Meeting the artists

A number of artists who will participate in the ARS 01 exhibition have visited Kiasma during the spring and summer to see the exhibition rooms and plan their works. At the same time, they revealed some of their plans to Kiasma magazine and talked to us about the background of their work and their relationship to the exhibition. Background information and artists’ thoughts can also be found in a pocket guide, published in connection with the exhibition, which will contain a brief biographical entry on every participating artist.

MATTI BRAUN

The German-Finnish artist Matti Braun was born and bred in Germany and studied there, but he visits Finland regularly. Something of this experience is perhaps evident in Braun’s art: the artist’s special interest is the transference of different phenomena from one culture to another.

When was the first time you heard Kiasma was interested in your work for ARS 01 exhibition?

I met the exhibition curator, Maaretta Jaukkuri, in Berlin and she invited me. It felt really great, as this is the first time my work will be displayed in Finland.

As a German Finn, the exhibition’s theme, 'third space' must have a personal meaning for you. How is this space, created as cultures meet, evident in your art?

I’m interested in what happens when culture is transported, and what is then, for instance, felt to be mixing or misconception, or perhaps a working variation. I’m just not so sure there is a first or second space, so that I’m not sure either whether there is a third space.

What kind of work are you going to display at the exhibition?

One of my works is called Bali. It consists of a long, mosaic-like mirror on the wall and a poster. The work of art is connected to the story of a German artist Walter Spies, who worked in Bali in the 1920s. His own work was influenced by Bali and he influenced Balinese artists. At the same time, he acted as an intermediary, bringing Balinese culture to the outside world. In addition, Spies convinced his friend, silent screen director Murnau to shoot his last film Tabu in the Pacific region, in Tahiti.

KENDELL GEERS

With his art, South-African Kendell Geers wants to find his place in the world and define his identity as a white descendant of Dutch settlers and as an African. He has developed the theme in, for instance, his self-portrait, for which he chose the broken neck of a beer bottle. After the imported Dutch beer – originally something to be enjoyed – is drunk, the bottle’s link with the original meaning is broken. In the new context, it may receive a fresh meaning as an instrument of violence, as a weapon capable of damaging others.

The relationship between articles for daily use and art objects in general has interested Geers. He has paid much attention to objects that really have a use. After the original use ceases, Geers feels it can be made into art. The meanings of a single object can thus be overlapping and change as the framework of interpretation changes. For instance, wooden crates have been an important element in some of his works. Other themes present in Geers’ work have included violence – the situation in South Africa in particular – and the cold, unsympathetic language of little news items telling of crimes and accidents.

DAMIÁN ORTEGA

Mexican Damián Ortega has experimented with several different techniques during his career, his works range from comic strips to installations.

What kind of works are you going to display in ARS?

I thought I’d do two or three works. I have an idea for an animation about a living stone, which pulsates like a heart. Its name is Planeta Salvaje, wild planet. I want to design the other work here on the spot, something specially for this space. It could be something other than a video.

What did you think when you first heard about the ARS 01 exhibition?

I was very happy. An exhibition of Alvar Aalto’s work opened in the Mexican museum of architecture at the same time. I was at home, listening to the Finnish Ambassador talk about Aalto’s architecture, which I’m interested in. And, simultaneously, I got an invitation to the ARS 01 exhibition. It was quite a coincidence, two things related to Finland taking place at the same time.

You have made sculptures, installations and videos. What is it about just these art forms that interests you?

They are not the same, but it is just the contrasts that interest me. When you master several techniques, you’re free to follow your ideas without limits. There are more opportunities. I choose the medium according to which best suits my ideas.

Could you tell us a bit about your career as an artist?

I began as a newspaper cartoonist, drawing caricatures and political cartoons. I had a group with my friends; we worked in the same studio. After that I have worked alone, but for a long time I didn’t have much opportunity to exhibit my work. Then a friend of mine invited me to exhibit with him, and now I have reached the stage of a professional artist. Now I even have a gallery with a friend.

ERNESTO NETO

The shape of installations by Brazilian Ernesto Neto is in a sense created spontaneously, influenced by gravity and the materials chosen. Sometimes his works form a cave, which the viewer can enter and which he shapes as he goes along.

What do you think of Kiasma as an exhibition space?

It is very interesting, because each room has its own personality. The architecture is very special. I like the way light enters the rooms and spreads out on the walls. It is also great that the walls are not too finished. It is not necessarily good for art to be exhibited in an environment that is too polished.

What kind of work are you planning to create for the ARS 01 exhibition?

Something similar to what I’ve been working on recently. The light filtering through the windows will probably play an important role in it. However, I haven’t decided yet what it’ll be. I’m visiting Kiasma to see the place and to get inspiration for the work. My work will be in the room called Rauha, ‘peace’, which is intended for resting. It feels like a good place, since my work has a lot in common with resting. The viewers must stop and sense the work in peace.

Do you have any suggestions to the audience on how to approach your work?

They should perhaps explore them as if they were blind. Sometimes the more you try to see, the less you actually see. If you try to sense the atmosphere of the work, think with your body rather than your brain, you can sometimes better connect with a work of art. In many of my works, the audience have had an interactive role. These works make people react, to reveal themselves, their innermost self. And revealing your innermost self is all we have after all.

