GIRL ARMY – Narrative painting in space TYTTÖARMEIJA – Kerronnallinen maalaus tilassa Katja Tukiainen
(2024)
author(s): Katja Tukiainen
published in: University of the Arts Helsinki
ABSTRACT
Girl army – Narrative painting in space
In my doctoral research in fine arts, I study narrative
painting in space and examine the narratives of spatial
painting series and other spatial assemblies of paintings.
My paintings’ imagery deals with girlhood, womanhood,
and the colour pink. A girl army – a wild and non-vi-
olent group of girls – acts as a guide on my journey of
exploration. My paintings’ girls take over various spaces.
My artistic research includes a written section in
which I report how my research proceeds, enabling me
to find new ideas through verbal language. The written
section deals with my artistic work process and non-ver-
bal knowledge, and it describes how the search for words
adds to my understanding of narrative, narrators, focal-
isation, and immersivity. As artistic work and writing
blend into a trajectory, I establish the words alongside
non-verbal knowledge, and, in the end, I venture to ob-
serve my works’ feminism.
My research includes three public exhibitions of works
that explore painting narratives, the colour pink, and
placing in various spaces. The exhibitions took place dur-
ing a period of ten years, as follows: My solo exhibition,
Playground – My work is my pleasure, was on display at
Galleria Korjaamo in autumn 2009, the painting instal-
lation Paradis k (Kidnap) was part of the Eyeballing! ex-
hibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma
in 2012, and my painting series Paradis r (Rascal) was
on display in the Vallaton – Rascal group exhibition at
the Vantaa Art Museum Artsi during 2017–2018. My
research’s main stages are closely related to these three
exhibitions included in my research. My research ques-
tions follow, along with the works, a painting’s simultane-
ous, linear, and temporally stretched narrative. I explore
how paintings, in different spaces, turn into stories and
immersive experiences, inviting viewers inside of them.
I invite the reader into a story in which I wander,
wearing a trainer on one foot and a high-heeled shoe
on the other. I compare painting with a comfortable
trainer and the painting’s analytical observation with
a high-heeled shoe. As an artist-researcher, I feel like
I am standing near my paintings in contrapposto. My
research shows how the heel wears out and the words
become familiar little by little. Theorists Mieke Bal and
Kai Mikkonen, as well as various other researchers, art-
ists, and their works, support my journey. Written lan-
guage, too, can be wild and experimental, and it is the
very element that turns my works into a form that can
be verbally shared.
Verbalising my research has revealed that a part of my
works’ narrative becomes complete only when I leave my
workspace and the works are exposed to views and inter-
pretations. During my research, I realised the diversity of
interpretations and the extent of factors that have influ-
enced my work. The key results of my research include
the understanding that an artist’s research process opens
to be shared and followed through words. The definitions
suggested by words do not invalidate a painting’s liberty
to be completely indefinable, but they help to understand
the various ways a painting’s narrative works.
Katja Tukiainen 8 March 2022
Gentle Friction - through temporary territories of culture
(2024)
author(s): Alicia Rottke Fitzpatrick
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Friction between the other is not only inevitable but a necessary part of heterogeneous life. However, this friction can occur on a spectrum, from aggressive, violent manifestations to more gentle, subtle forms. This research explores the latter form of friction within the context of cultural events.
There is a growing rhetoric that cultural events are solely for elitist circles, and if this discourse continues to permeate society, the transformative power of these events will be in jeopardy.
To preserve and reinforce the transformative power of these spaces, this research asks: How do cultural events facilitate moments of gentle friction as a means to foster an understanding of 'the other'?
This research began as an introspective exploration into the author's practice. By unpacking the conditions of conviviality, autonomy, and temporality that ensure the friction remains gentle, the research explores how these conditions can be spatially translated to strengthen the experience in these spaces. Concluding with a set of design tools that can be used to ensure the vitality of cultural events, encouraging diverse participation as a means to protect this necessary form of friction between the other.
