller shared stories of conflict collected from local residents in a sandbox. As the audience gathered around an arena made of sand and tailor-made props, she made the conflicts visible and tangible. To a passer-by, it looked like an ordinary storytelling session in a playground.
Oliver and I created the project for Cure Park (2017), organised by TAAK in Amsterdam, which brought art interventions to the tranquil setting of one of the Netherlands’ largest public parks. The storyteller was the professional mediator Chantal van Doesburgh. The work was later presented in Helsinki, curated by Ceyda Berk-Söderblom.
In Cuba, paper bags represent both the past and the future. “Cartuchos” were once an essential part of everyday life, but were replaced by plastic bags after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen and I commissioned nine local writers and thinkers to write speeches about Cuba, using a paper bag as a point of departure. An edition of nine paper bags, each featuring excerpts from one of the speeches, was printed in 100,000 copies.
The bags were distributed during the biennial to vegetable markets and small grocery stores across Havana, where they were given out to customers. In this way, the work gradually entered households throughout the city.
The paper bag becomes a lens through which histories, politics, economics and global conflicts can be read.
The project was part of Havana Biennial 2019. Writers of the speeches printed on the paperbags were Juan Triana, Maikel José Rodríguez, Isdanny Morales, Mario Castillo, Roly Ávalos & Alex Díaz, Modesto Díaz , Orlando Hernández, Israel Castellanos and Hilda María Rodríguez. We worked with a local curator Lisset Yllanez.
The complete installation of Complaints Choirs is presented at Kunstverein Ludwigshafen 12 April – 30 June 2019. We will give an artist talk 30 June. Thank you Curator Barbara Auer for this wonderful invitation!
For Havana Biennial me and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen make a new work: 9 CARTUCHOS – Paper Bag Stories From Cuba. For the piece we commissioned local professional writers and thinkers to write a speech about Cuba from their particular point of view – using a paper bag as a reference point. An edition of 9 paper bags with excerpts of each of the 9 speeches were printed on 100.000 bags. The bags are distributed over the period of the biennial to vegetable markets and small grocery stores around Havana to be given out to people. Thus the artwork is slowly distributed to many households of the city. The full length speeches can be listened at the Havana biennale exhibition.
The simple paper bag can be a curious interrogator of histories, politics, economics and, conflicts of a global scale. In Cuba paper bags mean both past and the future: paper bags – or cartuchos as they were called – were an important object of daily live but exchanged with plastic bags after the Soviet Union collapsed. In a reversal of history Cuba has just recently promised to abandon plastic bags in the future.
The writers: Juan Triana, Maikel José Rodríguez, Isdanny Morales, Mario Castillo, Roly Ávalos & Alex Díaz, Modesto Díaz, Orlando Hernández, Israel Castellanos and Hilda María Rodríguez. We are happy to have also drawings of Ibrahim Miranda as part of the paper bag design of Orlando Hernández.
In 2015 artists me and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen visited one hundred homes around Finland and interviewed people about their personal relationship with 30 topics that tend to divide opinions. The 100 interviewees formed 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 tried to pinpoint experiences and influences that play a role on how their opinions were shaped. Their 1900 responses fed into an interactive video-installation first shown in Helsinki Art Hall in 2015.
The Finnish Cultural Foundation supported the exhibition in Helsinki Art Hall and the publishing of the work online in 2019. Even 92 of 100 participants allowed their interviews to be used also in the online version of the art piece.
The piece is now in Finnish only, but English subtitles will follow.
Niina Lehtonen Braun has made a new music video for Olento Orchestral´s single Isäni!
Archipelago Science Fiction will be screened at the two day Making Worlds -event including screenings, performances and conversations at Zentrum für Teoretische Peripherie. Thank you curator Isabel de Sena for the invitation!
People in White (by Kalleinen & Kochta-Kalleinen) will be screened at Ludwigshafen Kunstverein together with Plantheon (by Ulu Braun and Teuri Haarla) 10 January 7pm. The event is organised by Ludwigshafen Kunstverein, Port25 and Finnland institut.
I am glad to be one of the three ”provocateurs” at Talk Kallio! Do You Have A Say? It is a series of monthly unconference happenings designed to encourage people to talk about the issues that matter to them. The discussions will be set off by invited guests who will act as provocateurs. The theme of 13 September (5pm) discussion is City: “Who owns the City?” The guest provocateurs, beside myself, are Eric Lipchis and Kaisa Schmidt-Thomé. The event is curated and facilitated by Ceyda Berk-Söderblom.
101 For All – including 65 hours of video material – is finally translated into English! It´s therefore ready to pass the borders of Finland. We are very happy to show the work at Stadtgallerie Kiel in spring 2019 as part of An Der Nordkante -exhibition.
Archipelago Science Fiction -video installation will be part of Considering Finland -exhibition at Ludwigshafen Art Museum 10 November 2018 – 13 January 2019. The exhibition program includes our artist talk and the screening of People in White 10 November.
Archipelago Science Fiction will be broadcasted by Finnish national television YLE 11 and 12 September 1.40pm, and 14 September 3.15pm.
