It’s interesting to think about how contemporary details find their way into historical fiction. I’m not talking about errors and anachronisms, but how writers use what they see and hear around them and turn it into something else in their fiction. The locusts kept in a classroom by the creepy tutor in my new novel, for instance, are based on my own schooldays in north London when we had a huge vitrine of chirping locusts down one side of the classroom.

Read more about Tracey Warr's reflection on the new novel on her website

Impress Books

Frontiers artist Kati Gausmann is exhibiting her work nordlicht at Kunsthalle Emden, Germany. Using the medium of drawing, the project nordlicht / light from the north examines the progress of shadows as a temporal-spatial phenomenon.  

nordlicht

Kuntshalle Emden

"Farm Tableaux marks the first known and on-going artwork created specifically for Google Street View. Farm Tableaux illustrates food culture in a way that moves us beyond lifestyle magazines and TV reality shows.  The images of Finnish farming and food production captured in Farm Tableaux reflect the on-going realities of farm work from field labour to food processing. Each of the various scenes have been produced collaboratively with food producers and in a unique partnership with Google Trusted Photographer, John M Lynch."

The Lumen Prize

Humanity, empathy and alpacas text by Tessa Aarnisuo

Sylvia Grace Borda's project Farm Tableaux, realised as a Frontiers project, has been shortlisted for The Lumen Prize in Web Based category. The Lumen Prize, established on 2012, celebrates the very best art created digitally. It's goal is to goal is to focus the world’s attention on this exciting genre through an annual competition, a global tour and associated activities including workshops, seminars and special events.

The Winners' Gala will be held on Thursday 29th of September in London. 

lumenprize

youtube

Frontiers artist Tracey Warr - currently in residency at HIAP - held a workshop for University of the Arts Ecology & Contemporary Performance MA students at HIAP Project Space.

More images here

We are very happy to announce that HIAP 2015 publication is now available online!

Download the publication (173 pages, 11,5 MB) here: http://bit.ly/2cpIrK5

The publication features a selection of HIAP residencies and events from year 2015 + a special section dedicated to Frontiers in Retreat project.

PUBLICATION CONTRIBUTORS (text / images) in order of appearance:
Juha Huuskonen, Judit Schuller, Pasi Autio, Salla Lahtinen, Paavo Lehtonen, Paola Anziché, Tuomas Laasanen, Juuso Noronkoski, Residency Unlimited, Jasper Bruijns, Juhyun Choi, Teresa Dillon, Aino Salmi (Archinfo), Tuomo Tammenpää, Academy of Fine Arts, Anne Ferran, Hanna Husberg, Angela Jerardi, Jenni Nurmenniemi, Heidi Kilpeläinen, Barbara Knezevic, Karel Koplimets, Jenny Marketou, Piia Ahonen, Katri Naukkarinen, Katrín Ólína, Sebastian Jansson, Georgios Papadopoulos, The Dogecoin Foundation, Alexis Rodolphe, Jenna Sutela, Danae Valenza, Katie Lenanton, Triin Valvas, Paul Flanders, Jana Vasiljević, Disa Wallander, Ruth Waller, Elizabeth Willing, Jaakko Pallasvuo, Tracey Warr, CAC Vilnius, Nomeda Urbonas, Sylvia Grace Borda, Carl Gi ney, Tuomas A. Laitinen, Ari Karttunen (EMMA), Mirko Nikolić, Dahlia El Broul, Pontus Kyander, Kolme Perunaa, Helen Korpak, Jesse Auersalo, Anna Mikkola, Matilda Tjäder, Noora Lehtovuori, Michelle Lacombe, Antti Ahonen, Oskari Niitamo, Irmeli Aho, Olga Jitlina, Tokamak, Marita Muukkonen, Ashraf Atraqchi

Managing editors: Juha Huuskonen & Jenni Nurmenniemi
Graphic design: Salla Lahtinen & Jasmin Islamović
Editing & proofreading: Jasmin Islamović

Rock, water, mushroom. How far can we go in our definitions of ‘life’, and where might its extension take us? Human relationships with other species, other life, have already changed and evolved towards greater empathy and the notion of rights and legal standing. What might a next evolution of relationships amongst all life forms look like? The non-human, the non-animal; how can we get beyond binaries and taxonomies? How might notions of the discrete, which are so deeply ingrained in our assumptions and language, shift towards better understandings of symbiosis, mutualism, and interdependence?

In the HIAP-led five year art research project, Frontiers in Retreat, these questions are being raised in artists’ projects including recent works by Urbonas Studio, Tracey Warr, Mirko Nikolic, Richard Skelton and Terike Haapoja. In the seminar, Tracey Warr and Dionizas Bajarunas will present the mycelium Zooetic Pavilion by Urbonas Studio, which was inspired by J.G. Ballard’s fictional living plant technologies. Tracey Warr will talk about her water exoplanet fiction, Meanda, where water is one of the main protagonists. Mirko Nikolic will discuss his project Lives of Metals: ‘Copperlove’. Richard Skelton’s short film ‘In Pursuit of the Eleventh Measure’ (2016), will be screened. 

