12.8.-10.10.2021 / Kohta Taidehalli

Kohta dedicates its 20th exhibition to an issue that will always be highly political, no matter how much intelligence is invested into preventing it from being politicised: artistic freedom and what institutions and curators can do to protect and promote it.

‘First International Festival of Manuports’ makes no grand policy statement about the freedom of art, but it does attempt to further the freedom of artists through experimental practice. The open call for contemporary palm-sized artworks and the hand-over of the kunsthalle’s walls to two experienced muralists are concrete gestures meant to delegate decision-making to artists and allow us to stage an international event in a time of continued restrictions for travelling and gathering.

No institution could or should aspire to fully control such a setup. Yet the words ‘gesture’ and ‘stage’ are selected with care. Delegating doesn’t mean abdicating, and overall programming is always the prime task of every art institution, regardless of how much control it chooses to relinquish to others – artists, audiences, sometimes even funders or regulators – for a given venture.

For this exhibition Kohta decided to test the feasibility of the open call format. We advertised globally, and specifically in Finland and Sweden, asking anyone self-identifying as an artist to send us a ‘manuport’. This is the archaeological term for ‘a natural object, especially a stone, that has been carried and deposited somewhere by humans but has not been artificially shaped.

The oldest known manuport is the so-called Makapansgat pebble, a piece of jasperite that once fit into the palm of one of the oldest relatives of humankind roaming what is now South Africa, where it was discovered in 1925. What makes the pebble so interesting (apart from its clear resemblance to a face and the doubt as to whether its shape has been enhanced) is that it was found four kilometres away from the nearest natural source of jasperite, together with bones of the Australopithecus africanus that are three million years old.

Such prehistoric readymades, usually invoking animals or human body parts, seem to indicate that even our earliest ancestors were capable of non-utilitarian cognition, aesthetic appreciation and possibly language, and that image-thinking is almost unimaginably old, certainly predating the earliest surviving cage paintings.

Kohta proposed a world-wide collective exercise in ‘futuring’ this ancient heritage. At the same time we wanted to revive the artistic internationalism of the last century, not least the mail art movement with its important contributions from both ‘centres’ and ‘peripheries’. By not putting the more than 300 submissions through any form of selection we privileged the freedom of artists to create and exhibit over the right of the institution to judge and organise.

At the same time, a kunsthalle must always have a show that communicates with the world of art at home and abroad and hopefully unites the experimental and the exquisite. We have therefore also invited two artists with extensive experience of making murals, especially temporary ones that will be painted over once the show is over.

Oscar Chan Yik Long (Hong Kong/France, 1988) is active in the Hong Kong, Mainland Chinese and Western European art scenes and is known for his black-and-white figurative work in ink, graphite and other techniques. His imagery references Oriental mythology, twentieth-century cinema (notably horror movies) and late-nineteenth-century Occidental graphic art.

Chan has made an immersive installation for Kohta’s smaller space, consisting of two elements: a wall painting in Chinese ink titled Pun-Gu (2021), and Cosmic Egg (2021), a circular woollen rug manufactured according to his design. Both refer to the central Chinese creation myth. In the beginning of time Pun-Gu, the first being whose name consists of the words for ‘coil’ (originally ‘beginning’) and ‘ancient’ (originally ‘calabash’), was born from an egg that held the entire cosmos.

Pun-Gu had no children or other relatives, but he is sometimes – as in Chan’s riotously detailed and calligraphic mural – depicted together with the ‘Four Guardians’ of Chinese mythology: the azure dragon (wood, spring, east), the vermillion bird (fire, summer, south), the white tiger (metal, autumn, west) and the black tortoise (water, winter, north).

Pavel Mikushev (Republic of Komi, Russian Federation, 1962) is a leading member of the ethno-futurist movement within visual art, theatre and literature in Russia’s Finno-Ugric republics, constituted in the early 1990s under the motto ‘Leaning on the Past, Working for the Future’. His painting fuses inspiration from various sources – among them archaeological objects in the so-called Permian animal style from ca 800 BC–1200 CE, the ancient art of dot painting still practiced by the original inhabitants of Australia and Russian avant-garde art of the 1920s – into a vibrant and colourful yet cerebral synthesis of the ornamental and the narrative.

