That Being Said,
That Being Said, an exhibition featuring international artists, a performance and a talk.
17.-19.11.2023
Friday 17–20 (Vernissage)
Saturday 11–21
Sunday 12–17
ARTISTS:
in conversation with Noora Lehtovuori.
EVENTS (free):
Saturday 18.11. at 19:00
Performance by talking through our bodies with Laura Jantunen, Parsa Kamehkhosh, Milka Luhtaniemi, Vilma Mankonen and Hanten Bureau
Sunday 19.11. at 13-14:30
Artist Talk moderated by Noora Lehtovuori
The exhibition and accompanying programme hosts an interplay of four artists’ works dealing with multifaceted perspectives, everyday acts, performativity and interpersonal interaction.
The exhibition picks up with a series of conversations between artist-curator Noora Lehtovuori and artists Alina Rentsch, Anna-Maria Saar, Sten Saarits and talking through our bodies (Kasia Zofia Gorniak). The four were originally brought together by Lehtovuori to take part in the group exhibition In Continuous Dialogue II, which was unfortunately canceled, and so followed the conception of this new, collectively organized exhibition. In That Being Said, the artists find the up-sides of down-scaling, shaping their works around regular conversations with each other. Spoken, printed and knitted words converge in the mediums of textile, soundscape, sculpture and moving image. Not unlike the emergence and exchange of ideas that led to the exhibition concept, elements such as sound and live bodies bounce from one end of the space to the other, invoking an environment which fluctuates between envelopment and release. A listening experience is choreographed, an act of repair is performed. A tablecloth overflowing with centrepieces speaks, a garment is decorated with semi-obscured meanings.
Since the renaissance, ceramic figurines have been used as decoration for ceremonial tables with the purpose of suggesting subjects of conversation to guests. In Great Weather, Alina Rentsch gathers these “conversation pieces” on a tablecloth, where the objects themselves enter into dialogue with each other. Taken out of their customary surroundings, the work questions their legibility today and proposes an alternative way of looking at these pieces, creating an environment conducive to exchange and conviviality, within a space that is less aligned with such qualities.
Anna-Maria Saar’s How to Describe Mending a Sock is a combination of works. It includes one partially repaired polycotton sock, a real-time video of the artist repairing a sock and three descriptions: from the perspective of the visually impaired, the researcher at the Estonian National Museum and the jewellery artist and advocate.
In Exit, by Sten Saarits, engaging in a dialogue goes beyond the mere exchange of information; it becomes an act of participation that exists within the broader context of working actively or passively within the framework of cultural norms, including the foundation of mutual respect. Throughout the summer, the artist recorded all of his phone calls, focusing on the negotiation of mutual conclusions for the call. What the audience hears are reenactments of these interactions by voice actors. These gestures often unfold within a backdrop of urgency and haste, which seems to be a prevalent theme when reflecting on a quarter-year’s worth of calls.
talking through our bodies presents the first garments of an upcoming knitwear collection titled What Does Performance Mean To You?, in the form of a multi-layered performance. The garments are based around definitions of performance, collected from ten artists working with the discipline in different ways. The work explores the role that performance can play in clothing and textile-oriented practice and is also an exercise into generating design content through dialogues with specific individuals.
The artists have been supported by The Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Swedish Arts Grants Committee.
Poster: Alina Rentsch
More information:
https://www.instagram.com/in_dialogue23/
