PERFORMING TRANSITION

Performing Transition is a screening that takes place at Kiasma Theatre on Sunday, 29.7.2012 at 13:00–14:00, in cooperation with URB 12, the festival of urban art. The project is presented by curator Necmi Sönmez as part of his curatorial residency at HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme.

Performing Transition explores the complex relationship between attempts to investigate public space as a site for artistic reflection and the onslaught of public advertisement in its many forms, which may have great appeal but limited intellectual substance. Performing Transition aims to offer an alternative, to demonstrate the possibility of generating initiatives that combine unspectacular but vivid visual imagery with social relevance. This screening brings together different artistic positions from five countries (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, US) and the residents of Helsinki.

The video works by the invited artists bring forth many different interpretations of public space. One of the themes shared by the works in Performing Transition is the relationship with performance, its various methods and meanings, and its consciously selected forms such as posing, adopting a fictional role or concretely constructing an artificial setting. The main context of Performing Transition is the disputed terrain between public space and commercial interests. The selected works with their individual viewpoints provide us with ways to approach and understand many cultural and artistic phenomena, like mystification, abstraction and narration.

Artists and Works: Pilvi Takala (Born 1981, lives and works in Amsterdam/Istanbul) - Easy Rider, 2006, 4:25 min., DVD. Michael John Whelan (Born 1977, lives and works in Berlin) - Chaoskamp, 2012, 5:00 min., dimensions variable. Magnus Thierfelder (Born 1976, lives and works in Malmö) - All of this and nothing and nothing, 2012, 2:04 min., dimensions variable Emil Salto (Born 1968, lives and works in Copenhagen) - Stills from Hands, 2011, 7:00 min. loop. Anthea Behm (Born 1977, lives and works in New York) - Adorno/Bueller, 2011–2012, 13:33 min., single channel HD video loop.

Necmi Sönmez is an independent curator and art historian who lives and works in Düsseldorf and Istanbul. www.necmisoenmez.de

PERFORMING TRANSITION
Screening at Kiasma Theatre: 29.7.2012, 13:00–14:00
Kurator: Necmi Sönmez

Künstler: Pilvi Takala, Michael John Whelan, Magnus Thierfelder, Emil Salto, Anthea Behm