The third event of the Frame Espresso: Codependence series on Thursday November 30 focuses on matters more than human. It brings into dialogue artists, who challenge anthropocentric perspectives and practices in contemporary art with diverse means. What does it imply for aesthetics, or for the notions of agency and autonomy, when we shift attention to the myriad collaborators active in artistic processes?
The event features artists Juha Pekka Matias Laakkonen and Tuula Närhinen, and it is realized in collaboration with Kohta. The discussion is moderated by Frame’s Head of Programme Taru Elfving and it will be in Finnish.
Frame Espresso: Codependence is a discussion series developed out of the open call for the Finnish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2017, drawing from the rich selection of proposed projects addressing the many dependencies and exclusions haunting the notion of independence. The series brings together a diverse set of artistic projects that open up the complexity of these issues and their entanglements, clearing space for the unheard and the unseen, fostering cross-disciplinary dialogue, as well as unveiling our embodied and material implication in the codependencies that form the present.
Tuula Närhinen (b. 1967) is a visual artist based in Helsinki. Images derived from scientific investigation are the core of Närhinen’s art, along with a dry sense of humour. Her works are installations that consist of series of photographs, drawings or sculptures.
Juha Pekka Matias Laakkonen’s practice makes use of nature as raw material. His work often includes a performative element taking place in an isolated environment. Sometimes objects are produced in the course of the performance and
remain as the only trace of it. Born in Helsinki in 1982, currently living and working in Skövde, Sweden, Laakkonen has studied art at Nordiska Konstkolan in Kokkola, Finland and Malmö Art Academy in Sweden.
Frame Espresso: Codependence III
Thu 30th November, 4–6pm
Kohta, Työpajankatu 2 B, 3., Helsinki (Teurastamo area, building n.7)
Frame Espresso is a forum for critical discussions on current trends, topics and challenges within contemporary art. Frame Espresso is a wandering event that pops up at changing venues. It is organised in collaboration with various art organisations.
Image: Juha Pekka Matias Laakkonen.