The exhibition is organised by Kunsthalle Kohta. The M. A. Castrén Association, which promotes cultural exchange between Finland and the Finno-Ugrian minorities of the Russian Federation, has generously supported Pavel Mikushev’s participation. HIAP kindly supported Oscar Chan Yik Long’s participation by offering him a studio at Suomenlinna in February 2021. Gallery EXIT in Hong Kong helped organise the production of his rug.

Armenian curator Sona Stepanyan has helped Kohta organise this exhibition, as part of her MA in curatorial studies at Stockholm University.

Almost 300 artists  from 36 countries on five continents have contributed contemporary manuports:

Liina Aalto-Setälä(FI); Tony Abrahamsson(SE); Murat Adash(UK); Neal Alexander(CO); Madelene Alexandersson(SE); Anonymous(BR); Minna Arponen(FI); Claudia Aula & Maria Laakkonen (FI); Jeff Bagato(US); Katarina Balunova(SK); Andreas Behn-Eschenburg(CH/FI); Aafke Bennema(NL); Gustav Biot(BE); Sara Bjarland(FI/NL); Olga Bloch(FI); Sara Blosseville(FI); Henderson Blumer(US); Arthur Bondar(UA/RU); VE Bossert(DE); Gerbrand Burger(NL); Betty Böhm(DE); David Cantarero Tomás (ES); RadkaČastkova(CZ); Lola Cervantes(FI); Alexander Charistos(AT); Yi-Wen Chen(TW); Anna Cherednikova(FI); Lawrence Chit(US); Ryosuke Cohen(JP); Pessoa Conceptual (EU); Norbert Costin(RO); Pira Cousin(FI); Aski Dahl(SE); Rigmor Dahlqvist(SE); Manya Doñaque(ES); Anca Vintila Dragu(RO); Esra Düzen(TR/NO); Pablo Echaurren(IT); Daria Edström(SE); Päivi Eerola(FI); Sara Ekholm Eriksson(SE); Nils Ekman(SE); Tommy Eriksson(SE); Catherine Evans(DE); Wolfgang Faller(DE); Francesca Falli(IT); Farhod Fakharzadeh(FI); Hanne Fatah(BE); Daniel Fernandes(PT); Rainer Fest(DE); Miriam Fib(FI); Tizzi Fib(FI); Luc Fierens(BE); Forest Camp(FI); Valdemar Forsman(FI); Emelia French(NZ); Brian Fridge(US); Anna Helena Fröman(SE); Fundacja Art House(Sam Stevens & Aleksandra Wałaszek, PL); Rosalie Gancie(US); John Gayer(FI); Wiktoria Gazda (PL); Nicole Rose Gelormino(US); Isabel Arroyo Gomez(ES); Dipali Gupta(MY); Ludvig Gustafsson(SE); Seth Guy(UK); Anna-Kaisa Haanaho(FI); Marie Hahne (DE/JP); Jonna Halli(FI); James Halvorson(US); Ritva Harle(FI); Anni Haunia(FI); Maria Hedenskog(SE); Pia Hedström(SE); Mollu Heino(FI); Sirpa Hannele Heinonen(FI); Gosia Herc(US); HILO-project (Hilde Iren Dølheim & Linn Obrestad, NO);  Kaija Hinkula(FI); Jördis Hirsch(DE); Flis Holland(FI); Elina Honkanen(FI); Juliana Hyrri(FI); Emilia Hytönen(FI); Pietari Hyvärinen(FI); Sofi Häkkinen(FI); Paula Iglesias(US); Sinimaria Ikonen(FI); Aino Johansson(FI); Emma Johansson(FI); Saimi Joutsi(FI); Saddam Jumaily(IQ/FI); Johanna Juupaluoma(FI); Anne Järvi(FI); Sanna-Mari Kaipio(FI); Laura Kaker& Shado Hart(FI); Annu Kapulainen(FI); Johan FKarlsson(SE); Flo Kasearu(EE); Myrtillius Kauria(FI); Simo Kellokumpu(FI); Sirkku Ketola(FI); Ellen Khansefid(US); Heidi Kilpeläinen(FI/UK); Iida Kilpeläinen(FI); Minjee Hwang Kim(KR/FI); Johanna Kindahl(SE); Kazuhio Kita(JP); Eva Kitok(SE); Marketa Kličova(DE); Sarah Kläpp(SE); Kaisu Koivisto(FI); Natalia Kopkina(FI); Saija Koponen(FI); Andreas Kopp(DE); Anna Stiina Korhonen(FI); Aki Koskinen(FI); Stina Koskinen(FI); Totti Korpua(FI); Marlo&Ena Kosovac(NZ); Katja Kotikoski(FI); Yasushi