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. 

At HundrED, https://hundred.org, we research and share inspiring innovations in education. We provide visibility to innovations that are valuable, impactful & scalable to foster an inclusive movement across the world.

I am part of the growing HundrED Community as a part of the HundrED Academy for the HundrED Spotlight on Visual Arts in Education. As a HundrED Advisory Board Member, I work to identify and recommend education innovations that are changing the way our children learn. I also try or support trial of innovations in my area of expertise Visual Arts. Using my area of expertise in education, I help HundrED to identify innovations that are impactful and scalable!

​Thank you for welcoming me to the HundrED Community!

​XX arlene

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to escalate and continue to test humanity, it has also given us a push to find different ways of supporting and inspiring one another. I am very excited to be a part of Hello World as a participating artist and venue (Translation is Dialogue).  Seeing and being connected with all these great artists, projects, initiatives and communities around the world let's me see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Mary Sherman from TransCultural Exchange writes, "On June 20, 2020 – the summer/winter solstice, the longest/shortest day of the year – the nonprofit organization TransCultural Exchange invites people everywhere to join Hello World’s (virtual) trek around the globe. Visitors can peruse, photos, prints and installations by artists from Argentina to Zambia with many stops along the way. Included are artists’ films and videos, trailers of dance performances and musical pieces from France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Egypt, China and Brazil, along with scores of others. There is also the possibility for people to participate with works from Kyrgyzstan, the UK, US, Brazil and more – and all without anyone having to leave the safety of their home.

Hundreds of artists and arts and cultural venues from over 70 countries make up this tour.

Advance entrée to some of the places you can visit is <here>. The names of some of the artists whose works you will experience is <here>."

Take care and keep on doing what you do.

XOXO,
​arlene

I am so honoured and excited to be at TUO TUO from June 18th for a couple of weeks!

Many months ago, Kaitlyn Hamilton, one of the co-founders of TUO TUO, was going to join the Nonviolent Communication group Vishnu Vardhani and I ran as part of Pixelache Lab.  For many reasons, concrete and mystical, that did not happen.  As Kaitlyn, so sweetly proposed the other day, perhaps that mishap was just a catalyst for our meeting.  NVC may have brought us together, but the rest is for us to figure out.  I, too, am a believer of trusting the universe and this is what has fallen onto my path.

This was supposed to be the summer I was going to return to Taiwan to visit my family as I haven't seen them already in years.  Corona came, which put all long distance travel plans on hold.  I am so thankful for TUO TUO for hosting me and then I cannot wait to continue my trip to Kuopio and to Iisälmi to see Emma Fält and all of my dear friends there.  Thankful for the people I have in my life and for living in such a beautiful country.  After such a long dark winter, Finland finally graces us with a beautiful summer.  Light for night and a thousand lakes that drift into the sea.

While at TUO TUO I will continue Free Translation Sessions, Solmu Sarja Knot Series, and continue the development of my hair project.  You are most welcome to join any of these events or to have a some tea with me.  Please click on the links to see how you can participate.

Finally, I will have time to delve into my own thoughts and experiment!  My conversation with Des Pawson last month got my mind even more spinning on the raw complexity yet refined simplicity a knot carries.  My daily conversations with my mom have been a huge source of inspiration and continue to comfort me in these strange times where uncertainty seems to blanket over everything.  How any of this will manifest itself is yet to be seen.  

I am there in this knot.

Join me.

XOXO
arlene

Welcome to Free Translation Sessions with JAC (The Justice Arts Coalition) on the following Thursdays, June 11th, 18th, 25th, and July 2nd on ZOOM from 12:00 - 1:30 pm EST (9am California, 12pm NYC, 7pm Helsinki)

On June 11th we will make a translation of a work by Оксана Крутицкая (Oksana Krytickaya).

On June 18th we will have an open discussion about your translations with Оксана Крутицкая (Oksana Krytickaya).

On June 25th we will make a translation of a work by Tomas.

On July 2nd we will have an open discussion about your translations with ​Tomas.

