Là-bas->
Concept of Performance

Wen Yau (China)
Jószef R. Juhász (Slovakia)
Nastja Säde Rönkkö (UK/Finland)

Three artists from the La-Bàs-> Concept of Performance biennale (in Helsinki, 25.–29.4.2012) visit Vaasa on Sunday, 22.4.2012. Welcome to Kuntsi, 14.00–17.00.

More info about the artists on the La-Bàs-> website: www.labas.fi

15.–31.3.2012, Vaasa Railway Station

Thursday–Saturday, 1–4 pm.

Opening 15.3.2012, 2–8 pm.

In association to the IHME Contemporary art festival in Finland the interactive sound installation I can hear your heart beat by Mari Kretz, Platform’s current artist in residence, is shown in Vaasa.

I can hear your heart beat is an interactive sound installation which registers, visualizes and makes the inaudible audible. Two chairs are placed facing each other, next to each chair is a loudspeaker. Two participants sit on the chairs facing each other. Electrodes are placed on the participant’s chests. Their heartbeats are transmitted through the loudspeakers. After a while, both hearts are synchronized, then they return to their own rhythm. An intimate meeting takes place.

———

The site for The IHME Contemporary art festival’s production, Christian Boltanskis’ The Heart Archive and the recordings in Vaasa is Vaasa City Library. You can participate during the opening hours of the library.

Platform’s current artist-in-residence Girilal Baars will present his work.
He will also perform “Two Timing”, a piece inspired by and based on James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake”. “Two Timing” is a piece for voice and electronics and during this performance Girilal will be accompanied by Panu Sivonen on oboe and Arvid van der Rijt on electronics.

After the performance there’s a guided tour to the “To Have/To Own” exhibition by curator Ulrika Ferm.
Also some DJing in the Cafe Simo.

Welcome!

More info:
www.girilal.com
www.platform.fi/2011/to-haveto-own/

Girilal Baars is a composer and singer and musician primarily working with experimental contemporary music and very old vocal folk music (www.girilal.com). Born in Russia, of Dutch and Indian parents, he has lived in Uppsala, Sweden for many, many years. Possibly as a result of being multilingual (English, Russian and Swedish) he is very interested in languages and particularly in how languages relate to each other.

During his residency with Platform in Vaasa, he is hoping to create a sound-installation based around the points of contact between Finnish and Finnish-Swedish. Anyone who has anecdotes, ideas, friends, words, relatives or sounds that relate to both of these spoken languages — addressing the similarities, rather than the differences — is very much encouraged to contact him through email (guru@girilal.com) or by phone (+358-41-5604077).

Also, before & after the artist talk, there are guided tours of the To have/To own exhibition:
14.00 Tuomo Väänänen, in Finnish
16.00 Ulrika Ferm (curator of the exhibition), in Swedish

Your Home is in our Hands © Wouter Osterholt & Elke Uitentuis

The Dutch artist duo Wouter Osterholt and Elke Uitentuis will present several of their former projects and tell about their more recent experiences at Occupy Amsterdam, where they had set up a tent in order to contribute to a global political movement. During seven weeks a collective of artists, writers and theorists has been formed around the tent of Artists in Occupy Amsterdam, creating a public program on spot and starting several collective productions.

See also: www.osterholtuitentuis.nl

The exhibition To have/To own at Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art in Vaasa is a part of a larger program organized by Platform in celebration of their first ten years of activities. Earlier this year Platform organized an international symposium and launched the catalogue, Don’t look back. With this program, Platform seeks to highlight the importance of their past and present activities to the artists who have participated, as well as the local community and the cultural life of Vaasa.

The theme for the year 2011 To have/To own is a reaction to the on-going events where art as well as other aspects of society, have gone through huge social, cultural, economic and ecological changes. The selection of the theme is based on the hope that different artists’ and individuals’ reactions toward and understanding of the terms “to have” and “to own” would raise questions and generate discussion on cultural heritage, nomadic patterns, communication, independence, and sustainability.