30 June 9pm @ Acud club, Berlin /
14 July 6pm @ Kaaoslava, Oulu /
23 August 8pm @ Villa Kallvik, Helsinki /
8 September 7pm @ Bändi piknik, Harakka, Helsinki /
16 September 5pm @ Viimeinen kymppiklubi, Kirjasto 10, Postitalo, Helsinki /
Common Ground – A Public Space Game (Keskustelupuisto) web site is launched, and the project is now open for applications! Anyone living in Rauma, Finland, can apply. The project will involve 36 residents who reflect the age distribution of the local population. They will design and realise a public park within a game-like process April 2019 – August 2020. The game will consist of six moves that begin with individual views and move gradually toward collectiveness. In the beginning, the park will be divided into 36 parts, with each participant initially receiving one part to design. A sum of 200 euros per person will be reserved for each move in the game. After the initial individual move, participants will get a chance to cooperate during moves 2–5; they can merge their plots and pool their allocations. The changes to the park will be implemented as the game progresses. The sixth move can only be made by unanimous decision. A sum of 14,000 euros will be reserved for the last move. When all changes are made, a party will be held to celebrate completion of the project. The project is collaboration with Lönnström Art Museum.
Happy to be part of Ulme festival in Tartu, Estonia, with my new solo performance Exaggerating Mind. The festival is Curated by Kiwa.
”Ulmefestival transforms Tartu New Theatre into an unique state of mind, where fantasy knows no borders and the sci-fi perception horizons come to life in words, sounds and movements. ’Ulme’ is an estonian word invented by writer Henn-Kaarel Hellat in 1970. It translates not only to sci-fi /fantasy /dreams, but references to the Golden Age of sci-fi.”
JOKAklubi´s Time Machine invites audience members to re-live selected situations from their memory lane. The evening is a wild combination of short performances of local artists, improvised talk show, music and chaos.
We start 9pm with a concert of Olento Orchestral, followed by Time Machine Show and dance party!
We are honoured to have the Finland premiere of Tracking Dar Es Salaam at Mänttä Art Festival (17 June – 31 August, 2018).
This work by Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen and myself is an interactive video installation, which shows parallel realities of Dar es Salaam through one ordinary weekday of 11 local inhabitants. The spectator have to make choices which of the video clips to watch, recorded in different parts of the city during that day – which of the people to follow and listen. The soundtrack consists of recorded interviews with the participants as well as music, which is individually composed for each of the 11 inhabitants.
In the new project of mine and Oliver – commissioned by m-cult – we will collaborate with three different kind of groups from Maunula to influence their neighbourhood. Each group will develop a real-life avatar, played by actors (Max Bremer, Outi Vuoriranta and Niina Sillanpää), which they conduct within the local ’game zone’. We wish to create a playful form and an exciting collective experience to address urban change.
Public can follow the gaming June 6-10 in Maunula!
We are happy to announce that our project proposal, which we submitted to the open call of Lönnström Art Museum, was selected. The exceptionally large 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. The design process takes place during a two year period and it has six devolvement stages, which we call moves. For each of the moves each participant can use 200 euro. In order to ensure a diverse range of participants, the 36 people are representative for the age distribution in the area.
The project is a journey from individual visions into a collective process. 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 combining ideas, plots and the money. 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.
A storyteller Chantal van Doesburgh told conflict stories on a sand box. The stories were contributed by locals.
In an arena made of sand she made the problems visible and palpable with the help of props.
The video work Play This At My Funeral by Niina Lehtonen Braun and myself – based on the music by Karl Jonas Winqvist – will be part of MEETINGS -festival, organized by ET4U and curated by Leena Kela.
The documentation video of Helsinki Complaints Choir will be part of Kansan Asialla -group exhibition at Tampere Art Museum. The exhibition, which is part of Finland´s 100 year celebrations, deals with the relationship between the art world and the other citizens.
We looked for stories about conflicts that were amicably settled. The stories we received came from different areas of life and society and were taking place in different parts of the world. A selection of the stories will be retold at Temporary Pavilion for Permanent Negotiations by a Dutch mediator Chantal van Doesburgh, who also facilitates discussion, which the conflict stories might raise.
11.30 CONFLICT BETWEEN TEACHERS
A new teacher sees violence in the class and learns that the permanent teachers of the school deny the behaviour problems of the children.
12.30 CONFLICT IN A MARRIAGE
Divorce after a long marriage is not easy when communication doesn’t work, especially when you have a child together.
13.30 CONFLICT BETWEEN BUSINESS PARTNERS
New business partners have trust problems between each other, and they seek help from a professional mediator.
15.30 A LIFE SAVING STORY
A party turns out into a horror as Xana is locked into a room and a group of men walk in.
16.30 CONFLICT ABOUT INHERITANCE
Lisa´s family breaks apart when her grandmother bequeathed everybody´s beloved house for one of her three children only.
17.30 CONFLICT BETWEEN NEIGHBOURS
Tilda´s summer cottage neighbour is bullying her, and she discovers that already her parents and grand parents had the same issues with the cottage neighbours.