Koyama(FI); Kerstin Krieg(DE); Tina Kryhlmann(NO); Daniel Kuge(DE); Marek Kvetan(SK); Antti Kytömäki (FI); Marta Labad Arías(ES); Anke Land(NL); Laura Larocca(ES); Maria Lavman Vető(SE); Virpi Lehtonen(FI); Merja H Lepisto(FI); Maria Leskinen(FI); Teittinen Lizard(FI); Chingsum Jessye Luk(CH); Reinhard Mader(DE); Ville Mäkikoskela(FI); Russell Manning(US); Zagros Manuchar(FI); Anne Martin Walsh(IE); Christophe Massé(FR); Rei Matsushima(DE); Heidi Annina Mattila(FI); Päivi Maunu (FI); Kathleen McFall(US); Mimi McPartlan(FI); Fred Michiels(BE); Hanneriina Moisseinen(FI); Rachel Morellet(IT); Joanna Mortreux(FR); Grigor Muradyan(AM); Iwo Myrin(SE); Leena Mäki-Patola(FI); Katri Naukkarinen(FI); Anne Nickels(SE); Anna Niskanen(FI); Maritta Nurmi(FI); Jussi Nykänen(FI); Antti Nyyssölä(FI); Egle Oddo(IT/FI); JO Olbrich(DE); Tyna Ontko(US); Hannah Ouramo(FI); Piia Paananen(FI); Jaakko Pallasvuo(FI); Tiina Palm(FI); Daniel Pantano(UK); Pirjo Partanen(FI); Claire Paugam(IS); Sue Pedley(AU); Kati Peltola(FI); Pier Pennings(NL); Ovidiu Petca(RO); Ieva Pētersone(LV/IT); Jaakko Pietiläinen(FI); Piotr Pietrus(DE); Mari Pihjalakoski(FI); Henrietta Pitkänen (FI); Carolina Pretell(DE); R Prost(US); Robert Quint(FR); Jasmine Reimer(DE); Von Reybeklel(SE); Mireia Rocher(SE); Griselda Rosas(CA); Vincent Roumagnac(FR/FI); Elisa Rovamo(FI); Andreia Rus(RO); Jakub Rykita(PL/UK); Johanna Rytkölä(FI); Sarah Råholm(FI); Helena Saari(FI); Karla Sachse(DE); Katariina Salmijärvi(FI); Greta Salonen(FI); Alexander Salvesen(FI); Roberto Santaguida(CA); Eda Şarman(TR); Eva Saver(IT); Roberto Scala(IT); Magnus Scharmanoff(FI); Andrea Schiffers(DE); Nina Schipoff(CH); Meike Schlemmer(DE); Mia Seppälä(FI); Sharon Shamay(IL); Soji Shimazu(DE); Joanna Sieradzka(PL); Salla Sillgren(FI); Hanna Sjöstrand(SE/NO); Georgina Sleap(UK); Jeff Slomba(US); Jenni Sokura(FI); Elias Sormanen(FI); Jason Southgate(SE); Petra Staav(SE); Gloria Currie Stanley(CA); Darija Stipanić(HR); David Straange(US); Matej Strojan(SI/FI); Katharina Stumm(DE); Matti Sumari(SE); Abby M Sunde(US); Sabrina Suominen(FI); Helén Svensson(SE);  Veera Tamminen(FI); Emilia Tanner(FI); Helen Tak(SE); Tuija Teiska(FI); Tarja Tella(FI); Alena Tereshko(RU/FI); Susanna Tillander(FI); Marika Tiukkanen(FI); to kosie (FI); Gunnhild Torgersen(NO); Juan Toro(CO/ES); Maija Toropainen(FI); Rose-Mari Torpo(FI); Horst Tress(DE); Anu Tuominen(FI); Sanna Ulvila(FI); Saarni Vaara(FI); Elina Vainio(FI); Sanna Vainionpää(FI); Mariliina Valkama(FI); Marloes van Son(NL/FI); Marius van Zandwijk(NL); Diana Varela de Molinari (AR); Varialambo(Varia Sjöström&Hatz Lambo, DE/FI); Rita Vargas(PT/FI); Yana Vasilyeva(RU); Inari Virmakoski(FI); Johanna Virtanen(FI); Marika Viskari(FI); Svetlana Voutilainen(FI); Aleksandra Wałaszek(PL); TobiasWassberg(SE); MikaelaWassmund(FI); Monica Wickström(FI); Melanie Wiksell(SE); Robin Wrinkler(DE); Tamara Wyndham(US); Man Yau(FI); Samuel Yang orJuha Pekka Matias Laakkonen(FI); Sheung Yiu(HK/FI); Kari Yli-Annala(FI);  Eero Yrjölä(FI); Mika Yrjölä(FI); Oksana Yushko(UA/RU); Torsten Zenas Burns(FI); Josh Zielinski(DE); Echi Åberg(SE); Magdalena Åberg(FI); Jenny Åkerlund(SE); C Edström Ödemark(NO); Nils-Thomas Økland(NO); Erik Östemark(SE)

