SWAP / VAIHTO - Cable Factory, Puristamo, Helsinki

Event: August 9 – 19, 2008
daily from 12 pm till late
Open sessions: August 9 and 15, 2008
from 8 pm till late

Location:

Puristamo
Cable Factory
Tallberginkatu 1
Helsinki, Finland

Participants:
Barbro Björkfelt, Andrew Bracey, Jonathan Carson, Anne Charnock, Fiona Curran, Sophia Crilly, Samantha Donnelly, Janet Griffiths, Eeva-Mari Haikala, Hannu Häkkinen, Hannu Karjalainen, Mark Kennard, Jaana Kokko, Tim Machin, Rosie Miller, Juhana Moisander, Egle Oddo, Mikko Oravainen, Ima Picó, Jonne Pitkänen, Virva Sointu, Marko Timlin, Tom Watson.

Namastic Art Collective is pleased to announce Swap/Vaihto, an international residency, exchange programme in collaboration with Ima Picó, Suite Studios, Salford/Manchester, UK, Bureau, UK, HIAP and The Cable Factory in Helsinki, Finland.

Swap/Vaihto is an exchange programme between UK and Finland-based artists to explore ideas around collaboration and working methodologies, alongside current issues of cultural identity and migratory art practice. The project provides a unique opportunity for artists to spend time in residence in each country and engage in a period of research and production, culminating in exhibition at Bureau and event in The Cable Factory, Helsinki. The project is based on the idea of Ima Picó, who is a Spanish artist living in Manchester.

The UK and Finland-based artists were in residence at Bureau the 7th-19th of July, collaborating to develop new works and an exhibition, which took/takes place from 19th July to 9th August 2008. The residencies provide artists with an environment that encourages the exchange of ideas and instigates experimentation with new concepts and materials. The predominant focus of the Swap/Vaihto programme is as a means of establishing a mutual exchange of ideas.

The artists will travel to Helsinki on 7th August for the second part of the project; to further develop their collaborative practice and explore the aspects of 'exchange' they have engaged with. This second part of the project will include a residency, open sessions and events at The Cable Factory, Helsinki. Doors of Puristamo space will be open to audience all the time artists are working, giving the Helsinki audience a unique possibility to observe the whole working process and meet artists at their work. A related publication will be launched in Autumn 2008.

SUITE STUDIO GROUP

Suite is a long established artists' studio located in Salford. The studio comprises a broad range of practices and members meet on a regular basis. Many of the artists in Suite have emerged from the various MA courses in the region and the aim of the studio group is to create the conditions where artists can work in an atmosphere of critical debate around their practices.

www.suite-studiogroup.co.uk

NAMASTIC ART COLLECTIVE

Namastic Art Collective is an artistic collective founded in Helsinki in 2006. The collective is based on a wide network of contacts and collaborations between artists and other professionals of art and related fields. They are interested in the different approaches to the combination of electronic music and visual art in a live situation, in other words, the co-operation and interaction between visual arts and music. Swap/Vaihto is organised by Namastic Art Collective, Bureau, Suite Studio Group and Ima Picó.

Supported by the Arts Council of England, Arts Council of Finland, British Council, Bureau, The Cable Factory, HIAP, Laitilan Panimo Finland, Genelec, The Finnish Embassy, The Finnish Institute, Salford City Council and Fatboy.

For further information & images please contact Namastic Art Collective at the virva.sointu@gmail.com or at egodit@gmx.net.

Ima Picó

Title: Stickers
Installation at Bureau.

'A Game We Made Up' - Carson & Miller

Above is an installation view of Carson & Miller's work A Game We Made Up (at Bureau).

Anne Charnock

Title: "Untitled Series No.1"

'A Game We Made Up' - Carson & Miller

Jonathan Carson & Rosie Miller's collaborative practice investigates their shared interest in narrative. Their recent work has explored the principle of game-playing as a device to exchange stories and to generate new narratives.

In A Game We Made Up (the new work they have completed during the first half of the Swap/Vaihto project) Carson & Miller have created a series of bespoke narrative games, designed to be played in specific locations matched to particular players (drawn from the people taking part in the exchange). The resulting work - on show at Bureau until 9 August, 2008 - documents the playing of the games in audio and text format.

Presented here are a series of documents which detail the questions asked and the rules they played by. Also available are short audio files from each of the games played - to hear these excerpts click on http://www.box.net/shared/33egf5wso0

Carson & Miller are currently completing a new work, which draws on A Game We Made Up, for the second half of Swap/Vaihto. Both works will be shown at the Cable Factory.

Carson & Miller thank all of their fellow players - they know who they are!

Egle Oddo and Anne Charnock

Title: "The Woman Steps Out"

Egle Oddo and Anne Charnock have collaborated to produce a piece of text that transplants a story from Berlin to Salford. Egle told the story from memory to Anne, who then re-wrote the tale with a local setting. In fact, the true origin of the story is a poem by Bertolt Brecht and is set in Berlin during World War II (The Shopper, 1938).
The new text is ‘misplaced’ in several ways. Not only is the setting different to the original, but the story changes in shape and emphasis because it is based on a telling of the story rather than the reading of the poem.
When the new text was complete, Egle recited the Bertolt Brecht poem in English, reading from the Italian translation in her possession.

Juhana Moisander

Title: P.W.
Loopvideo projection on darkned space.