Free Translation is a multi-disciplinary project showcasing international works by currently and formerly incarcerated people, and anyone affected by imprisonment. In these sessions we use translation techniques as a means of creatively interpreting works of art and word. This means that we interpret the meaning of the works and create new works of art based on the translations. This can be a translation into another language or another medium. For example, a poem can be manifested into a photograph and a drawing can be written as a letter. In this way, we make new works of art and literature, and attempt to understand each other and open up dialogue.

During the 90 minute open art making session we will create translations of the works by Оксана Крутицкая (Oksana Krytickaya) and another Free Translation artist to be announced later. In the following sessions we will then speak with the artist and review the translations of their work. With your consent, artworks will be added to the Free Translation exhibition for the general public to see and continue the dialogue.

PURCHASE TICKETS FOR THIS WORKSHOP SEQUENCE, AS WELL AS JAC'S OTHER CREATE + CONNECT EVENTS, AT THIS LINK: https://bit.ly/3cAW8iV

https://freetranslation.prisonspace.org

About the facilitators:
Anastasia Artemeva is a visual and socially-engaged artist and researcher. Anastasia was born in Moscow, Russia, and lived in Ireland for many years before moving to Helsinki. Her socially-engaged creative projects explore and create space for communication and interaction. Conceptually, its activities are based on codes of social norms and accepted truths, which are influenced by socio-political, cultural and personal limitations and boundaries. Anastasia works in the genre of drawing, art installation, performance, creates artwork for theatrical productions and conducts art workshops.

Arlene Tucker is an artist and educator, and her work focuses on adding play elements to daily life through her art. Inspired by translation studies and animals she finds ways to connect and make meaning in our shared environments. Her process-based artistic work creates spaces and situations for exchange, dialogue, and transformations to occur and surprise all players. She is interested in creating projects that open up ideas and that engage the viewer; that invite the viewer to be a part of the narrative or art creation process. In translation, your participation continues to propel the story.

Free Translation Sessions is a collaboration of two projects both based in Helsinki: Prison Outside and Translation is Dialogue (TID). Prison Outside is an independent project founded in 2015. The research behind this project is centered on the subjects of imprisonment, justice, and the role of the arts in the relationships between people in prisons and people outside. TID is an art installation that generates a new project every time it is presented. TID uses translation techniques to not only produce art, but also understand what is being communicated. https://prisonspace.org https://www.translationisdialogue.org

The Justice Arts Coalition is a national network and resource for those creating art in and around the criminal legal system. https://thejusticeartscoalition.org/

All around the world we are dealing with, in our own way, COVID-19.  For many of us, we are or have been homebound. This time has given us the opportunity to challenge what it means to be together and to find new ways of creating, figuring out, and learning. 2B, a class of second graders at Ressu Comprehensive School in Helsinki, Finland have reached out to kids living in the USA, Taiwan, New Zealand and South Africa to see what their experience has been like during March to May 2020.

2B: What kind of rules do you have to follow in your country? 在你的国家你有什麼的規則？Minkälaisia sääntöjä teidän täytyy noudattaa maassanne?
AO Helsinki: In Finland we cannot go to parties or anything like that.
MC NYC: We cannot visit friends. We have social distance. We can’t play team sports. We have to wear a mask when we are going to be near others. We can’t go to school. It’s really boring.
NC NYC: We have to social distance and stay away from others. We can’t go to school or visit our friends, and we have to wear a mask or face covering when we are going to be in close proximity with others. 
CS Helsinki: In Finland we have to stay away from other people. For example, we can't go to parks or birthday parties. 
JT Cape Town: We have to stay at home all the freaking time!!!!!! 
SS Helsinki: We are trying not to go much outside, stay home and stay safe. Whenever we are going out , we are wearing a mouth mask , we are not going that close to people, we are not touching anything outside and we are washing our hand very good.
K&C Xinyin: 戴口罩，勤洗手，外出活動時，須保持室內1.5公尺，室外1公尺以上的社交距離。(Wear a mask, wash hands frequently, and keep a social distance of 1.5 meters indoors and more than 1 meter outdoors when we go out.)
Hunter Christchurch: social distancing and not going out when you dont need to
​
2B: How many times do you go to the shop in a week?  Are you allowed to go to the shop?   您每週有幾次去超市？你有允許去商店购买嗎？Kuinka monta kertaa viikossa käyt kaupassa? Saatko käydä kaupassa?
AL Helsinki: We go about 2-3 times a week.  Usually my mom doesn’t let my sister or me go to the shop.
MC NYC: Only one person from the household. Someone in our family goes once a week.
NC NYC: We go about once a week. Only one person from each household is allowed to go, so I don’t go. 
CS Helsinki : My dad goes to the shop once or twice a week. 
LH Helsinki: Well about 1-2 a week. Helsinki
LS Helsinki In Finland we can go to the shop but I dont go to the shop. I order food.
MD Helsinki: I don’t often but sometimes, for example yesterday, me and my mum went to
buy a football and a skateboard for me.
JT Cape Town: I am not allowed to go just one of my parents go to the shop once a week and only for food. 
K&C Xinyin: 隨時都可以去超市，我們每週至少會去一次。(You can go to the supermarket at any time, we will go at least once a week.)
Hunter Christchurch: about 3 times a week