One part of the exhibition consists of the projects carried out by Platform artists-in-residence during 2011. From circa 270 responses to an open call on the theme of To have/To own, six artists were chosen to spend time in Vaasa. The artists had differing approaches to the theme.  All of these projects will be presented in the exhibition. The other works in the show are based on collaborations. Active members of Platform have decided to form internal collaborations or invited other artists to either collaborate with them or participate in the show. The curatorial starting point for this part of the exhibition was to make the Platform members invest their artistic capital in a joint project – where collaboration is encouraged.

The original goal of Platform was not to function as a forum for showing members’ work, but to serve as a facilitator for other artists. However, over time, Platform members have gradually become more artistically involved in Platform’s activities. For example, Platform created the artist group Cheap Finnish Labour, which initially provided the workforce necessary to realize other artists’ projects, but eventually, Cheap Finnish Labour went on to develop their own projects. Where Platform has been very much about being in Vaasa and engaging with community in Vaasa, Cheap Finnish Labor has sent artists from Vaasa out into the larger world, Istanbul, Venice, and Warsaw.

Fanzine – konstpedagogisk material för lärare.

Symposium “TO HAVE / TO OWN”, 23rd–25th September 2011, Vaasa City Hall, Chamber Music Room, Vaasa, Finland.

The symposium allows for discussion and collaboration on issues related to three given topics; activism and democracy in contemporary art, artist identity and localness in a global context, and dealing with different forms of collectives and the engagement of the community.

The project “Forgo” focuses on people who, for one reason or another, have chosen to or been forced to forgo something.

The project is a collaboration between artists Brynhild Bye (NO), current artist-in-residence at Platform and Maria Nordbäck (FI). Together they will arrange several sewing and embroidery workshops in cooperation with local women’s groups in Vaasa, Finland and Trondheim, Norway. The collaboration will lead to two exhibition works; a tapestry of embroideries assembled into one blanket and a documentary photographic work of selected individuals.

The project is based on social engagement and art’s ability to help in identifying opinions and attitudes. The work will be exhibited in the exhibition “To have – To own” at KUNTSI Museum of Modern Art in Vaasa December 2011.

The first open sewing circle will start monday 12.09.2011 at 7 pm at Platform Studio, Korsholmsesplanaden 6–8, Kasern 14

We are also looking for individuals or already existing sewing circles to participate in our project.

If you are Interested contact us. Send an email to: maria.nordback@netikka.fi

More information on www.brynhildbye.no/english

Brynhild&Maria

Vaasa in Luck is a project by Esther Pilkington (GB/AT/DE), current artist-in-residence at Platform, which will be conducted during her stay in Vaasa; Esther has a piece of gold, which she offers to trade for something of lesser value. The object she gets in return she will again offer for exchange, and again, and again – until she is left with nothing. If you have anything at home that you do not need or want anymore – now is the time to give it away for something you might need or want. If you swap objects with Esther, you can only win!

Vaasa in Luck is a meditation on a well-known fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, entitled “Hans im Glück” (Hans in Luck). In this fairy tale, Hans, after 7 years of servitude, is set free by his master and rewarded with “a piece of gold as big as his head”. On his journey home, Hans first trades the piece of gold for a horse, then the horse for a cow, the cow for a pig, the pig for a goose, the goose for a grindstone that eventually falls into a well. Left with nothing, Hans is happy: “No one under the sun is as fortunate as I am”.

The exchanges of objects will create encounters and while, on a material level, Esther will aim to loose, what will be gained from the exchanges is an archive of stories attached to the traded objects. The objects, exchanges and stories will be documented on-line, as well as in a lecture performance that marks the end of the project – it is there that Esther will give away the final object in her possession.

The project will open with a short lecture performance on 27.8.2011, 7:30 pm, at Platform’s studio, Korsholmsesplanaden 6-8, Kasernen 14. After this, until 23.9.2011, Esther will be at the studio Wed-Sun from 4pm to 7pm, in order to exchange objects. Appointments can also be made outside these times. More information on the project and on the objects will be made available on-line at luck.random-people.net. You can contact Esther on luck@random-people.net for further questions, comments and, most importantly, for suggestions about what you would like to trade with her.