Aalto students' public art projects featured at award-winning ANTI-Festival
ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival is an international site-specific contemporary art event that has been held annually in Kuopio since 2002. Participation in the festival is free of charge for the public.
Aalto University has had a long-standing collaboration with the ANTI Festival, offering students opportunities to create participatory public art projects. The festival serves as a platform for an artistic research course, providing students with hands-on experience as artists and producers.
This year, three projects by Aalto’s art and media students were featured at the festival: "Sensed Urban Space," "As if at Home," and "Unspoken, from Line to Line."
WORKSHOP: SENSED URBAN SPACE
Lotta Rahkonen, Simone St Clair Stevenson & Oona Kaitera
The "Sensed Urban Space" workshop explored what kinds of experiences emerge when we navigate an urban space by following sensory cues. The idea was to move through familiar cityscapes in an unconventional way and observe whether this changes one’s perception of the space.
The workshop began by collecting cards from Galleria Ars Libera, which guided participants in exploring the city of Kuopio through sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound. Participants could either take part in a guided or self-directed workshop, documenting their routes along the way. A small exhibition of these materials was then created in the workshop's base at Kuopion Kuvataiteilijat ry’s Galleria Ars Libera.
AS IF AT HOME
Simo Sahlman & Viola Portimojärvi
"As if at Home" was a community-based event that explored the differences and similarities between one’s home and a public “nesting place.” Participants, in this family-friendly event, were encouraged to claim their own nest using materials provided, such as picnic blankets, pizza boxes, rag rugs, backpacks, and stones.
Participants were also invited to bring their own materials, snacks, games, and instruments for building their nest. They were encouraged to invite friends over and get to know the "neighbors" around them. Those interested could also take part in drawing and writing activities.
UNSPOKEN, FROM LINE TO LINE
Siiri Turpeinen & Paula Savolainen
The workshop "Unspoken, from Line to Line" invited participants to experience the power of collective drawing in an interactive performance. The goal was to explore how we can communicate our emotions and ideas together without words, using only lines.
In the performance, a large sheet of paper served as the canvas for enthusiastic participants, who were invited to move and draw together under the guidance of artists Paula and Siiri. Attendees could also simply observe or be present in the space to experience the shared atmosphere.
Awarded festival
The Finnish Arts Promotion Centre (TAIKE) awarded the ANTI-Festival with the State Award for Social Impact in Art in 2023. According to TAIKE, "The event, which is highly visible throughout the city center, demonstrates how curated collections of live art works can profoundly shake our understanding of the world and leave lasting imprints on how we interact as humans and as part of a planetary whole."
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