2B: How often do you go outside?  你几次可以出门？Kuinka usein käyt ulkona?
MC NYC: Almost every day. We go rollerblading, scooting and skateboarding at the park.
NC NYC: We go outside almost every day. We go to the park, and we rollerblade, scooter, skateboard, and play soccer there.
CS Helsinki: We go out mostly just to go biking, scooting and skateboarding. 
JT Cape Town: We can only go outside in our yard we slack line and jog around the house. 
SS Helsinki: We are going outside for walk and only for 20 or 30 minutes.
K&C Xinyin: 我們每天都能上學，生活一切正常。(We can go to school every day and everything is normal.)
Hunter Christchurch: everyday, we have a large section

2B: Do you feel trapped in your home?  你有被困在家裡的感覺嗎？Tuntuuko sinusta siltä, että olet kuin vankilassa kun olet kotona?
MC NYC: Yes.
NC NYC: No, because we have a big house and we have a backyard and basement.
CS Helsinki: No because we go out quite often but we wear masks for safety. 
LH Helsinki: Sometimes.
ET Helsinki: Yes, sometimes even though we have a back yard and a forest nearby.
SJ Helsinki:Yes.
LS Helsinki No I do not feel trapped in my house.     
JT Cape Town:Yes i feel kind of trapped but we do have a big property.
K&C Xinyin: 沒有喔!我們可以正常出門。(Nope, we can go as usual.)
Hunter Christchurch: no

2B: Do you get homework and if you do how much?  你的学校有没有给你功课做? 是不是很多? Saatko kotitehtäviä ja jos kyllä, niin kuinka paljon?
MC NYC: Sometimes we get a little. Sometimes a lot.
NC NYC: I get homework almost every day, and sometimes it’s a lot, sometimes, it’s a little. 
Yes, but a good amount.
CS Helsinki: Yes, but a good amount. 
SJ Helsinki: Yes, enough.
JT Cape Town: Yes, enough.
SS Helsinki: Yes,I am getting lots of homework and I am completing all the homework on the same day.
K&C Xinyin: 每天都有功課。(There’s homework every day.)
Hunter Christchurch: yes and i get normal amount

2B: What do you do when you are bored at home?  What do you do for fun? 你在家会觉无聊嗎？你有没有好玩的事情可以做嗎？Mitä teet kun sinulla on tulsa kotona? Mitä teet kun haluat pitää hauskaa?
MC NYC: Video games, reading, legos, and drawing. 
CS Helsinki:  Legos, Video games, unfinished handicrafts and reading
NC NYC: When I am bored, I normally read, play legos, or work on a school project. For fun, I read, play board games, watch TV, play legos, draw, and work on projects. 
ET Helsinki: I call my friends, go outside to play with my sister and Mum, bake with my Mum and siblings, draw & paint, play inside.
SJ Helsinki: Play legos and board games.
JT Cape town: I play video games, watch tv and do backflips. 
SS Helsinki : I play with my toys,watch tablet and also doing lot of planting.
K&C Xinyin: 不會，我們喜歡在家，可以做自己喜歡的事情。(No, we like to be at home because we can do what we like.)
KD Helsinki: I read, play on my tablet, do scratch on my computer, and play lego, cricket, football
Hunter Christchurch: play playstation, or with the cats or on roblox

