*****************************English below*********************************

Puhutaan hiuksista!
la 2.3. klo 12-16, Kulttuurikeskus Vuotalo

Vuotalon kevään prosessinäyttely ”Mitä me tolle sun tukalle tehdään?” käsittelee hiuksia ja siihen liittyviä identiteettikysymyksiä. Osana kevään näyttelyä järjestetään myös Puhutaan hiuksista! -tapahtuma, jossa puhutaan tietysti hiuksista. Päivän päättää Chris Rockin tähdittämä Good Hair –dokumenttielokuva.

Dialogiin on kutsuttu taiteilijoita, jotka ovat käsitelleet tavalla tai toisella hiuksia ja identiteettiä töissään Suomessa ja Suomen ulkopuolella. Mukana ovat Mechanics of Conformity -kollektiivin taiteilijat: Rosamaria Bolom, Edwina Goldstone, Sepideh Rahaa ja Arlene Tucker sekä afrobrasilialainen tutkija ja toimittaja Silvana Bahia. Osana tapahtumaa on myös kevään prosessinäyttelyn taiteilijan Caroline Suinnerin taiteilijatapaaminen.

Tapahtuma järjestetään yhteistyössä Mechanics of Conformityn ja Koneen säätiön rahoittaman ARMA (Anti-Racism Media Activist Alliance) – hankkeen kanssa.

Tapahtuman kielet: englanti, portugali, suomi.

Vapaa pääsy!

OHJELMA
12.00-12.45 Silvana Bahian alustus ja KBELA –elokuva (Vuosali)
12.45-14.00 Mechanics of Conformity -kollektiivin videoteokset (Vuosali)
14.00-15.00 Keskustelu (Vuosali)
15.00-15.45 Caroline Suinnerin taiteilijatapaaminen (Galleria)
16.00-17.30 Good Hair –elokuva (Vuosali)

12.00-12.45 Silvana Bahia & KBELA –elokuva (Vuosali)
Silvana Bahia on afrobrasilialainen tutkija, toimittaja, elokuvantekijä ja aktivisti. Hän on keväällä 2019 Koneen säätiön residenssivieraana osana säätiön rahoittamaa ARMA-hanketta. Olabin tavoitteena on demokratisoida teknologiaa ja lisätä teknologia-alan sukupuolista ja etnistä monimuotoisuutta. Puhutaan hiuksista! -tapahtumassa hän alustaa Yasmin Thaynán lyhytelokuvan KBELA, joka on visuaalisesti vaikuttava elokuva ja oodi afrobrasilialaisten naisten hiuksille. Kieli: englanti ja portugali.

13.00-14.45 Mechanics of Conformity -kollektiivin alustus ja videoteokset (Vuosali)
MOC –taiteilijakollektiivin taiteilijat Rosamaria Bolom, Edwina Goldstone, Sepideh Rahaa ja Arlene Tucker ovat teoksissaan tutkineet hiuksia - niiden runsautta, puuttumista, leikkaamista, kasvattamista, värjäämistä ja hoitamista niin yksilöllisyyden kuin yhdenmukaisuuden ilmentymänä. Puhutaan hiuksista -tapahtumassa katsotaan kollektiivin videoteokset, jonka jälkeen keskustellaan keskustelu. Kieli: englanti.

15.00-15.45 Caroline Suinnerin taiteilijatapaaminen (Galleria)
Caroline Suinner on Vuotalon kevään prosessinäyttelyn “Mitä me tälle sun tukalle tehdään“ -taiteilija. Näyttelyssä Suinner kokoaa yhteen ulkonäköön ja hiuksiin liittyviä kokemuksia Itä-Helsingissä. Puhutaan hiuksista –tapahtumassa on mahdollista tavata tutustua kevään aikana rakentuvaan näyttelyyn ja tavata taiteilija Caroline Suinner. Kieli englanti ja suomi.

Näyttely Vuotalon galleriassa: 26.1.-25.5.2019, vapaa pääsy.

16.00-17.30 Good Hair –elokuva (Vuosali)
Dokumenttielokuvassa näyttelijä Chris Rock tutkii afroamerikkalaisia kauneusihanteita ja käsitettä Good hair, jolla afro-amerikkalaisessa kulttuurissa viitataan pehmeisiin, helppohoitoisiin ja tavoiteltuihin afrohiuksiin. Kesto. 96 min. Kieli: englanti.

_____________________________________________________

LET'S TALK ABOUT HAIR
2nd of March from 12-16:00, Cultural Center Vuotalo

The spring process exhibition of the Vuosaari House, “Mitä me tolle sun tukalle tehdään” (‘What are we going to do with your hair’) discusses hair and the identity questions linked to hair.

A Let’s talk about hair! afternoon will also be held as a part of the spring exhibition, featuring films and discussion about hair. Both Finnish and international artists that have incorporated hair and identity in their works in one way or another have been invited to take part in this dialogue. The artists of Mechanics of Conformity will take part in the event: Rosamaria Bolom, Edwina Goldstone, Sepideh Rahaa and Arlene Tucker as well as Afro-Brazilian researcher and journalist Silvana Bahia. An artist meeting with Caroline Suinner will also be held earlier during the day.

