It has been a pleasure working with Frame’s Programme Officer Dahlia El Broul and I look forward to meeting my matched curators and artists! I'm looking forward to connecting with them to discuss, develop and figure out how we can build bridges together.

Arlene

I am very happy to be one of the eight chosen artists/artist groups to be highlighted in PORTAL. The website recently launched so check it out! pportal.fi

"PORTAL is a platform where artists can meet up, share knowledge and create new collaborations. We want to create possibilities to network and form new ways of collaboration between groups, artists, institutions and other agents within the field of performative arts."

Stay tuned!

​XO arlene

Olen erittäin iloinen voidessani olla yksi kahdeksasta valitusta taiteilijasta / taiteilijaryhmästä, jotka nostetaan esiin PORTALissa. Sivusto on hiljattain perustettu, joten tarkista se! Pportal.fi

"PORTAL on paikka, jossa tekijät voivat kohdata, jakaa osaamistaan ja luoda uusia yhteistöitä. Tavoitteenamme on olla alusta verkostojen ja yhteistöiden rakentamiseksi vapaiden ryhmien, taiteilijoiden ja instituutioiden ja eri esitystaiteen toimijoiden välille."

Pysy kanavalla!

​XO arlene​

(English version below)

Avaus-hankkeet: moninaisuus pitää ottaa paremmin huomioon taide- ja kulttuurialallaAvaus-hankkeiden loppuraportti on julkaistu. Raportissa esitellään kahta hanketta: Avaus. Toimijaksi suomalaisella taide- ja kulttuurikentällä sekä Avaus 2.0 – Toimijasta mentoriksi.
 
Avaus-hankkeet ja niissä kerätty tutkimustieto osoittivat, että moninaisuuden parempaa huomioimista tarvitaan taide- ja kulttuurialalla. Moninaisuuden tulisi olla osa kokonaisvaltainen osa taide- ja kulttuurilaitosten strategista työtä. Taide- ja kulttuurilaitoksilla tulisi olla linjauksia ja suunnitelmia moninaisuutta edustavasta henkilöstöpolitiikasta. Rasismiin ja syrjintään tulee puuttua aktiivisesti. Taide- ja kulttuurialan henkilöstö tarvitsee lisää koulutusta rasismin ja syrjinnän tunnistamisesta ja siihen puuttumisesta. Ulkomaalaistaustaisten – ja rodullistettujen – taiteilijoiden ja kulttuurialan ammattilaisten vuoropuhelua taide- ja kulttuurilaitosten kanssa tarvitaan. Kannustamme taide- ja kulttuurialan laitoksia hyödyntämään Avaus 2.0 -hankkeessa koulutettujen moninaisuusagenttien asiantuntemusta.
 
Avaus-hankkeet 2017–2020. Loppuraportti [PDF]
Avaus-hankkeet 2017–2020. Loppuraportti [DOCX]
 
Kulttuuria kaikille -palvelun koordinoima ja yhdessä Kulttuuripolitiikan tutkimuskeskus Cuporen ja Globe Art Point ry:n kanssa toteuttama hanke Avaus. Toimijaksi suomalaisella taide- ja kulttuurikentällä (2017–2019) kartoitti miten suomalaiset taide- ja kulttuurilaitokset huomioivat kulttuurista moninaisuutta. Hanketta rahoittivat opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö sekä Opetushallitus.
 
Avaus 2.0 – Toimijasta mentoriksi -hanke (2019–2020) oli jatkohanke, joka sai Opetushallitukselta rahoitusta. Avaus 2.0 -hankkeen tavoite oli edistää kulttuurista moninaisuutta taide- ja kulttuurikentällä kouluttamalla ulkomaalaissyntyisiä ja -taustaisia taiteilijoita ja kulttuurialan ammattilaisia moninaisuusagenteiksi.
 
Tutustu myös muihin Avaus-hankkeissa tuotettuihin materiaaleihin:
Avaus-moninaisuustietopaketti (PDF)
Avaus-moninaisuustietopaketti (saavutettava DOCX)
 
Tietoa moninaisuusagenteista ja esite
Cuporen tutkimus Avaus. Ulkomaalaistaustaisten taide- ja kulttuurialan ammattilaisten asema Suomessa
Avaus-hankkeen loppuseminaarin tallenne 2020 (YouTube)
Lue lisää Avaus-hankkeesta.
 