2B: Even though you are at home, can you get food from school? 即使您在家，你可以从学校拿午餐回来吗? Kuitenkin kun olet kotona, voitko saada koulusta ruoat? 
MC NYC: Yes. Families can pick up food from the school.
NC NYC: Yes, people are able to pick up food from school to eat. 
CS Helsinki : Yes but we don't do it.
SJ Helsinki: Yes. but we don't go get it.
JT Cape Town: Not in our area, but other areas. 
KD Helsinki: Yeah but I don’t go to get it. I like my home’s  food most.
SS Helsinki: Yes, but we are not going to the school to get the food.
K&C Xinyin: 也許不可以。(Maybe not.)
Hunter Christchurch: no

2B: How do you feel when you’re at home? 你在家感觉如何? Miltä tuntuu kun olet kotona?
MC NYC: Happy and bored.
NC NYC: When I am home, I feel bored, happy, and energetic.
CS Helsinki: Bored, Cheerful, and restless. 
SJ Helsinki: Bored. Happy.
JT Cape Town: I am happy.
SS Helsinki : I am having mixed feeling , sometimes I feel happy to play on my tablet and sometimes I feel sad because i can’t go out to play.
K&C Xinyin: 我很喜歡在家，但是每天都要上學。(I really like to be at home, but I have to go to school every day.)
KD Helsinki: I feel weird and far from my friends
Hunter Christchurch: the same as how i feel usually

2B: Do you have distance learning?  If so, how do you feel about homeschooling?  你有没有长王陆学习?  假如这样你觉得怎么样?  Onko sinulla etäopetusta? Jos kyllä, miltä tuntuu sinusta etäopetus?
MC NYC: We are home schooling and it is okay. What I like about it is I still get to my friends on Zoom.
NC NYC: We still have distance learning. I like it because the school work is easier and school takes less time. Also, I get to stay home, sleep in, take breaks when I feel like it, and watch TV every night.
CS Helsinki: We have home schooling and I like it because you can do everything at your own pace and you can see your friends even if you're at home.
SJ Helsinki: Good. I like when I can see my friends on Google Meet.
JT Cape Town: I don't really like home schooling.
SS Helsinki : Yes , We have distance learning and I am ok with it.
K&C Xinyin: 目前沒有，不過學校有讓我們在家練習過! (Not right now, but the school has let us practice at home!)
KD Helsinki: Yes I have distance learning going on. It is good as far as studies are concerned, however I feel really bad when I don’t get a chance to meet my teachers, friends. I miss playing football at school in the afternoon club.
Hunter Christchurch: yes and i feel ok with it. its a bit harder without a teacher

2B: What do you do to protect yourself from Corona / Covid-19?  您如何保護自己免受Corona / Covid-19的侵害? Miten suojaudut koronalta?
MC NYC: We wear masks and stay at home, and wash our hands.
NC NYC:  We wear masks, social distance, minimize going outside, and wash our hands.
CS Helsinki: We wear masks, wash our food deliveries, social distancing and wash our hands. 
SJ Helsinki: I don’t go to the store or see my friends. I was my hands. My mom washes our grocery deliveries.
JT Cape Town: Stay home. Wash hands. 
SS Helsinki : I keep myself at home and not go outside too much. I am washing my hands regularly. 
K&C Xinyin: 常常洗手，外出 戴口罩。 (Wash your hands often, when you go out wear a mask.)
KD Helsinki: To protect myself wear a  turtleneck to protect myself because I don’t have a proper mask.
Hunter Christchurch: i stay home