11.10. – 8.11.2020 Exhibition Laboratory, Helsinki

Toukokuulta koronan takia peruutettu maisterinäyttely järjestetään tänä vuonna loka-marraskuussa. Näyttelyyn osallistuu 39 kuvataiteen maisterin tutkintoaan viimeistelevää taiteilijaa Kuvataideakatemian opetusalueilta: maalaus, kuvanveisto, taidegrafiikka ja tila-aikataiteet.

Näyttely on esillä kolmessa näyttelytilassa:
Exhibition Laboratory C, Merimiehenkatu 36, C-rappu
Exhibition Laboratory B, Merimiehenkatu 36, B-rappu
Project Room, Lönnrotinkatu 35

Avoinna ti–su 11–18. Vapaa pääsy.Muutokset mahdollisia!

Sampo AatosHenna Aho Inka Bell Heta Bilaletdin Anna Broms Laura Dahlberg Ida Sofia Fleming Venla Helenius Kaija Hinkula Tuomas Holst Verna Joki Maaria Jokimies Topi Juntunen Hanna Kanto Teresa Kari Reetta Koskinen Aura Kotkavirta Eva Lamppu Iisa Lepistö Aino Lintunen Emma Luukkala Maisa Majakka Sari Majander Inga Meldere Emma Nurminen Rosaliina Paavilainen Jaakko Pietiläinen Sampsa Pirtola Iiri Poteri Salome Rajanti Mia Saharla Sandra Schneider Val Smets Emilia Tanner Lauri Tiainen Toni Vallasjoki Timo Viialainen Sakari Vinko Risako Yamanoi

Opastetut kierrokset

Sunnuntai 25.10. klo 14: Taidekeräilijä, Kuvataideakatemian ystävät ry.:n puheenjohtaja Seppo Fränti. Rajoitettu osallistujamäärä, linkki ilmoittautumiseen tulossa.

Lauantai 31.10. klo 14: Anastasia Isakova ja Katariina Timonen ovat Amos Rexissä nähdyn Generation 2020 -näyttelyn kuraattoreita. He ovat opiskelleet Kuvataideakatemian Praxis-maisteriohjelmassa.

https://www.exhibitionlaboratory.fi/kuvan-kevat