This issue explores intersectionality through the lens of same-sex love; asks for a stop on funding cuts in the arts in Finnish institutions of higher education; features a collective on conversation on creating an online platform for resource-sharing, writing and discussing urgent topics among art practitioners the Arab world; examines the politics of companionship, book as an art practice, and live game performances uncovering the overlapping of territories, the unsettling of institutions, the linking of languages and sites of exploitation, and what migration can teach us about contemporary forms of community. Features Taina Rajanti, Lin Chih Tung, Riikka Stewen, Sakari Tervo, Uzair Amjad, K-oh-llective among others.
I firmly believe these days that no amount of diversity/anti-racism training or consulting can resolve what is clearly a lack of feeling towards those who don’t share your race or socioeconomic status. I’ve had it with all the politeness and patience with which we deal with those who don’t even see us as humans.
READEditorial / May 2022
One is reminded of the famous ghost of the Communist Manifesto: students in the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture have taken to occupy the ARTS building Väre, organising demonstrations and negotiations with the university representatives. Not bad!
READSTOP cutting funds for higher education in the arts!
Taina Rajanti breaks down Aalto University’s argument of necessity of cuts in response to the ARTS students’ protesting the cuts, reorganizations of the departments, and the inaccessibility of the school premises.
How long can an art association operate under short-term funding? How many fellow organizations suffer from the same problem as Catalysti? Have they found solutions? How does Catalysti stay true to its mission of granting more opportunities as an association under such restrictions?
READA co-artistic director speaking
Lin Chih Tung on the challenges and aspirations working for an artist-run association. How do you redefine slogans, identify problematics, contemplate contradictions, and convey the message correctly?
Working together under the name K-oh-llective, we are a group of five artists currently based in Cairo, London, Rabat and Sierre. Ever since we met in 2018, we continued to foster a support system to nurture each other’s practices as we frequently engaged in ongoing and critical conversations. The brainchild of our coming together is an online platform with the same name, where we create a space for resource-sharing, writing about and discussing urgent topics amongst art practitioners in Egypt and the Arab world.
READK-oh-llective: Maybe We’re in a Bad Marriage
K-oh-llective members on creating an online platform for resource-sharing, writing and discussing urgent topics among art practitioners in Egypt and the Arab world.
Do such exhibitions choose not to include other genders, as it would be too complex and difficult to explain these lived experiences and identities to their crowds? And, what about power structures and safety within the curatorial practices when working with underrepresented* artists? Who was prioritised? Who gets to speak, and on whose behalf? Whose needs were taken into consideration, and whose desires? Who felt safe, and who didn’t? Who felt understood and seen, and who didn’t? What happens to the artist’s autonomy over their own identity and artistic practice when taken under curatorial work within established institutions?
READLoving Women: Loving Labels
Gladys Camilo’s review questions about the future of queerness within art institutions and queer art. How can queer curating exist and change what art institutions look like?
The Adventures of Harriharri is one such ‘other-worldly’ space where we can experience each other’s dreams. The live game performance uncovers the overlapping of territories, the unsettling of institutions, and the linking of languages and sites of exploitation. It investigates what migration can teach us about contemporary forms of community and encourages us to search for that which goes beyond them.
READCrouched! Crouched Is My Position: A Review of the Adventures of Harriharri
Uzair Amjad articulates how a live game performance uncovers the overlapping of territories, the unsettling of institutions, the linking of languages and sites of exploitation.
But then I stop and think: Am I just going towards this boring kind of “business”? Is it a trap? There’s so much liberty at the moment. That’s something I appreciate. But how do I continue? I haven’t solved that yet, but I’d love to. In a way, it’s fine if it’s not me who runs it, it could even change its name from TTB to something else. Whatever! I just want there to be a space for specific books. And space to make new events and continue experimenting with books – around what they are and what they can be.
READThe Book as an Art Practice: A Conversation with Hikari Nishida
On the non-profit artistic practice of selling self-published and independent publishers’ books.
I don’t expect the viewer to take in everything in the painting at one glance. There are many possible storylines, and you can also read the painting in different directions. It’s not necessary to proceed in a linear fashion—you can go back at any time.
READPlayful personification of death: A Conversation with Melina Paakkonen
On visual storytelling, symbolism, and the whimsical representations of death.
All small things matter because they evaluate our thinking, and trivial things can be seen as passages to bigger ones. Art can easily be seen as an ineffective way of changing the world, but I think there is this common memory, or heritage, in art, which acts like roots. Art comes from lived life, from the things we have seen, felt, heard, or explored.
READPaintings about decaying and growth: A Conversation with Sirkku Rosi
On weaving utopia and dystopia together and exploring hope and hopelessness through watercolor painting.
READYou own my wet pink sock As everything else I carried Dry memories disrupted by molecules of time A silver stoned flower nose piercing Peacefully scrimmaging with your wild red curls Supposedly acupuncture for the nerves Pain relief pins in India for childbirth. Ensured in the volcanic pile of all your belongings High upKeepsake
I find the topic of artist residencies and friendships very personal and relevant for me as an artist. At any residence, time always seems to run out and eventually, people leave for different roads. The image hints at moments where activities have been interrupted: food is on the table, sketches and supplies are wide open, and the outdoor space flows into the interior.
READFive timeframes, countless companionships