2B: Can you leave your home?  If so, can you use public transportation like we can in Finland?  你可以離開家嗎？你可以公共交通跟我们在芬兰一样嗎？Voitko päästä ulos kotoa? Jos niin, voitko käyttää julkista liikennettä kuten voimme Suomessa?
MC NYC: Yes we can leave our home. Yes but mostly only essential workers take public transportation now.
NC NYC: We can still leave our home, and public transportation is still available, but it is mostly only used by essential workers.
CS Helsinki : We can go outside but our family doesn't use public transportation.
JT Cape Town: We can not leave our home. 
SS Helsinki : We are going out for short walk but we are not using any public transportation.
K&C Xinyin: 我們可以離開家，但是盡量避免搭大眾運輸工具。(We can leave home, but try to avoid taking public transportation.)
Hunter Christchurch: yes and yes

2B: Are you scared of the Coronavirus?  你害怕吗?  Pelkäätkö Koronavirusta? 
MC NYC: No I’m not scared.
NC NYC: No I’m not scared.
KH Helsinki: I am not scared of the coronavirus.
CS Helsinki: Nope, I am not scared of COVID 19. 
MD Helsinki: I am not scared of CORONA/COVID-19 at all.
JT Cape Town: no
SS Helsinki : I am not scared.
K&C Xinyin: 不害怕。(Not afraid.)
KD Helsinki: I am not scared of corona but I feel worried about the people with corona.
Hunter Christchurch: no because it hasn’t affected me

2B: In your country, when did the lockdown start? 在你的国家什么时候开始近足处们?  Sinun maassasi, milloin sisälle suojautuminen alkoi?
MC NYC: 5 weeks in NY of staying at home. 
NC NYC: In NY, it has been five weeks since the lockdown started.
CS Helsinki: End of march but our family started the lockdown in mid march. 
JT Cape Town: 26th of March
SS Helsinki : Mid of march.
K&C Xinyin: 沒有。(We don’t have.)
KD Helsinki: It started in mid March. When it was my friend Aarne’s birthday.
Hunter Christchurch: 25th March

2B: Do you know when you can go back to school? 你知道什麼時候可以回學校嗎？Tiedätkö milloin voit mennä takaisin kouluun? 
MC NYC: No, but maybe next year.
KH Helsinki: I don’t know but maybe in the middle of May.
CS Helsinki: maybe mid may.
NC NYC: No, but it will probably next year in September.
JT Cape Town: Do not know, but maybe June. 
SS Helsinki: I don’t know , maybe next year.
K&C Xinyin: 我們正常上學。(We go to school normally.)
KD Helsinki: Well maybe in August
AT Helsinki: We just found out that we will go back to school on May 14th.
Hunter Christchurch: no, not yet

2B: Is toilet paper where you live expensive?  你们那里的卫生纸很贵吗?  Onko vessapaperi kallista missä asut? ​
MC NYC: Not really but sometimes there is none, or some at the store. 
NC NYC: Not really, but sometimes there is none at the store, or only a little bit. 
CS Helsinki : We usually order two packets of toilet paper from the store but sometimes there comes only one. 
JT Cape Town: No.
SS Helsinki : It is not expensive.
K&C Xinyin: 不會。(No.)
KD Helsinki: It is not expensive in Finland.
Hunter Christchurch: no, NZ$9 for 18 rolls of 4ply

We are happy to announce that Mechanics of Conformity (MOC) will bring a "dialogue-based piece" to Mänttä Art Festival this year.

”TO ERR IS HUMAN”
We have worked over the last three years to thoroughly investigate our personal and collective relations to hair and its inevitable sociopolitical inter-relational contexts. We also focused on facilitating conversations through "hair and art making" and here we go!! We are super thankful to everyone who participated, shared and listened to us with openness, trust and interest.

The festival is open from June 14 to August 31, 2020.

Thank you Anna Ruth, the curator of the exhibition, for the inclusion.  And thank you Suomen Kulttuurirahasto for their support.

To read more about Mänttä Art Festival, please click here.  MOC got a mention in Aamulehti. We are honoured to share this experience with so many talented artists.

Everybody is warmly welcome. See you at Mänttä!

With love,
Rosamaría, Edwina, Sepideh and Arlene