by Lilja Birgisdóttir, IS; Katrín Elvarsdóttir, IS;
Hertta Kiiski, FI; Mari Krappala, FI
Cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth, characterized by inward spiraling winds. Cyclones are travelling exhibitions which lead us to the threshold of circular motions that follow the rotational direction of the earth. In Forum Box the group sets up the live art installation called Dinner Party with Cyclone.
What would happen, if we start to think, that human beings are not inherently superior to other living things, in a way that encompasses all species; human, seeds, plants, animals and bacteria are part of a system of interdependence. Dinner Party with Cyclone is an interdisciplinary processes of exploring this repositioning.
While we are reaching for bridges in-between nature and mind, animal and mineral, being and matter, we might ask: What if nature would not only be considered a subject of law, but a subject that process information. According to French philosopher, Michael Serres there is something that unifies us with the inorganic elements of nature from the scientific point of view, how we understand the notion of information. It challenges the distinction between human and non-human counterparts. Serres asks: ‘What do we do with information? We receive information, we emit information, we process information and we store information.’ He calls us to listen what is said both by living beings and the sustainability of our planet as a whole, to look for ways to let the planet speak.
Are we able to locate ourselves to be partners of all living beings and all things on the planet…
During the opening evening there will be a live-happening:
Selur is a performance devised by Lilja Birgisdóttir (ICE) and Elin Petersdottir (ICE/FIN). It explores human nature and human vs. nature. A series of encounters between human reality, animal reality, real life, virtual life, spirit animals, fake animals, human animals. The performance will be live on Instagram @fljotid, starting at 18:30
Finnish time (16:30 GMT, 15:30 Iceland) on Thursday August 2, 2018. To follow the performance on Instagram, simply log onto your instagram account, and follow @fljotid.
This exhibition is supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish Cultural Foundation, The Icelandic-Finnish Cultural Foundation, Kone Foundation, Turku Art Association.
About the artists:
Lilja Birgisdóttir (b. 1983) studied photography in the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, Netherlands and received BA in fine art from the Iceland Academy of the Arts, Reykjavík, Iceland 2010. From that year she has been a member of Kling & Bang, an artist run gallery in Reykjavik where she takes part in selecting artists and curating exhibitions for the space. Recent exhibitions include Love Me Back, a solo exhibition in Rawson Projects in New York 2017 and a solo exhibition in Tokyo called Moment Gone in Ultra Super New Gallery 2016. Lilja lives and work in Reykjavík, Iceland.
Katrín Elvarsdóttir (b. 1964) completed her BFA degree from the Art Institute in Boston in 1993. She has held many solo exhibitions in Iceland and abroad, including The Search for Truth at Berg Contemporary (Reykjavik) 2018, Double Happiness at Gerdarsafn – Kopavogur Art Museum 2016, Vanished Summer at Deborah Berke (New York) 2014, Nowhereland at Reykjavík Art Museum 2010. Katrín has participated in numerous group exhibitions such as EIKON Award at Kunstlerhaus 1050 (Vienna) 2018, Human;Nature at Martin Asbæk Gallery (Copenhagen) 2017, Anti-Grand at the University of Richmond Museum in 2015, Visible Iceland at the Hillyer Art Space (Washington D.C.) 2014, and Nordic Art Station at Eskilstuna Konstmuseum 2013. Katrín has been nominated for several awards including the Deutsche Börse Photographic Prize in 2009. In 2017 she received the EIKON Award (+45) on the occasion of the 100th issue of EIKON Magazine for Photo and media Art in Vienna, Austria. In 2016 her book Double Happiness was published by Crymogea editor in Reykjavik in conjunction with the same titled exhibition at Gerðarsafn – Kópavogur Art Museum. The book is the last of a trilogy, the previous volumes being Vanished Summer (2013) and Equivocal (2011).
Hertta Kiiski (b. 1973) is an artist working with photography, moving image, objects, space and oftentimes with animals and her daughters. She has a MFA from Finnish Academy of Fine Arts (2015) and BA in Photography from Turku Arts Academy (2012). Beside arts, she has also studied e.g. Art history, Latin and Roman Literature. Her work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions – during this summer also at Kiiski&Sutela exhibition in Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku. Her second book I was an apple and I got peeled – but it was a good thing was published 2016 by Kehrer Verlag (GER). Kiiski´s work are part of several public art collections such as Finnish State Art Commission, Finnish Museum of Photography and Turku City Art Collection. She is the chairman of the board at artist-run gallery Titanik.
Mari Krappala (b. 1968) is a writer, art theorist and curator. Her research, criticism and curatorial projects focus on contemporary art. She is a docent of cultural studies in the Aalto University, the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Helsinki. Her PhD work dealt with contemporary art processes, photography and Luce Irigaray’s philosophy of the ethics of sexual difference. She teaches art theory, artistic research methodology and supervises MA and PhD works. At the moment she is doing curatorial work with the independent art groups in the interartistic fields. Her resent research topics deal with an emphasis on articulations of ecological art, anthropocene, borders, roots, rhizomes, and nature connections, focusing on real and imaginary ways of living with them. She writes fictions from theories.
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