University of the Arts Helsinki organises a Research Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale. The pavilion is situated in the island of Giudecca and will be open for public from May 7th to June 30th.
The first pavilion in the history of the biennale to be dedicated to research will consist of a top-notch international contemporary art exhibition and a platform for events that feature artistic research. The dynamic between artistic research and contemporary art will be explored through the theme of experimentality.
While the exhibition showcases contemporary art, the research events will ask: How does experimentality manifest itself in contemporary art? Has the discourse on artistic research and its methodologies redefined our ideas of experiments and experimentality? Does artistic research facilitate the emergence of new ways to discover connections between science, aesthetics and politics?
The exhibition in the Research Pavilion features artists from Finland and elsewhere in Europe. The artists are Tiong Ang, Magnus Bärtås, Dirk Hoyer, Henna-Riikka Halonen, Simo Kellokumpu, Matts Leiderstam, Antti Nykyri, Maija Närhinen, Tuula Närhinen, Janis Rafailidou, Heli Rekula and Hito Steyerl.
Parallel to the exhibition, the pavilion will host events throughout the exhibition period: lab projects, discussions, screenings, interventions, seminars and performative situations.
The commissioner of the Research Pavilion is Professor Anita Seppä, PhD, and it is curated by artist Jan Kaila, DFA, and Professor Henk Slager, PhD. The project is coordinated by Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Arts Helsinki.
Research Pavilion
Sala del Camino, Campo S. Cosmo
Giudecca, 621 Venice
7 May – 30 June 2015
Open daily 12.00–17.00
Opening party 6 May 2015 from 18.00–20.00
www.uniarts.fi/en/research-pavilion
The programme of the Research Pavilion: opening week
6.5. Opening of the Exhibition Experimentality from 18.00–20.00. Chicks on Speed art collective present the artformance: HUMAN COMPUTER DISTRACTION
7.5. PowerPoint – Interstices of Art making and Artistic Research” A symposium consisting of series of events, workshops and performances by the researchers of TAhTO Doctoral Programme throughout the day. These events offer reflections on the nature of artistic research both on individual and general level. 11.00–17.00.
8.5. Be-Longing: ‘Sense of Belonging’ in relation to Locality and Escapism as Artistic Techniques.
A symposium dealing with questions arising from the concept of “belonging” to place, nationality, language or identity. Speakers: Edna Barromi Perlman, Itay Ziv, Agnieszka Pindera, Ibtisam Mara’ana – Menuhin. 10.30–16.00.
In cooperation with:
EARN (European Artistic Research Network), Valand Academy (University of Gothenburg), MaHKU Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design, Journal for Artistic Research (JAR), GradCAM (Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media, Dublin), and Frame Visual Art Finland and the Alvar Aalto Pavilion of Finland.
Photo: Tuula Närhinen. From the series PROTOSCOPES – Looking Through the Glass, and What I Found There, 2015.