Social Videoscapes from the North
dal 22/5/2013 al 7/9/2013
Segnalato da
22/5/2013
Social Videoscapes from the North
Gallery Elverket, Tammisaari
From the ruined societies of Chernobyl and Detroit shot by Siri Hermansen to the living portrait of Eva Koch; the search for balance in the Maria Friberg's video to the visual poetry of Ruri' and even to the "reductionist" video piece of Mika Taanila. Five different ways to perceive a "social landscape".
The socially engaged video, both in video art and documentary, is the theme of the exhibit, curated by Lorella Scacco.
A focus on social concerns often coincides with the use of documentaries, a visual tradition that is very widespread in the Nordic countries and has been adopted and developed not only in video art but also in cinema. Starting from the notion of the video art used in the Nordic countries as a medium of real documentation and social commentary, the show presents five different points of views by Nordic artists: From the ruined societies of Chernobyl and Detroit shot by Siri Hermansen to the living portrait of Eva Koch; the search for balance in the Maria Friberg’s video to the visual poetry of Rúrí and even to the "reductionist" video piece of Mika Taanila. Five different ways to perceive a “social landscape”.
EVA KOCH (1953) lives and works in Copenhagen. Her videos have a documentary-like feel: the characters in them are ordinary people and therefore they can engage more closely with the viewer. Through the use of stories about her life and those of other people, Koch seeks to show that the universal and the personal are not opposed spheres, rather on the contrary; that one contains the other. Eva Koch is one of the Nordic pioneers in public video art.
MARIA FRIBERG (1966) lives and works in Stockholm. Her work revolves about themes of power, masculinity and Man’s relationship to nature. In her images, she creates ambiguous tableaus that challenge preconceived notions about identity, gender and social hierarchies. Friberg’s recent pieces look both outwards, to the challenges in contemporary society, and inwards, to a meditative state of mind. In her works the isolation and solitude of the individuals reflect issues in society at large.
MIKA TAANILA (1965) lives and works in Helsinki. He is an artist who works fluently in between documentary film-making, avant-garde cinema and visual arts. His films deal with the issues of urban artificial surroundings and futuristic utopias of contemporary science. In June 2012 Taanila participated in dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel with a premiere of a new three-channel video installation, The Most Electrified Town in Finland. It is based on a nuclear power feature documentary, which Taanila and cinematographer Jussi Eerola started in 2004.
SIRI HERMANSEN (1969) lives and works in Oslo. Through her artistic practice she investigates unforeseen effects in societies that have undergone large economic, environmental or cultural changes, focusing on adaption processes and survival strategies of humans and in nature. Hermansen’s artistic method resembles a form of shared anthropology, where the outcome of the material is unpredictable and is dependent on the interrelations created on location, and the artist’s personal experience of the place.
RÚRÍ (1951) is based in Reykjavik. Her works are characterized by an exemplary mixture of philosophical testimonies and artistic forms of expression, such as performances, happenings, videos, drawings and installations. Since 1998 Rúrí has been working extensively with water and bringing the subject of endangered waters into focus. She chose to work with endangered waterfalls as an example of how all water on Earth is in danger of being spoiled or lost, for instance in the multichannel video performance Vocal VI (2011) and the interactive installation Archive – Endangered Waters (2003).
A press conference and accompanying symposium will be held on May 23rd, 2013. Three of the artists will attend the symposium along with exhibition curator Lorella Scacco, curator Catrin Lundqvist from Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and artist Philip von Knorring. The symposium will be hosted by journalist Christian Forsberg. The exhibition catalogue will be released at the symposium.
Timetable:
Arranged transport from Helsinki at 10 am
Visiting the exhibition, Elverket, Gustav Wasas gata 11, Tammisaari at 11:30 am
Lunch at kulturhuset Karelia, Skillnadsgatan 11, Tammisaari at 12:30 pm
Symposium, kulturhuset Karelia at 13:15
Press contact:
erica.wulff@proartibus.fi - carina.blomqvist@proartibus.fi
For more information about the exhibition contact Pro Artibus’ curator Juha-Heikki Tihinen: 0400-688458 or juha-heikki.tihinen@proartibus.fi.
Gallery Elverket
Gustaf Wasas gata 11 10600 Tammisaari Finland
Tuesday–Sunday at 11–17
Closed on Mondays and 21–23 of June.
Free entrance!