Fhoto: Juhana Moisander

'Swap/Vaihto' Preview at Bureau, Salford/Manchester, UK.

Bureau
Ground Floor, Islington Mill,
James Street, Salford, M3 5HW
www.bureaugallery.com
19 July 2008 to 09 August 2008 (12:00 - 17:00)

SWAP / VAIHTO - Bureau, Salford, UK.

WENDY AND FRIENDS
Janet Griffiths - Performance











































TIMLIN LIVE
As part of Swap/Vaihto Bureau presents Timlin Live.
Bureau, Salford, UK.
www.bureaugallery.com
Wednesday 16th July at 10pm







Neon - photos taken from same-named video by Egle Oddo March 2008

File under: improvisation, experimental music, Pure data, sensors, listening experience

…the beauty of drones accompanied by hums, creaks, and rattling ::: colourful postcards on the white doors of my wardrobe ::: the liberating experience of loosing the sense of time ::: offering alternatives ::: things have to be experienced, not learned ::: escaping your own mind ::: how much does 157 grams of happiness weigh? ::: cleaning one’s ears is like cleaning one’s mind ::: the non-contradiction between order and chaos…


MARKO TIMLIN is a sound artist and performer from Helsinki, Finland. As part of Swap/Vaihto, Timlin invites you to a unique listening experience in Islington Mill on Wednesday 16th July at 10pm.

Marko Timlin’s main musical and artistic objective is an intuitive improvisation and interaction with electronic media, to create his own unconventional sound adventures and contemporary electronica that challenges the ears and the mind. His music demonstrates a perfect balance between order and chaos. Timlin freely breaks the boundaries of composition and improvisation in his non-contradicting mix of organised parts and completely messed up blasts of sound. While playing live in concert the creation of his music happens in real-time and, therefore, is as surprising for the audience as it is for the performing artist himself. He allows the audience to witness a dialogue between man and machine.

Timlin improvises with self-made interfaces using, amongst other things, solar panels, torches, ultra sonic sensors, neon bulbs and ready-made objects. The basic concepts of his sonic works take information from the physical world either to control computer programmes or to convert computer data into physical motion.

For more information visit: www.timlin.de

ARTISTS’ TALK: HANNU KARJALAINEN AND JAANA KOKKO
CORNERHOUSE, Manchester. UK
www.cornerhouse.co.uk
Tue 15 July 2008 18:00

As part of SWAP / VAIHTO, Hannu Karjalainen and Jaana Kokko, visiting artists from Finland, will discuss and present examples of their respective practices.

Image: Jaana Kokko.

OPEN STUDIO EVENT: ARTISTS' WORK IN PROGRESS
Bureau, Salford, UK.
www.bureaugallery.com
Tue 15 July 2008 (14:00 - 17:00)

As part of Swap/Vaihto Bureau opens to the public for an afternoon, providing an opportunity to meet the artists taking part in the residency, exhibition and exchange project, and to discuss their work in progress for the forthcoming exhibition.

SWAP / VAIHTO

Barbro Björkfelt, Andrew Bracey, Jonathan Carson, Anne Charnock, Fiona Curran, Sophia Crilly, Samantha Donnelly, Janet Griffiths, Eeva-Mari Haikala, Hannu Häkkinen, Hannu Karjalainen, Mark Kennard, Jaana Kokko, Tim Machin, Rosie Miller, Juhana Moisander, Egle Oddo, Mikko Oravainen, Ima Picó, Jonne Pitkänen, Virva Sointu, Marko Timlin, Tom Watson.

Swap/Vaihto is an exchange programme between UK and Finland-based artists to explore ideas around collaboration and working methodologies, alongside current issues of cultural identity and migratory art practice.

The project provides a unique opportunity for artists to spend time in residence in each country and engage in a period of research and production, culminating in exhibitions at Bureau and The Cable Factory, Helsinki. A related publication will be launched in Autumn 2008.

The UK and Finland-based artists are currently in residence at Bureau, collaborating to develop new works and an exhibition, which will take place from 19th July to 9th August. The artists will travel to Helsinki on 7th August for the second part of the project, to further develop their collaborative practice and explore the aspects of 'exchange' which they have been engaging with. This second part of the project will also include a residency and exhibition at The Cable Factory, Helsinki.

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Swap/Vaihto was initiated by the Artist and Curator Ima Picó in 2007.
Organisation in Salford/Manchester, UK: Bureau (Sophia Crilly and Mark Kennard), Rosie Miller, Ima Picó.
Organisation in Helsinki, Finland: Namastic Art Collective, Virva Sointu.
Fundraising: Sophia Crilly, Ima Picó, Virva Sointu.

Exhibition of new works from residency at Bureau curated by Sophia Crilly and Mark Kennard.

Residency and exhibition forthcoming in Helsinki at Cable Factory. The idea of Swap/Vaihto is to establish the base for the British and Finnish artists to share their creative methodologies. Namastic Art Collective believes that this particular process of collaboration between artists cannot be curated without interrupting or interfering the development of the artworks. In Cable Factory the artists will show the vibrant dynamic of their work at different stages. The entire project represents the plurality of curatorial and artistic practice involved.


Swap/Vaihto is supported by the Arts Council of England, Arts Council of Finland, British Council, Bureau, The Cable Factory, HIAP, Laitilan Panimo Finland, Genelec, The Finnish Embassy, The Finnish Institute, Salford City Council and Fatboy.