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18/6/2006

Group Show

NIFCA - Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, Helsinki

The art workers open their studios

NIFCA, Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art is honored to host in residence at Suomenlinna:

Michael Bears, US (19 June-17 July)
Maria Finn, Copenhagen, Denmark (June-July)
Alissa Firth-Eagland, Toronto, Canada (17 May-16 July)
Ilya Gapanov, St. Petersburg, Russia (10 June-6 July)
Michelle Kasprzak, Edinburgh, UK (1-17 June)
Igor Lebedev, St. Petersburg, Russia (mid-June-July)
Randa Mirza, Beirut, Lebanon (10 June-10 August)
Vesna Pavlovic, New York, US (June)

Michael Bears (US)
In residence at NIFCA (19 June-17 July)

Michael Baers works with publications and related forms, most commonly using combined drawings and text. His work encompasses a wide range interest, from film to architecture to history to art theory and philosophy. What his disparate projects share is an interest in criticality and a commitment to pushing the boundaries of the discursive in art. During his stay in Helsinki, he plans to complete a project on the Copenhagen alternative community, Christiania, as well as work on an upcoming exhibition he is curating at Sparwasser HQ in Berlin.

Maria Finn (Copenhagen, DK)
In residence at NIFCA through the Nordic AiR program (June-July)

The residency at Suomenlinna will be used for the project "The Summer after Monika", a film by Ingmar Bergman from 1952, based on a book by Per Anders Fogelstrom. The title refers to the fact that it's a film after a book, which now is used as the basis for a new work. But the title also refers to what happens when you reset the film to a contemporary context. By doing so, the work becomes a reflection of what has happened with the issues raised by the film at it's conception. The film will be reset to Helsinki and a remote island in the Finnish archipelago. A young woman and man will be re-photographed in scenes from the film, and some of these will be transferred to drawings. Photographs and drawings will be shown together in a slide series, a narrative structure similar to film but without astart and end. “The Summer after Monika" is my subjective experience of the film, emphasizing what I have found interesting. By focusing on the surrounding landscape, individual destinies are put in a broader context, reminding us how society shapes us as individuals.

Alissa Firth-Eagland (Toronto, CA)
Research Residency at NIFCA (17 May-19 July)

Artist-curator Alissa Firth-Eagland produces events, curates exhibitions and creates programs of performance and video. Her projects forefront experimental approaches, such as commissioning cross-disciplinary partnerships between participants. She has undertaken projects in the Toronto, Ontario and Banff, Alberta arts communities: collaborative projects, publications, multiple location exhibitions, and interventions in public spaces. Alissa has coordinated projects for the TRANZ-TECH 2003 Toronto International Media Art Biennial, Cultural Human Resources Canada, the Walter Phillips Gallery at the Banff Centre, the first annual Toronto Alternative Arts Fair International 2004, YYZ Artists Outlet (Toronto), Fado Performance Inc., and The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art. Her exhibition for the 2004 Junction Arts Festival, Sorry for the Inconvenience, was nominated Best Curated Exhibition at the Toronto Untitled Art Awards. Most recently, she has been awarded an Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Fellowship for six months of independent curatorial research. During her time at NIFCA, Alissa is looking closely at the practices of Nordic new media artists for an exhibition of Canadian and Nordic artists who are using the video medium in ways that are located outside the formal single-channel screening or festival context. She is hoping to commission new works that defy categories of video, animation, installation, intervention, and performance.

Ilya Gapanov (St. Petersburg, RU)
In residence at NIFCA through an exchange with the Pro Arte Institute in St. Petersburg, RU (10 June-6 July)

In my work, I deal with memory and nationality. I use cultural signs and motifs typical for contemporary civilization. By mixing contexts, I come to new meanings and readings. For me the Suomenlinna island is a historic and cultural center, a retainer for sources of different legends. My interest is focused on the historic and geographical context. I try to give form to a spiritual basis, which connects Russian and Finnish culture.

Michelle Kasprzak (Edinburgh, UK)
Research Residency at NIFCA (1-17 June)

Michelle Kasprzak is an artist, writer and curator. Since winning the InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre Emerging Electronic Artist award in her early career, Michelle has proceeded to exhibit her work across North America and Europe. Michelle's writing has been published in magazines such as Mute, Spacing, Broken Pencil, and Public. Her recent curatorial projects include an online exhibition produced with Virtual Museums of Canada and Gallery TPW, and a year-long programme of video art on a public video billboard in Toronto, Canada with Year Zero One. She is currently based in Edinburgh, UK, and is the Programmes Director of New Media Scotland. She maintains a web presence at http://michelle.kasprzak.ca.

Igor Lebedev (St. Petersburg, RU)
In residence at NIFCA through an exchange with NCCA, St. Petersburg Brach of National Centre for Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg, Russia (mid-June-July)

Randa Mirza (Beirut, Lebanon)
In residence at NIFCA through the Global Perspectives program (10 June-10 August)

Vesna Pavlovic (New York, US)
In residence at NIFCA through the West Balkan AiR residency exchange program (June)

Photographic projects I have done so far have the anthropological approach in common, they analyze different cultures and their visual representations, or behavior of certain social groups. They also address the question of the audience, and the event, shifting those two positions. In my research I am also interested in how we experience history and the changes it brings to society and culture. Following those leads, my residency at Nifca, in Helsinki, will be an exploration of the city and the traces and imprints of various cultures it has.

The other ongoing series concentrates on the interaction between the performer and the audience, and uses stand-up comedy as a metaphor. In visiting the places where those acts happen, I consider myself a performer, with the camera, interacting with the space, while visualizing the friction and the tension that stays after the performance ends. The psychological space becomes the event, and brings all kinds of meanings. Apart from bringing the experiential of the photographic process into those images, and discussing the ways of viewing, this project also looks into stand-up comedy as a social practice and a commentary. http://services.mi2.hr/gallery

NIFCA - Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art
Suomenlinna B - Helsinki Finlandia
Admission Free

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