19.7.–12.8.2012

Domènec

The Worker’s Hand

The exhibition The Worker’s Hand (Rakentajan käsi), which opens at Cable Gallery on July 19, presents Spanish artist Domènec’s (b. 1962) new installation, which seeks to revisit the forgotten history of Kulttuuritalo (The House of Culture) designed by Alvar Aalto and built in 1952–58 in what was then the working class district of Kallio in Helsinki. The installation is the result of Domènec’s collaborative research with Helsinki-based Spanish curator Jon Irigoyen (b. 1978). The project was devised and carried out during Domènec’s artist residency at HIAP Suomenlinna in autumn 2011 and summer 2012.

Kulttuuritalo, a cultural complex housing a concert hall, offices, a theatre and a library, was commissioned by the SKP (Communist Party of Finland), and largely built by volunteers. The exhibition focuses on the volunteer workers, trade unionists and families who responded to the SKP’s call to build a “house for all workers” and gave more than 500,000 hours of their lives to the realisation of the project.

Revisiting the history of the construction of Kulttuuritalo, Domènec and Irigoyen’s project aims to recover the memories of the numerous militant workers and volunteers who participated in the collective construction of this symbol of modernism and icon of the Finnish labour movement. At the same time, the exhibition addresses the historical gap between the era when Kulttuuritalo was commissioned by the SKP, and the present moment, when the building has been transformed into an architectural monument stripped of its ideological ‘baggage’. This attempt to revisit the past prompts reflections on the collapse of the modern project and on the way we experience historical time.

Domènec’s artistic practice focuses on the debate that raged, since the 1960s, about the historical process called ‘the crisis of modernity’. In a deliberate expansion of the field of sculpture, Domènec has developed a universe of his own, which reflects the decline in the social visibility of the great modern narratives. In his works Domènec extols the metonymic power of modern architecture and provides a platform for a critical re-reading of the utopian aspect of modernity.

Jon Irigoyen is an independent curator and artist born in Bilbao, Spain, and currently based in Helsinki. He was a founding member of the experimental contemporary dance collective Liikë in Barcelona. Since 2009, he has been on the Board of Helsinki’s Pixelache Festival. His research interests and projects span the intersecting relationships between artist and spectator; the interaction between public and urban space; the perception of reality; as well as concepts such as autonomy, resistance and memory. Irigoyen has devised and implemented projects, exhibitions and workshops in Finland, Spain, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Colombia, Russia and elsewhere.

Thanks to:

Can Xalant Center for Creation and Contemporary Knowledge of Mataró, Institut Ramon Llull, CoNCA, Spanish Embassy in Finland, Pixelache Festival,

Pirjo Kaihovaara, Tiina Rajala, José M. Sánchez (Kinetic Pixel), The Association of Pensioners (Eläkeläiset ry), Ernest Borras, Berta Julivert.

Special thanks:

Kansan Arkisto and the Kulttuuritalo volunteers: Eine Kauppila, Osmo Halenius, Kerttu Laine, Antero Koski, Matti Lääperi, Toivo Lindroos, Elbe Novitsky, Irja Pesonen, Sisko Salonen, Petteri Sosoi, Riitta Suhonen, Tapio Rajala, Veijo Sinisalo.

Working in the project about Kulttuuritalo, “worker’s hand” Helsinki.

Series of portraits of Finnish workers and leftist militants that in the 50’s participate as a volunteers for building Kulttuuritalo.

Exhibition at the Cable Gallery, Helsinki, opening July 18

Kansan Arkisto, Helsinki, Jun 20

TO NI MUZEJ. Mobilne konstrukcije na preži
ESTO NO ES UN MUSEO. Artefactos móviles al acecho
Slovenski etnografski muzej, 14. maj – 17. junij 2012. Ljubljana, Slovenia

Workshop mentors: Domènec and Tadej Poga?ar

7?12.05.2012. MSUM Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana.

http://www.elinconformistadigital.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2015&mode=&order=0

OPEN CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

Workshop mentors: Domènec and Tadej Poga?ar

7?12.05.2012 Muzej sodobne umetnosti Metelkova – MSUM, Maistrova 3

The workshop is framed within the exhibition This is not a museum. Mobile devices lurking, curated by Martí Peran and exhibited from 14 May to 17 June at the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum in collaboration with the Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art plus Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova – MSUM, ACVic Centre for Contemporary Arts, P74, AC/?e and the Embassy of Spain in Ljubljana. This exhibition is an exercise of documentation and reflection on the construction of mobile artefacts as elements for an expanded concept of, or as an alternative to, the Museum.

Description of the workshop

Art, Social space and mobile devices consists on an intensive fieldwork where workshop participants will analyse the context of Slovenia, will question the conventional idea of museum as an institution, and reformulate the function of the exhibition display as a nomadic platform nurturing direct and self?managed participation. This research will lead to the design of a series of mobile prototypes. Participants will map public spaces and develop various elements for it, through interaction with the residents and temporary occupation of the space. The results of the workshop will be included to the itinerant exhibition.

Aims of the workshop

• Debate on the analysis of the relationship of mobility and locality as producers of knowledge.

• Observation of how cultural practices can promote a translation of social forces as vectors for a subjective and political transformation.

• Exchange of perspectives among artists and participants

• Construction of prototypes and/or mobile artefacts in Slovenia to introduce them in the itinerant exhibition.

• To combine spatial observation and social research, in order to gain knowledge of aspirations, necessities and shortages in the local context.

Who can participate?

The workshop is open to artists, architects, designers, educators, cultural managers, historians, social workers, and students of sociology, anthropology, art, architecture, design, education…

Workshop mentors

Domènec (Barcelona, Spain) Visual artist. Taking as his point of departure conceptual processes of reflection, Domènec has built up a sculptural and photographic body of work, along with installations and interventions in public space. He has taken part in several projects In Situ and international projects of Public Art in different places like Ireland, Mexico, Belgium, France, Italy, USA, Brazil, Argentine, Israel and Palestine. He is a coeditor of the art magazine Roulotte. At present he is member of the Board of Directors of Can Xalant. Centre for Creation and Contemporary Thought in Mataró.

Tadej Poga?ar (Ljubljana, Slovenia) artist, educator and curator. He is the founder and artistic director of the Center and Gallery P74 in Ljubljana; the founder and director of the P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum of Contemporary Art. In his current projects through the context of domination and power explores everyday life of modern city, co?operating planning and economics of urban minorities. Tadej Poga?ar has exhibited at the 10th Istanbul Biennial, 47th Sao Paulo Biennial, 49th Venice Biennial; PR 04, Puerto Rico; at Art in General, New York; Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, Mexico City.

Coordination: Adela Železnik, Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art plus Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova – MSUM and Laia Ros, Embassy of Spain in Ljubljana.

Applications: To register in the workshop please send an e?mail to info@mglj.si. Attach a brief text (5 lines) of your motivation. The deadline for registrations is May 2, 2012. Places are limited.

For more information: info@espanacultura.si