Kanssaelo / Beings with
Fiskars Village Biennale
Fiskars, Finland
Curated by Jenni Nurmenniemi
May 19 - September 15, 2019
The contemporary art part of the biennale, titled Beings with, delved into the wonders and troubles of togetherness. From symbiotic to other kinds of interdependencies, questions of coexistence connected the artworks in the exhibition. In many ways, my curatorial work was guided by one of the ever-pertinent challenges of so called human existence: how can one become better at living together and dealing with differences?
The artworks selected or commissioned for the exhibition, from these eighteen artists, utilized a wide range of artistic methods and languages to explore the ways in which human lives have evolved with and continue to be shaped by extra-human forces. They also tackled human attempts to make sense of and master each other and the rest of the planet-dwellers. The artists’ approaches varied wildly from abstraction to immersion to participatory situations. One common nominator was the willingness to explore how an artist’s work is always shaped by a mesh of invisible forces and material agencies, instead of individual artists creating sublime visions in a vacuum. Many of the artists in the exhibition are happily breaking this myth, acknowledging that every form of life is inseparable from the ecosystems that support it, whatever our part in life.
Jenni Nurmenniemi, curator
Artists : Lene Baadsvigormen, Leah Beeferman, Marjolijn Dijkman, Ramina Habibollah, Johannes Heldén, Alma Heikkilä, Dambi Kim, Jaana Laakkonen, Tuomas A. Laitinen, Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens, Candice Lin, Elina Minn & Co., nabbteeri, Laura Põld, Aki Sasamoto, Raimo Saarinen, Tove Storch et Louise Waite.
Work presented: Anthology of Performance Pieces for Animals.
Artist Book
Kanssaelo | Beings with, Fiskars Biennale (2019)