SOUND/BODY
(2023)
author(s): Petar Mrdjen
published in: Research Catalogue
“My sound body is the ghostly embrace that physically envelops the listener, with acoustic energy. Feel my presence, as I hide in plain sight.”
This exposition explores the role of surround sound in filmmaking, its strength and pitfalls in space-making, as well as its viability as an image-making device.
The author challenges conservative usage of surround sound, advocating for a playful and resistant approach; with the aim to create active and immersive spatial soundscapes where each audience member can experience their own "sweet spot." They reflect on the limitations of traditional cinema sound and express their desire to empower listeners with a dense and rich auditory experience.
By focusing on capturing authentic acoustic spaces, challenging traditional recording practices, and exploring a resistant approach to surround sound; the author highlights the unique relationship between sound, image, and space; and how their interplay can evoke various impressions.
The text delves into the author's artistic approach to working with surround-scapes (surround-soundscapes), highlighting different strategies and providing examples from films and games. Three surround-aesthetics are defined and named, which the author refers to as "rooms." The transformative power of sound is underscored, with a focus on embracing vulnerability and fluidity as sources of strength.
Through the context of foley-practice and surround-scaping; this exposition questions the role and reach of the author's body - a sound body.
Voicelanding - Exploring the scenographic potential of acoustic sound in site-sensitive performance
(2021)
author(s): Mareike Nele Dobewall
published in: Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
This practical artistic research project explores how the performance of acoustic sound in dialogue with site can create a sonic scenography, experienced by an audience from within the sonic structures.
Six art projects were carried out in the context of this research. Their form varies due to the site-sensitive approach that is employed: the space and the participating musicians are both the source and the frame for the resulting spatial sound performances.
During workshops the collaborating musicians are introduced to site-sensitive methods. They learn full-body listening, spatial sounding, and space-care. The musicians learn to co-create with the space. In a collaborative process, spatial sound compositions are created using the site-specific sonic material that is elicited from the dialogue between the performers and the space. The relation to the audience plays an important role in the sharing of the performance space and the experience of the sonic scenographies. Therefore, active audience encounter is considered during the creative process towards the performance and it is further explored during each performance.
As sound is invisible and ephemeral it is a vulnerable material to engage with when creating scenographies. In this research its instability has revealed itself as an indispensable quality of a scenography that aims to connect the elements of a shared space and make their relations perceivable.
There is a tendency to make ‘reliable’ material scenographies and to sustain spatial sound through audio systems while attempting to overcome the challenges a site brings to performance. This approach to performance, scenography, and spatial sound composition, however, limits the relation between acoustic sound and site. In my sonic scenographies the performers are dependent on the dialogue with the space in order to create sonic structures that can be experienced by an audience. The attention needed for this collaboration is space-care. It includes care for all entities in the space, and especially the audience. The ephemeral quality of acoustic sound creates an active sonic scenography that performs together with the musicians, and engages multimodal listening.
The resulting spatial sound performance includes the placement and movement of sonic expressions that are specific for each instrument-site relation. In the created performance, as the audience can ‘roam through’ it, they can experience a sonic scenography that unfolds around them. In the interaction of performers and audience in these shared spaces (architectural space and sonic space) a social space can develop that allows for an ephemeral community to emerge.
Swap Space
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Hanns Holger Rutz, David Pirrò, Nayari Castillo-Rutz, Shane Finan, Franziska Hederer, Jackie Karuti, Alisa Kobzar, Daniele Pozzi
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
Swap Space is a pilot project at KUG Graz that focuses on novel forms of collaborative artistic research in which otherness, difference and distance between the participants are central and are brought into a cohesive form via the concept of the spatial. Selected questions and previously sketched procedures are an important part of Swap Space and will be tested for their validity and feasibility in a time-limited experiment among six artists-researchers as a proof-of-concept. Thus, on the one hand, the pilot project provides important data and preliminary results, sets the course and ensures that the future project design is viable. On the other hand, Swap Space takes up new decisive impulses for thought - such as the concept of contact - the elaboration of which aims to determine the form of a multi-year research project.