FRANCO MONDINI RUIZ

Franco Mondini Ruiz was born in San Antonio, in the United States. His father was an Italian emigrant and his mother Mexican-American. In addition to different cultures, the family combined two social classes. "My father belonged to the upper middle-class and was very Eurocentric, while my mother came from a working-class family. Mexicans had a low status in the U.S. and were ashamed of their origin. This was emphasised in Texas, in particular, where many strived to hide their Latin roots. In the 1980s, I also lived the Anglo life of a yuppie lawyer in a glass house bursting with Bauhaus design."

The transition from a corporate lawyer to artist did not take place overnight. Indeed, Mondini Ruiz says he matured to his new life gradually. "I threw parties at my house where I’d invite all kinds of people: young, old, minorities, majorities … They were a kind of social art. I exoticised my own culture, I bought expensive Mexican objects and arranged installations of them in my home." Mondini Ruiz says he had had enough of his life-style in 1995. He left his job, sold everything and moved to Mexico City. "I immediately realised I wasn’t needed there. The city itself is like a huge installation. One night, I arranged all the rubbish in a square into parallel rows. Each piece of rubbish was equal."

Next Mondini Ruiz bought an old grocery store, where he began selling different objects from knick-knacks to antiques. "A antique piece worth 2000 dollars cost the same as some plastic copy. I also sold my own works in the shop and slowly, as the art world began to accept me, I also got works from visiting artists to sell."

Currently Mondini-Ruiz resides and works in New York. "New York is a fight for life and death, but you have to experience it. Maybe my work has become slightly institutionalised, but the basic idea behind it is the same as before. I don’t want to be angry, but positive. I want to work for a living, be beautiful and loved and make people happy."

SANTIAGO SIERRA

A native of Madrid now living in Mexico City, Santiago Sierra made his first work using humans in 1998. Since then, he has paid beggars, drug addicts, prostitutes, homeless people and refugees to shave off their hair, get a tattoo, stand by the museum entrance during an opening, carry things from one place to another… In Sierra’s work, the money paid is related to inequality. For his works, he hires people for whom money means a great deal or to whom participating in the work can even be dangerous, or people who will do anything for money.

How do you explain the social significance of your work to people who participate in them?

Often not at all. I don’t want to project myself as a benefactor, so it’s better not to say anything. Many don't even ask anything, they just take the money.

Have you experienced trouble with the authorities?

Different countries take a different attitude to things. In Cuba, I got into trouble with the neighbourhood watch, but nothing very serious yet. People usually have so many problems of their own that they don’t bother about what I do. I once, for example, closed a bridge, but nobody cared, people just went around the other way.

Who are the disadvantaged in Helsinki?

It is very relative, I think everybody is doing quite well here. Many people drink on the streets, but they don’t seem too dissatisfied.

MELLA JAARSMA

One day in the late 1990s a delicious smell was wafting about on the steps of the Indonesian presidential palace. Artist Mella Jaarsma, with friends, was frying frog’s legs – considered to be filthy Chinese food by Javanese Muslims – and serving them to townspeople. Jaarsma presented her sizzling, crisp comments on Indonesian society, in which ethnic and religious tensions burst into violence.

Mella Jaarsma graduated from Fine Art Academy ‘Minerva’, Groningen, in 1984. Since then, Jaarsma has lived on Java in Indonesia. Born and bred in the Netherlands, Jaarsma feels that in Indonesia artists must recognise their place and significance in their society, and an artist’s role is to communicate with just that society. Indeed, she has reacted to the rising tension in Indonesian society like an Indonesian artist, that is, devoting herself completely to political and social debate.

Mella Jaarsma’s work Hi Inlander from 1999 asks a concrete question: How does it feel to walk around in someone else’s skin? In this performance, the artist is dressed in costumes made up of skins of different animals. The costumes resemble the jilbad of Muslim women, which cover the wearer from the face down. The costume, however, reveals the wearer’s ethnicity and skin colour.

ELINA BROTHERUS

During her college years Elina Brotherus underwent a transformation from scientist to artist. She received a Master’s degree both from the university, majoring in chemistry, and from the Department of Photography, University of Art and Design.

What does participating in the ARS exhibition mean to you?

I first came into contact with contemporary art at 11, when my mother took me to the ARS exhibition in 1983.

Could you tell us about your career as an artist?

My first solo exhibition was in 1998, the latest of a total of ten was this year in France. My early work was closely related to my own life. Nowadays, a great part of my work is landscapes, because I’m interested in classic figurative painting. Indeed, at the moment I’m working on a series called The New Painting.

My work for the ARS 01 exhibition will be from the series Suites FranV aises 2, a 19-part series, which concluded my artistic diploma work and for which I was awarded the Finnish Photography Prize last year.

Could you describe your work in the ARS 01 exhibition more fully?

In autumn 1999, I worked at an artists’ residence in France. I hardly knew any French at all. In order to learn French, I took a hint from a friend and began writing French words on little yellow Post-it notes. I began with very concrete things – mirror, door, shoe – gradually moving on in a more abstract direction, even expressing some emotions, such as ‘I’m sorry’, ‘bit barmy’… I photographed my flat, full of these little yellow notes. At the same time, I wanted to comment on the fact that I didn't have a language with which to communicate with my immediate surroundings. This gave rise to a series of photographs which have a very untheoretical, visual, concrete situation as their starting point. In my photographs, I like ascetic aesthetic, I prefer to reduce rather than to add something. The relationship with reality, what is in front of the camera, is important. On the other hand, the serial nature of my photographs is one of the ways I work. In some way, I feel it's a step towards the expression of film and video, an opportunity to tell stories.

Texts by Piia Laita, Päivi Oja, Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger, Juha-Pekka Vanhatalo