Platform r.f. – Page 25 – Artspace and residency

Citymind Turku

Published 03/02/2004 by Platform

28.2–21.3.2004

The members of the association were offered the possibility to participate in the exhibition, and 10 artists answered the invitation: Heini Aho, Annika Dahlsten, Reino Koivula, Jouko Korkeasaari, Sanna Syvänen, Oona Tikkaoja, Panu Thusberg, Matti Vainio, Paula Väinämö and Merja Ylitalo.

The exhibition consists of black and white drawings made in a big scale on the walls, which form a collage of images that stretches out like a city landscape, an imaginary. Different looking curtains are placed in front of the drawings, which can be used by the spectator to reveal and cover the landscape.
The curtains imply the characteristic feature of our culture of seeing the home as a private sphere, in opposition to the public space. Our image of the city protects the private from the public insight in the form of curtains.

The drawing on the other hand is a manual and individual expression, a kind of shaper of identity and image, just as subjective and unique as the self in itself. The repetition, the reproduction of the drawings takes a position on the collective, the common city identity, whose conditions are defined by a contextual constraint.

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Citymind Lahti 30.1.–15.2.2004

Published 29/01/2004 by Platform

Tommi Autio and Mikael Vallgren, Lahden lyhyt oppimäärä (The short story of Lahti) 2003, soundwork

The inspiration for the work has been the soundscape in the middle of which the city inhabitants live. It contains facts about Lahti, from different parts of town and some special details from the personal histories of the artists. Originally it was made for the market square of Lahti, where it was heard during the Night of the Arts in 2003.

Sari Hakala, Tällä paikalla (In this place) 2004, Photo installation

The installation is a subjective and everyday experience of Lahti. The work consists of fragments of personal history and places, small memories that are saved for the future, in this case in mini-grip plastic bags.

Pekka Purhonen, Three short videoperformances in Lahti City 2003, UN Sight Seeing Tour In Lahti, L.S.D Lahden Sculpture Department, Wunder Traum (wonder dream).

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Germany meets Hungary

Published 23/01/2004 by Platform

Sven Eggers, Tamas T. Kaszas & Krisztian Kristof| 23.1.2004

Platform invited visiting artist at Ateljé Stundars Sven Eggers(D) and Tamas T. Kaszas(H) and Krisztian Kristof(H), both visiting artists in the AiR- program in Nykarleby.

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Citymind Lahti

Published 03/01/2004 by Platform

30.1–15.2.2004

Tommi Autio and Mikael Vallgren, Lahden lyhyt oppimäärä (The short story of Lahti) 2003, soundwork
The inspiration for the work has been the sounds cape in the middle of which the city inhabitant live. It contains facts about Lahti, from different parts of town and some special details from the personal histories of the artists. Originally it was made for the market square of Lahti, where it was heard at the long night of the arts in 2003.

Sari Hakala, Tällä paikalla (In this place) 2004, Photo installation
The installation is a subjective and everyday experience of Lahti. The work consists of fragments of personal history and places, small memories that are saved for the future, in this case in mini-grip plastic bags.

Pekka Purhonen, Three short videoperformances in Lahti City 2003, UN Sight Seeing Tour In Lahti, L.S.D Lahden Sculpture Department, Wunder Traum (wonder dream).

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Fastforward/Fastrewind

Published 04/12/2003 by Platform

Stefan Otto | 4.12–12.1.2003

Stefan Otto (SWE) has been working with video and photo. In his work there are movie references that usually are films about the unknown. The purpose has been to describe and use the elements creating an atmosphere. He deliberately leaves away, cuts away all storytelling to focus on the expression.

In his new work Stefan Otto still uses the language of film. The difference is that instead of the earlier references to films he uses personal imagination. In this process the arranged, simulated has a greater role in transmitting something special. The photos and video that Stefan Otto shows in the exhibition seem to include a moment, before or after something happened. These moments create a feeling of a mythical non-place.

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Learning by doing

Published 04/11/2003 by Platform

1.11–15.11.2003

Platform made an exhibition at Verkligheten in Umeå. This was the second part of the joint exhibition by the members of Platform and the artist-run gallery Verkligheten (The Reality) in Umeå (S) on the theme Place and Identity.

Verkligheten

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INT.VS.03

Published 24/10/2003 by Platform

25.10–22.11.2003

The screening contains works of 9 artists with different background and expression. The exhibition deals with different perceptions and possibilities of the contemporary moving picture as documentation and as work of art. The exhibition is put togheter of works sent in as a result of an open international invitation.