Kulttuuria kaikille -palveluRaportin julkaisija Kulttuuria kaikille -palvelu / Yhdenvertaisen kulttuurin puolesta ry edistää osallistumiselle avoimia ja monenlaisia yleisöjä ja tekijöitä huomioivia kulttuuripalveluja. Se tarjoaa tietoa ja työkaluja taidealan saavutettavuuden, moninaisuuden ja yhdenvertaisuuden edistämiseen. www.kulttuuriakaikille.fi

Parhaillaan vietetään rasisminvastaista viikkoa.

Tästä viikosta alkaen pitkin kevättä järjestetään lastenkulttuuriin liitännäisenä kulttuurin moninaisuuden toimintaa teemalla "juhlat".

Jokaisessa maassa juhlitaan keväisin erinäisiä asioita. Viiden kunnan koululaiset pääsevät maailmanympärysmatkalle sukeltamaan eri maiden kulttuureihin animaatiokoosteen, näyttelyn, taidetehtävien ja työpajojen välityksellä. Toimintaan osallistuu Forssa, Tammela, Jokioinen, Humppila ja Ypäjä.

Työpajojen avulla on tarkoitus oppia uusia asioita eri maiden kulttuureista ja luoda samalla jotain uutta taiteen avulla. Työpajoja vetävät ulkomaalaistaustaiset taiteilijat Anastasia Artemeva, Arlene Tucker ja Tomie Cho. Toiminta liittyy Taiken kulttuurin moninaisuuden kehittämisohjelmaan yhteistyössä usean eri tahon kanssa.

Rasisminvastainen viikko pohjaa vuoteen 1966, jolloin YK:n yleiskokous julisti maaliskuun 21. päivän kansainväliseksi rotusyrjinnän vastaiseksi päiväksi, ja kehotti kansainvälistä yhteisöä lisäämään ponnistuksiaan kaiken rotusyrjinnän poistamiseksi.

​Kirjoittaja: Maikki Kantola

Anti-Racism Week is currently being celebrated.

From this week onwards, cultural diversity activities with the theme of "celebrations" will be organized alongside spring, in addition to children's culture.

Every country celebrates different things in the spring. Schoolchildren from five municipalities can travel around the world to dive into the cultures of different countries through an animation, an exhibition, art assignments and workshops. Children in Forssa, Tammela, Jokioinen, Humppila and Ypäjä participate in the activities.

The purpose of the workshops is to learn new things about the cultures of different countries and at the same time create something new through art. The workshops will be led by artists with a foreign background Anastasia Artemeva, Arlene Tucker and Tomie Cho. The activities are related to Taike's cultural diversity development program in cooperation with several different parties.

​Anti-Racism Week dates back to 1966, when the UN General Assembly declared 21 March International Day against Racial Discrimination and called on the international community to step up its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.

Author: Maikki Kantola

I am very happy that Dear You will be a part of Valencia Design Education Forum 2020 / #VDEF2020! The theme of this year’s forum is Analogue+Digital.

Welcome to the presentation/workshop “Mail Art + Pen Friends = Dear You Art Project” on Thursday, November 5th from 11-12 (EEST) and from 17-18 (EEST) there will be a Spanish speaking translator. Both presentations will happen via ZOOM. Register by emailing Arlene at arlene.dearyou(at)gmail.com. You will receive the ZOOM link after registration.

Dear You connects children, their teachers, and artists internationally by making and sharing art with new friends from abroad. Through this process of exchange, a child’s worldview is widened and their skills for self-expression are honed. The exchange of process-based art projects with their new friends living in all corners of the world opens up dialogue, perspectives, and understanding. 

Arlene Tucker, the founder and creator of Dear You, will share how the project has evolved since its inception in 2013. She will also give insight as to how digital and analogue practises have supported the project and exchange between all participants living in all corners of the world. Due to COVID-19, Dear You's methodology and practise of inclusion and exchange have been challenged.  She will share and open discussion how these challenges have pushed for more innovation to blossom. We will put these concepts into practise in an online process-based exercise.  By opening dialogue through art practise, we can create meaningful experiences and inclusive spaces.

