"Third Space", ARS 01

The Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma is preparing a major international exhibition for the coming autumn: ARS 01. Sixty to seventy artists will be invited to participate in the exhibition, which will be shown in the entire Kiasma building. The programme of Kiasma Theatre will be a part of the exhibition.

The theme of the sixth ARS exhibition is "third space", emerging whenever visual means and imageries encounter resulting in shifts in the boundaries of visual cultures. ARS 01 presents artists, whose work is influenced by different cultures. One starting point of the exhibition is to explore art which relies on sensory perception and thus naturally breaks cultural boundaries, as well as the influence global popular culture has on visual arts.

"Global Art"

The difficulties in representing global culture are well-known. The on-going critical debate will be taken into account in planning the exhibition as well as in the seminars and debates arranged in connection with the exhibition. Criticism on the concept of globalisation includes the idea that Europe and North America are once again attempting to impose colonial ideas on the art and culture of the rest of the world by observing it through their own cultural paradigms. However, the direction is no longer solely outwards from the Western culture nor is it one-way.

The Museum of Contemporary ArtKiasma in Helsinki is the context for the art presented in the exhibition, and it does not even attempt to create an authentic context of signification.

Freedom of interpretation

The central theme of the exhibition are the encounters of visual cultures taking place in todays information situation worldwide. These encounters give rise to visual forms of expression, which draw influences from different cultures. Connected with this is the art by diasporic artists reflecting both the culture of the native country and the world of the adopted country.

The philosophical basis for ARS 01 is the similarity between people, while different cultures are represented by different visual languages. Traditionally, understanding requires prolonged studies of each culture. Understanding of this emerging art, again, is based on the notion of interpretations as a less tightly culture-bound field. The art in the exhibition, however, already contains a 'translation' into another visual language. On the other hand, recognising some elements and/or structures of one’s own culture may help one to understand other cultures in a new way.

ARS 01 does not aim at comprehensive geographical coverage or representation of different cultures. Instead, it focuses on artists whose work displays initiatives towards new ways of communicating which reach beyoond the exotic. This art no longer moves along an axis of either understanding or not understanding. the question is about “understanding enough”, which will lead to individual interpretations.

Maaretta Jaukkuri