The programme is co-curated by Jenni Nurmenniemi (HIAP; Frontiers in Retreat) and Tracey Warr (artist and writer, Frontiers in Retreat; Zooetics). The event will be moderated by artist, Professor Kira O’Reilly (Master’s Programme in Ecology and Contemporary Performance at Theatre Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki).

Programme 13:00–16:15

13–13:15 Introduction
Tracey Warr: Frontiers in Retreat & Zooetics
Kira O’Reilly, moderator: session programme
13:15 Mirko Nikolic: Lives of Metals: ‘Copperlove’ (2014–)
14:00-14:30 Coffee Break
14:30–14:45 Richard Skelton: ‘In Pursuit of the Eleventh Measure’ (video, 7 min) with an introduction by Tracey Warr
14:45-15:30 Dionizas Bajarunas & Tracey Warr: Mycelium Zooetics Pavilion
15:30-16:15 Tracey Warr: ‘Meanda’

Museum of Nonhumanity

Suvilahti, Buidling 5

Kaasutehtaankatu 1

Helsinki

info@museumofnonhumanity.org

museumofnonhumanity.org

PROGRAM

SATURDAY 10.9. 12–16PM
Re-imagining the Future Through the Past

(In English)
Seminar curated by: journalist Maryan Abdulkarim
Discussion: Suvi West, Pauliina Feodoroff and David Muoz
Moderator: Maryan Abdulkarim

The known history of human kind is one of oppressions and
transgressions against all living things. What is it to build a future through a past? What terms do we use to describe the systematic destruction and oppression which we fight? For whom are words
significant and how do we bring about a vision for a future that is rooted in the past relationships with all living things?

SUNDAY 11.9. 12–16PM
Over the Borders! Gender and human rights
– towards freely flowing gender identities?
(In Finnish)
Seminar curated by: Pia Puu Oksanen, director of human rights issues, Amnesty Finland
The seminar is supported by Amnesty International – Finnish Section
Discussion: Pia Puu Oksanen / Amnesty, Juha Kilpiä, Maru Hietala, Aro Mielonen / Transforces

At the seminar we will hear statements; we will have open discussions; and we will enjoy the performative elements that the collaborators and participants create in the space. What would our reality look like if gender diversity and gender fluidity guided our understanding of gender and human rights? During these four hours we will ponder, empathize, and give room for this positive utopia.

SATURDAY 17.9. 14–16PM
Empathy, sociability and morality

(In Finnish
)
Seminar is curated by:
Elisa Aaltola – philosopher, and Sami Keto – activist / researcher

Empathy is a term which is rapidly becoming popular, but which still is seldom defined. The seminar explores the meaning of empathy and its different varieties. It will also map out empathy's function in the history of human species, various problems related to empathy, and empathy's role in the development of morality and sociability. The seminar will also offer different methods for increasing empathy skills.

SUNDAY 18.9. 12–17PM
Rights for the Majority! – How to make our society recognize animal rights
(In Finnish and English)
Seminar by Animalia / Salla Tuomivaara and Mai Kivelä
The seminar is supported by Animalia non-profit association.
Speakers: Jeff Mannes, Visa Kurki, Liisa Kaski, James Nikander
Moderator: Mai Kivelä

The human being is only one species amongst the animals, but we have excluded all the others from having any fundamental rights. Nonhumanity has meant inhuman behavior towards animals. However, the profound and clear distinction between humans and other animals is being challenged. Already some countries, such as U.S. and India, have declared certain rights for some of the other species. Is it possible in a human society to recognize animal rights? If so, how can we move towards such society?

SATURDAY 24.9.
13–17PM
Frontiers in Retreat & Zooetics: Non-human, non-animal
(In English)

Seminar curated by: Tracey Warr and Jenni Nurmenniemi
Speakers: Tracey Warr, Dionizas Bajarunas, Mirko Nikolic, Saara Hannula
Moderator: Kira O'Reilly
Other program: Richard Skelton's short film – In Pursuit of the Eleventh Measure

Rock, water, mushroom. How far can we go in our definitions of ‘life’, and where might its extension take us? Human relationships with other species, other life, have already changed and evolved towards greater empathy and the notion of rights and legal standing. What might a next evolution of relationships amongst all life forms look like? The non-human, the non-animal; how can we get beyond binaries and taxonomies? How might notions of the discrete, which are so deeply ingrained in our assumptions and language, shift towards better understandings of symbiosis, mutualism, and interdependence?

SUNDAY 25.9. 12–16PM 
Decentering History – Artistic Interventions
(In English)
Seminar by History of Others / Laura Gustafsson and Terike Haapoja
Speakers: Giovanna Esposito Yussif, Minna Henriksson, Laura Gustafsson & Terike Haapoja

The seminar discusses artistic practices and projects that, by re-writing history, aim at mapping the blind spots of our culture. The common thread to all these approaches is the critique of western modernism, and the ways in which institutions of knowledge have normalized and justified discriminative practices. The series of seminars in the Museum of Nonhumanity will conclude with a panel discussion in which we will ask what does it take to decolonize a museum display, and how to include one's own position in the critique.

Museum of Nonhumanity
Suvilahti, Buidling 5
Kaasutehtaankatu 1
Helsinki
info@museumofnonhumanity.org

museumofnonhumanity.org