Temporary Pavilion for Permanent Negotiations will take place on Saturday 12th of August as part of the exhibition Studio Aleppo [Helsinki] . It is organized in cooperation with the Suomen kansallismuseo – The National Museum of Finland, MiklagardArts and Kulttuurikeskus Caisa. The curator of the event is Ceyda Berg Söderholm.
Language: English
In the context of AVEK 30 years anniversary, AV Arkki organises a screening of experimental films, including a panel discussion which I will be joining. 27 Sept 5pm at Orion cinema, Helsinki.
In Finnish language Tunne Luonto means both knowing about nature and feeling the nature. On their Tunneluonto -walk Maija Hirvanen and Tellervo Kalleinen invite the participants to reflect the relationship between knowledge and feeling when experiencing nature. 2 September 12 o´clock at Vartiosaari, Helsinki. More info: http://www.nordicenviroart.org/
Talks about participation in contemporary art by Kaija Kaitavuori and myself. Studia Generalia, Art University, 7 September, 4.30pm @ Auditorium of Musiikkitalo.
101 For All is shown at Lappeenranta art museum 3.6.-30.7.2016 and at Seinäjoki Taidehalli / Art Hall 18.11.2017 -21.1.2018.
The one hundred participants in this interactive video installation represent a statistic cross section of the Finnish population. The artists visited their homes during a period of six months and interviewed them of 30 divisive issues. One viewer at a time can control the view of the work and select from the 30 propositions and the people whose statements he/she is interested in.
I am happy to participate a seminar on collaborative arts, June 15, 15.30-18.30 at Maunula-talo, Metsäpurontie 4, Helsinki.
Collaborative, socially engaged arts redistribute the agency of art-making among artists, participants and institutional contexts. In this event we will address the complex negotiations involved in the production and presentation of collaborative projects.
The event is free of charge but requires registration. Please register by Tuesday 13 June at: https://goo.gl/forms/h5CUpN7d5oVanmoE2
Speakers
Ailbhe Murphy (Create national development agency for collaborative arts)
Michael Birchall (Tate Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University)
Heidi Tikka (m-cult / Aalto University)
Eila Hämäläinen (arts/crafts pedagogue, Maunula)
Tellervo Kalleinen (artist, YKON)
Screening of work
Valentina Karga: Our Coming Community, 2017 (10 min)
Riikka Kuoppala & Thomas Martin: Maunula, 2017 (27 min)
Moderators
Minna Tarkka, director, curator (m-cult)
Susanne Bosch artist, researcher (CAPP network)
Shades of Agency is a Staging Post event of the Collaborative Arts Partnership Programme (CAPP)
TEMPORARY PAVILION FOR PERMANENT NEGOTIATIONS is a space for playing with conflicts. We 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). The work is produced by TAAK and supported by FRAME.
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. The work was commissioned by Nina Folkersma to Madness and Arts -festival at Haarlem, Netherlands, in 2010. After that the film has been used widely as a discussion opener both in mental health patient associations and professional psychiatric seminars.
New edition of Walkapolis walk tours by Maija Hirvanen and Tellervo Kalleinen are organised at the botanical garden in Helsinki centre 3rd May 5pm and 6th and 7th May 2pm. Registrations until 1 May to info@walkapolis.fi – the tours are free of charge and in Finnish.
Archipelago Science Fiction is part of I See -festival 26.-27.5.2017 at Ram Galleri Oslo.
The curators of the screening are Clemens Wilhelm & Constantin Hartenstein
The exhibition produced by the Finnish Bioart Society and the Oulu Museum of Art, in collaboration with curator Nina Czegledy, focuses its gaze on our relationship with nature, including diverse approaches towards the transforming environment.
Commissioned by TAAK, we will take part to their Cure Park -project and make a new work to a forest park Amsterdamse Bos. More info follows!
I am delighted to join Emma Talks -discussion series of Espoo Museum of Modern Art on the meaning of art in society 12 April, 5pm. The discussion between architect Asmo Jaaksi, designer Katja Soini and myself is moderated by curator Henna Paunu.
An interactive video installation
The work shows parallel realities of Dar es Salaam through one weekday of 11 local inhabitants. The spectator have to make choices which of the video clips to watch, recorded in different parts of the city during that day, and which of the people to follow and listen. The soundtrack consists of recorded interviews with the participants as well as music, which is individually composed for each of the 11 inhabitants.
I am delighted to join Emma Talks -discussion series of Espoo Museum of Modern Art on the meaning of art in society. The discussion between architect Asmo Jaaksi, designer Katja Soini and myself is moderated by curator Henna Paunu.
Screening of People in White is organised at the auditorium of Lapinlahden Lähde 19 March, followed by discussion. The context of the screening is Sjählö 9 -exhibition. Finnish National TV station YLE broadcasts People in White 26 March 1.30pm.
The work is an interactive video installation, which shows parallel realities of Dar es Salaam through one weekday of 11 local inhabitants. The spectator have to make choices which of the video clips to watch, recorded in different parts of the city during that day, and which of the people to follow and listen. The soundtrack consists of recorded interviews with the participants as well as music, which is individually composed for each of the 11 inhabitants.