Valencia Design Education Forum 2020 / #VDEF2020 is organised by the team of the New Art School, Glug Valencia and EASDV.

The mission of the VDEF2020 is to bring together industry, lecturers and students to discover new ways of working together, forging curriculum that is more appropriate for this time. VDEF2020 is a practitioner’s conference that seeks solutions that are immediately applicable for the betterment of Art and Design Education as a whole. We are looking to have an honest and open conversation about the current state of practice based art and design education.

For questions and submissions please email: design@newartschool.education

LIVE STREAM LINKS for #VDEF2020
MAIN STREAM CHANNEL https://www.youtube.com/c/thenewartschool

Also available at:
https://www.facebook.com/designeducationtalks
https://www.facebook.com/newartschool
https://www.twitch.tv/thenewartschool
https://www.pscp.tv/newartschool
https://www.pscp.tv/GlugValencia/

As I was tidying up today, I came across a paper and presentation I wrote for Semiosalong back in 2014.  The paper is a collection of interviews from people who have shared their thoughts on failure and error.  Click here to hear and see more.

 "Semiosalong is an ongoing biweekly salon style afterhours semiotic meetingplace. Semiosalong on Eesti Semiootika Seltsi egiidi all tegutsev mitteformaalne seminarisari, kus rakendatakse semiootilist analüüsimeetodit erinevatele maailma nähtustele ning tähistatakse seda, kui äge on semiootika." semiootika.ee/uritused/semiosalongid/semiosalong-2011-2015/

The book Sõbralik semiootika (editors Piret Karro and Kristin Orav) contains the texts of twenty-two Semiosalong lecturers, which are divided into three topics: art, culture and literature, and error, the latter according to special seminars on ERROR held in Tallinn in 2014. The collection includes articles from lecturers from the very first season in 2011 as well as from all the intermediate ones until this year, when regular and extraordinary seminars took place in Tartu and Tallinn.  To purchase this book, click here.

Excerpt from my chapter:
The difference between an error and failure can be seen playfully. Generally, in games we first lose points before we lose the game. In this sense, errors are a sum of the whole. Sometimes they can be viewed as tiny setbacks or if you’re lucky as a free pass. These mistakes count just as much as any other loss and tally up depending on the point system, but the damage depends on the players and rules of the game.
 
What is an error?
 
Christian Graupner (Artist): An error is when something went wrong.  Failure sounds more absolute, dead-end like. An error is a part of the creative process.
 
Therese Bogan (Therapist): I feel an error is small and it’s really an opportunity for adjustment.
 
Giorgio Convertito (Dancer and Dance maker): Most dance choreography is success-based: the movements, the spatial organization and the timing are often so precise that the possibility for error is very high. Basically, dancers are set-up for failure. On top of that there are technical errors always looming, in the form of music or light cue not being executed at the right time.
 
Setting yourself up for failure and being open to errors relieves the pressure for perfection or even mild success, for that matter. But I can’t help but think why are we going through all this trouble? Who’s being failed? I suppose we can fail ourselves, our audience, and what we think we have failed from the public’s perspective. If it’s all from subjective view then what if they didn’t know we made a mistake? Like a mask, we hide our errors and hope that nobody notices. Mishaps and boo-boos are bound to happen. Yes, they may have disappointed you, but on the other hand that’s how the cookie crumbled. The advantage is that no one will know it’s a mistake because you are the creator of your world. So why not befriend the enemy and incorporate errors into the plan?

From this angle, it looks ok:
Wambui Njuguna (Ashtanga Yoga teacher): Well, anytime someone needs a 'prop' to get into the pose. For example, in the first pose of the second series, pasasana, some people cannot put their heels to the floor due to stiffness, age or body type. So they put a rolled up mat or towel under the heels in order to balance in the pose. Is this failure or an ongoing error?
 
Anu: Laughter Yoga is based on the fact that fake laughter is just as good as real laughter so therefore I can't really think of laughter as failure nor error.​
​
If failure is understood and gauged by a set of criteria for success and its parameters then perhaps we should try to inch our way towards not having any expectations. Another option would be to create a pre-emptive strike and set our selves up for failure. Here is a suggested guideline for that:
1. Think of what would be the ideal situation for whatever you are trying to achieve or are going through at the moment.
2. Point out major and minor elements of the story.
3. Now exchange those parts with what you think would be the opposite of the ideal. I recommend playing around with how wretched and horrifying you imagine your nightmare to be.