Language English, Portuguese, Finnish

PROGRAM
12.00-12.45 Silvana Bahia’s introduction & movie KBELA (Vuosali)
12.45-14.00 Mechanics of Conformity collective’s video art
14.00-15.00 Discussion (Vuosali)
15.00-15.45 Meet and greet Caroline Suinner (Galleria)
16.00-17.30 Movie: Good Hair (Vuosali)

www.vuotalo.fi/

MECHANICS OF CONFORMITY (MOC) Part II
A collaboration between Catalysti artists and Objekti festival 2018

As part of Objekti Festival, there will be an exhibition at Trapesa 14.6-2.9.2018. In addition, there will be two public events in the form of a conversational piece. The events are organized at Trapesa on Friday, the 15th of June and on Friday, the 17th of August from 17:30 to 20:30.
​
Our collective project investigates the excess, absence, cutting, covering, growing, coloring and grooming of hair as both the materialization of individuality and of conformity. As an artistic medium and mediator of meaning, hair can communicate a sense of self and otherness. In this sense, it can either uphold or upset conventional distinctions between divisions of gender, race, region and religion. From these issues, hair epitomizes a global yet subjective social and personal significance.

Within this collaboration, four women explore concepts of identity, relationships, perceptions, liberation and otherness through hair. Ask a woman about her hair, and she just might tell you the story of her life. Catalysti artists who have shaped MOC collective are Rosamaria Bolom, Edwina Goldstone, Sepideh Rahaa and Arlene Tucker. MOC collective has been created around the subject of hair and from early 2017.

Ask a woman about her hair, and she just might tell you the story of her life. Ask a whole bunch of women about their hair, and you could get a history of the world. 

How do they look at us?
How do we look at ourselves?
How do the others look at each other?

Description of the works by each artist

Arlene Tucker: 
​Intertwined looks at how family members relate to each other despite their shared DNA. Here, the concept of family also extends to individuals welcomed by choice. This piece is a continuation of Arlene Tucker’s Hair Tree (2017), which gathered family members scattered over four continents by collecting cuttings of their hair. Moving inwards, she attempts to comb through memories to understand where and how knots are formed. Tucker hopes this will further open dialogue about family and with family.

Edwina Goldstone:
Watching Me, Watching You, Watching Me, follows the metamorphosis of an image through many stages as it follows the twists and turns of the artist's decision-making and memory process as she recalls and connects past & present conversations about ‘Hair’, with all the ambivalent, contradictory ideas and mixed feelings that are attached to it. Added together as an animated sequence the drawings form a peculiar imaginative narrative that never remains constant but grows and morphs with thought and time.

Romamaría Bolom:
Last year, Mechanics of Conformity Collaboration lead me to a deeper reflection about how norms and values are introjected into our behavior since our childhood. A series of images came to me. I could remember three efficient rituals whose normative beliefs affect behavior. Me recuerdo a mi misma // I remember my self // Muistan itseni, is a mask and a ritual for a society that judges us and teaches us how to behave ourselves from childhood to old age. Also, not to be punished or excluded that are established and normalized. 

Sepideh Rahaa:
Entangled- ME & HAIR is an ongoing project where Rahaa is addressing her personal identity and its relation to hair, where hair plays a significant role in her daily life interacting with others in the society, how we connect and disconnect based on our appearance. Artist has used series of life memories and experiences conveying the core concept through performing art, poetry and video.

http://objekti.net/
http://www.catalysti.fi/

This project is supported by The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).

Aalto University wrote a snippet about OBJEKTI. I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to work with all of these amazing artists.  Years ago when I was an exchange student at Aalto University, I took Andy Best's class “Media Intervention in the City”, which OBJEKTI was born from.  I believe my class was the first class Andy had.  That was in 2011!  

Excerpt from the article:
The group exhibition OBJEKTI returns to Espoo centre this summer for its fourth edition with a diverse and exciting line up of artists and projects. This year there is a strong focus on ecological and social themes. The exhibition is open 14.6.-2.9.2018.

There are sixteen artists participating with a total of twelve projects. Many works have been especially created for OBJEKTI and are site-specific to their locations. The exhibition represents different forms of contemporary art – sculpture, installation, sound art, community and participatory projects.

Many of the artists work or study at Aalto University. The artists taking part are: Heini Aho, Art & Process (Ari Björn ja Heini Matveinen), Bartaku, Rosamaría Bolom, Edwina Goldstone, Ramina Habibollah, Parsa Kamehkhosh, Sanna Karlsson-Sutisna, Petri Kuljuntausta, Maria Mastola, Tuula Närhinen, Sepideh Rahaa, Tiina Raitanen, Satu-Minna Suorajärvi and Arlene Tucker. 

I am extremely happy with the selection of artists and artworks for this year’s OBJEKTI” says curator and organiser of the exhibition Andy Best, who is the Head of General Studies and Sculpture lecturer at Aalto University. “It is always exciting to work with the artists and begin the installation process, as ideas turn into reality. This year’s show will be challenging, but hopefully fascinating for locals and visitors alike. Many of the works deal with critically important topics such as climate change, mass extinctions, and the migrant crisis, yet relate to them in poetic, creative ways. Other works ask us to question time, existence, and our place in the world.”

​Read the full article here.