Research Catalogue

GOON In 2023, at the age of 28, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. This life-altering event led me to take a closer look at my sexual desire, question my relationship with my genitals, and rethink how I perceive my gender identity. Today, as I navigate a healing period, I seek to explore sensuality as a space of resistance and emancipation. GOON is an attempt to free myself from the shame surrounding (my) queer sexualities. GOON is a research performance inviting the audience to look up close at the way they see and seek pleasure. With a choreographic approach, I am researching queer eroticism as a place of joy. Ignoring the constraints of sexual norms, this exploration focuses on shaping a body that is both playful and desired, despite its apparent dirtiness.

Artistic research project: "Resisting Gentrification: In-situ Performative Protests in Trešnjevka Neighborhood"

Body posture is one of the most important topics in flute playing, it has been important for a long time. How should we actually stand and what is exactly right and wrong? Over the years, much has changed in music, which greatly impacts how we as musicians move and stand. Is what your teacher told you, really the best for you?

Meksikossa asuvat wirrarikat kehittivät 1950-luvulla perinteisten uhriesineiden pohjalta lankamaalauksen, nierikan, tekniikan: villalangasta muotoiltiin kuvioita mehiläisvahalla käsitellyille puulevyille. Nierika esittää usein uhraamisen tilannetta ikään kuin ajassa pysäytettynä ja näyttää tilanteen vapaaehtoisen uhrin näkökulmasta. Antropologit, taiteilijat, keräilijät ja valtiolliset turismin kehittäjät edistivät nierika-genreä innokkaasti, ja se tuotteistettiin yksilölähtöiseksi taidemuodoksi, jota alettiin luoda ja esittää useammin kaupunkikeskuksissa kuin wirrarikojen yhteisöissä. Tämän eksposition kirjoittajat ovat yhdessä toisten tutkijoiden ja wirrarikataiteilijoiden kanssa järjestäneet yhteisöllisiä nierika-maalauksen työpajoja, joissa wirrarikataiteilijat ohjaavat osallistujia tarkastelemaan ja ymmärtämään maailmaa wirrarikojen tavoin vastavuoroisuuden ja uhrin näkökulmasta. Nierika-maalaus otetaan näin takaisin yhteisöjen haltuun.

The current research builds on exhibitions hosted by the Sámi Centre for Contemporary Art in Karasjok in 2023. These exhibitions featured Indigenous Sámi artists, involving both curators and non-Indigenous art managers and facilitators. Some projects showcased solo exhibitions by Sámi artists, while others adopted the format of exhibitions based on the RidduDuottar Museum Collection in Karasjok. The study aims to uncover the primary methods of facilitation and the application of love and care in creating spaces for interaction between artists, artworks, and audiences at the Sámi Centre for Contemporary Art. First, the cases are presented, followed by an analysis applying two keywords – facilitation and love. The research method employed is arts-based research. The data consist of visual data in the form of photo documentation and text-based data in the form of notes. The data are approached through reflexive analysis. The analysis of these cases delves into the concept of love, containing sub-concepts such as care, compassion, and empathy. The findings yield key recommendations that facilitators of artistic gatherings can implement in art galleries presenting Indigenous Sámi art.

In this exposition, I discuss encounters of culture that occurred in art-based action research (ABAR) with Sámi reindeer herder families in the Finnish regions of Sápmi (the Sámi homeland). Five Sámi reindeer herder families joined an ABAR -project to enhance and stabilise the Sámi reindeer herders' position in the majority society. The research project relates to the Department of Art Education's development of art-based action research, the theory of community-based art education and the concept of 'new genre Arctic art' at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland. It is a long-term research project that emphasises participatory and co-research methods. As a researcher, I am in an insider-outsider position, as I live in the same region and share my daily life with a reindeer herder. We started the action by exploring the daily life of the reindeer herders through the Photovoice method. We gathered their photographs in an exhibition called Boazoeallin, a Davvi Sámi (Northern Sámi) word for Reindeer Life. The exhibition inspired the families to continue their visually informative work, and we designed the photographs in a book, also called Boazoeallin. The art-based collaboration with reindeer herders and the Boazoeallin exhibition and book contribute to the 'new genre Arctic art' that embraces participatory contemporary art, emphasising crucial matters of the multicultural Arctic. The Sámi people's history and culture form a destined constitution and obligation for ethical research conducted in Sápmi. The reindeer herders are unfamiliar with contemporary art, which challenged and changed the art education activities. The exposition reflects the challenges for an ethical, participatory, and democratic research approach in ABAR. In the research action, I have sought to frame the terms for which community-based art education best can serve communities of Indigenous cultures, the multicultural northern community, the Arctic, and global interests.