I wonder how I would approach failure and error these days, but I know that what I did back then got me here, which I'm quite happy at this very moment. With that said, I continue to welcome and be grateful all the mistakes and hiccups that I have made along the way.

Numerous studies have shown that art and cultural activities strengthen the cultural capital of children, while supporting their identities and capacities to actively participate in society (Arts Equal, 2019). How can we expand diversity, high-quality and equal accessibility to these activities for all children? How can we affirm diversity and identity through children’s culture and education?

Panelist will share best practices, lessons learned, new ideas that can be applied as well as new questions and challenges to meet. These actors have a key role in pushing the limits in children's culture and education and many of them are actively working to overcome these challenges. Most of them are working in public institutions and/or in the third sector in Helsinki and the Metropolitan area. This Panel celebrates the 5th Anniversary of Kolibrí Festival.

PANELISTS:
- Cátia Suomalainen Pedrosa Suomalainen Pedroza, Helsinki City, Kulttuurikeskus Caisa 's Director
- Pirjetta Mulari, Helsinki City, Annantalo's Acting Director
- Ines Montalvao, Heureka the Finnish Science Centre; Concept & Experience Designer/Finnish Bio Art Society
- Analía Capponi-Savolainen, ArtsEqual research initiative Researcher

MODERATOR:
Arlene Tucker artist, educator and diversity agent

Language: English
Duration: 1.45 min
Production: Kulttuurikeskus Ninho ry thanks to the support of Svenska kulturfonden & Globe Art Point. & Caisa

COORDINATION:
Laura Gazzotti info(at)ninho.fi

Kolibrí is a unique multicultural, free and open art festival for the most diverse, plurilingual and intergenerational audiences. On this 5th anniversary of Kolibrí we will travel to the AMAZONIA, the heart of the World. We’ll get to know and be amazed by its biodiversity, the variety of its indigenous communities and their ancestral knowledge and cultures.

I am so proud to be the moderator for the panel discussion Children’s Culture & Diversity: Pushing Limits on Wednesday, September 23 from 17:00-19:00.  We will open up, challenge, and be critical of the following questions; How can we create diverse, high-quality and accessible activities to children? How can we promote diversity and identity through children’s culture and education?

We've got a great line up of talented, experienced, and extremely knowledgeable panelists. They will share best practices, lessons learned and new ideas as well as new questions and challenges to be faced.

Panelists:

• Cátia Suomalainen Pedroza, Helsinki City, Director of Kulttuurikeskus Caisa
• Eva Wilenius, Espoo City HelMet, Services Manager at Sello Library
• Pirjetta Mulari, Helsinki City, Acting Director of Annantalo
• Inês Montalvão, Heureka – the Finnish Science Centre Concept & Experience Designer. Finnish BioArt Society
• Analía Capponi-Savolainen, researcher at Sibelius Academy, UniArts Helsinki
• Johanna Nonna Mattila, theater practitioner, Chairwoman at Kulttuuriyhdistys Suomen Eucrea ry and culture secretary at Kynnys ry.
  
  

Welcome to Caisa in Helsinki or join online via Zoom. Register and join via Zoom by sending an email to info-kolibri(at)ninho.fi with "Diversity Panel" in the subject line.

See you there!

X arlene

Welcome to NSU Summer Program! A complete program can be found on the TracingTheSpirit.com page. There you may read about each Trace by clicking on the “Read more” link. More program points will be announced as the Summer Session approaches, so stay tuned. You may also find information about the Traces event on our facebook page. 

Knots/Solmuja will be held on Monday, June 27th from 12:00-12:30pm at Lapinlahden sairaala in Helsinki, Finland.  

Here's the programme for Sunday, June 26th on Harakka island:
https://tracingthespirit.com/session/c7-helsinki-gathering-parent-session/

Here's the programme for Monday, June 27th on Lapinlahden sairaala:
https://tracingthespirit.com/session/c7-lapinlahti-park-parent-session/

See you there!