25.10 – 22.11.2003
PLATFORM presents an international videoscreening INT.VS.03The screening contains works of 9 artists with
different background and expression. The exhibition
deals with differet perceptions and possibilities of
the contemporary moving picture as documentation and
as work of art. The exhibition is put togheter of
works sent in as a result of an open international
invitation.

Artists:

Jennifer Bonn, France
Miha Erman, Slovenia
Tricia Middleton och Joel taylor, Canada
Per Hüttner, Sweden
KissPál Szabolcs, Hungary
Boris Duhm, Sweden
David Buob, Germany
Anne Elizabeth Low, Canada

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iD

Published 04/06/2003 by Platform

at Ostrobothnian Museum, Tikanoja Art Museum, aasa City Art Hall and Platform | 14.6–19.8.2003

Place an identity was the frame we chose for making iD, an international exhibition in all mayor art venues in town and the theme was also the starting point for a number of projects before iD. The goal was to visualise the different ways a room or place emerges and how it is transformed, how the identity is created and named and above all how the place and the understanding of the self grows together.

It is a storytelling where we know the direction in general, but we never know what is going to happen along the way, in the next junction, which road or path we will choose. This means surprises and mysteries.
It is also an invitation – a hand reached out. A gesture that asks everyone that are present here, all willing to participate in a process where place, time, and identity is created in the city. This took take place in a town called Vaasa.

The aim of the iD-project was to present a multifaceted overview of contemporary art in an exhibition whose theme and content engage people and offer a visual experience. iD is directed at a local, regional, national and also an international audience, including both professionals and the general public.

The theme of the exhibition was locality, identity, and minority position in relation to the ever more globalised reality we live in. The objective is to use modern art as a means to interpret the pervasive changes that have taken place in the world. The starting point of the exhibition is: Is attachment to place and regional identity gaining in importance? In this context attachment to place is seen as something more than merely physical presence, i.e. living in a certain place. What we are looking for, more specifically, is a constructive critical point of view and a sense of presence within a tradition. On the one hand, this theme gives each spectator a frame of reference: Who am I, where am I and what is the relationship between these questions? On the other hand, there is also a basis for deeper reflection.
The fact that Vaasa is a city on the periphery from the viewpoint of contemporary art gives the theme a special significance and opens up interesting vistas.

The curators of the exhibition are Mika Hannula and Ulrika Ferm. They invited 18 Finnish and international artists. Most of the artists are active in the wide field of contemporary art and use the new means of expression available. In addition to traditional painting and graphic art, there was also videos, installations, photographies and different forms of social art in which the active participation of the audience is an essential feature of the art work.

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Verkligheten i Platform

Published 04/05/2003 by Platform

11.5–1.6.2003

A joint exhibition by the members of Platform and the artist-run gallery Verkligheten (The Reality) in Umeå (S) on the theme Place and Identity.

The project was an initiative by the two artist-run galleries to create a collaboration were artists in the both regions express, widen, concentrate and deal with the concept of identity from a local and regional starting point. The main issue was to create a dialogue and relation between the artists across the sea of Kvarken, as well as bring to the fore the theme identity in a local perspective in time for the international contemporary exhibition ID that will take place in several institutions in Vasa during the summer of 2003.

During the exhibition there were also a number of discussions connected to the exhibition:
Grasspopper: Sven-Erik Klinkman (Vaasa) and Thomas May, (Germany) were invited to talk about ”locality-identity”.
VIB: Markko Hauttala, (Vaasa), Oda Projesi, (Istanbul) and Ulrika Ferm, (Berlin)
Markko Hauttala did a talk about his novel ”Kirottu maa”, Oda Projesi did an artist talk, as well as Ulrika Ferm.

The second part of the project will take place in Umeå, where the members of Platform will do an exhibition called Learning by doing in November.

The project was supported by the Kvarken Council, the regional council for Finland and Sweden in the area of the sea of Kvarken, to increase the exchange between the artists in the region.

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Black is black and the light we walk upon

Published 04/04/2003 by Platform

Ralf Wallis | 1.4–24.4.2003

The exhibition of Ralf Wallis consisted of three images. The images had a monochrome character with a sense of shape. He combined wood-cut, painting together with the interactivity of the audience in the project space. In the darkened room the existence of both the abstract and the concrete light was reflected. During the opening Wallis did a performance; Black is black and the light we walk upon.

Wallis is dean for the cultural sector at the Swedish Polytechnic in Nykarleby (FIN).