​X arlene

Keynote speakers
Just like every year, two distinguished keynote speakers have been invited to the Summer Session. Our first guest is Prof. Steve Fuller who is Auguste Comte Professor of Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick, UK. Originally trained in history, philosophy and sociology of science at Columbia, Cambridge and Pittsburgh, Fuller is best known for his foundational work in the field of “social epistemology”, which is the name of a quarterly journal that he founded in 1987 as well as the first of his twenty-five books. From 2011 to 2014 he published a trilogy relating to the idea of a 'post-' or 'trans-' human future under the rubric of 'Humanity 2.0'. His most recent books are Post-Truth: Knowledge as a Power Game (Anthem 2018) and Nietzschean Meditations: Untimely Thoughts at the Dawn of the Transhuman Era (Schwabe 2019). Fuller is currently completing a follow-up to Post-Truth, also to be published by Anthem in 2020. His works have been translated into thirty languages. He was awarded a D.Litt. by the University of Warwick in 2007 for sustained lifelong contributions to scholarship. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the UK Academy of Social Sciences, and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Our second keynote is Nora Bateson who is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and educator, as well as President of the International Bateson Institute, based in Sweden. Her work asks the question “How we can improve our perception of the complexity we live within, so we may improve our interaction with the world?”. An international lecturer, researcher and writer, Nora wrote, directed and produced the award-winning documentary, An Ecology of Mind, a portrait of her father, Gregory Bateson. Her work brings the fields of biology, cognition, art, anthropology, psychology, and information technology together into a study of the patterns in ecology of living systems. Her book, Small Arcs of Larger Circles, released by Triarchy Press, UK, 2016 is a revolutionary personal approach to the study of systems and complexity. 

Find all information on the keynote sessions and links to register on the website.

Since 1950, the Nordic Summer University  (NSU) actively supports the cultivation of new ideas and growing research networks in the Nordic countries. As an independent, non-profit academic institution, NSU fosters the development of new research areas and emerging researchers in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Committed to egalitarian and interdisciplinary modes of learning, the NSU is open for senior scholars, doctoral and master students, as well as artists and professionals with relevant backgrounds. NSU is a non-profit organization, funded by Nordic Council of Ministers / Nordic Council (www.norden.org).

Konstrundan 2020 -osallistujat on nyt valittu: yhteensä 291 ammattitaiteilijaa, käsityöläistä ja muotoilijaa avaavat ateljeensa ja työpajansa yleisölle syyskuun toisena viikonloppuna 12.-13.9.2020. Tänä vuonna saimme hakemuksia 306 henkilöltä. 

Useissa vierailukohteissa työskentelee enemmän kuin yksi henkilö ja siten mukana on noin 190 vierailukohdetta Eckeröstä lännessä Kuopioon idässä ja Hangosta etelässä Inariin pohjoisessa. Alkuvuosina Konstrundanin osallistujat olivat enimmäkseen ruotsinkielisiltä rannikkoalueilta, mutta viime vuosina kiinnostus ja osallistuminen on mukavasti kasvanut kielirajojen yli myös maan suomenkielisille alueille. 

Tästä löydät kaikki osallistujat alueittain. 
​
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THE PARTICIPANTS FOR 2020 ARE CHOSEN

The participants for Konstrundan 2020 are now chosen. This year Konstrundan is arrangedduring the weekend 12-13 September.

​The participants for Konstrundan 2020 are now chosen: a total of 291 professional artists, artisans and designers will open the doors to their studios and workshops for the public during the weekend 12-13 September. This year 306 persons applied to participate. 

Many of the visiting points are shared working spaces of several artists, hence this year’s art circuit has 190 visiting points from Eckerö in the west to Kuopio in the east and from Hanko in the south to Inari up north.

During the first years of Konstrundan, most of the participants were from the Swedish speaking regions along the coast, but during the last few years the interest has gratifyingly grown over the language boundaries to include more of the Finnish-speaking regions of our country.

Here you find all the participants organised according to region.

Konstrundan is an established event, arranged in Finland since 2008. The goal of Konstrundan is to increase the understanding for professional contemporary art, craft and design as well as to promote creative work.

Konstrundan happens during the second weekend of September and we hope to gather over 15 000 visitors. We are hoping to organise the project according to plan, but are continuously monitoring the corona virus situation. As a new addition this year, and as a backup plan in case we have to cancel the physical Konstrundan, we are offering our participants the chance to present themselves with a short video on our website.