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This was a session at Untitled Festival 2020.

At UNTITLED, Mari Keski-Korsu will enact a performative intervention called ‘Holding Space with Yarrow’. It is a participatory and performative session that engages with yarrow through foot baths, hydro bodies and meditation. Yarrow (Siankärsämö) is one of the oldest plant remedies in Nordic region and is considered to help with many illnesses and conditions. The plant has about 150 names in Finnish, all describing its different features. The names connect linguistically to the Baltic Sea area healing culture that is documented in poems and stories. Yet what may this powerful plant, which many consider merely a weed, mean for us today? How could its voice be heard in human communities?

Images: Ida Enegren / Frame Contemporary Art Finland.

The session can accommodate 15 people per session; 5 on site and 10 online. The sessions are not suitable for anyone allergic to asters (composite plants). If you’re taking part in Holding Space with Yarrow online, please prepare your foot bath in advance. You can consider this as a ritual towards our time together – making something ready for yourself with a lot of positive energy and love.

Wikimedia Commons, GNU Free Documentation Licence

Collect about four handfuls of yarrow flowers and leaves from your yard or nearby park. In urban areas, the best places to find yarrow are abandoned sites where grass is not cut. If you can’t find the flowers anymore, search for the leaves. Remember to respect the plant and don’t collect everything, leave something to continue growing, too.

To prepare your foot bath:
– Add the yarrow into a litre of hot water
– Leave it for about 20 minutes
– Pour the hot yarrow water into a washing basin and add enough water for it to reach your ankles.
– Don’t put your feet in the bath right away, let’s do that together
– Have a towel and pair of clean, warm socks ready by the side
– As we start our session, sit comfortably on your chair so that you can see the screen to connect with everyone and your footpath is close to your reach.

Mari Keski-Korsu is a transdisciplinary artist who explores how ecological changes manifest in Everyday life. The work is based on Collaborations with different kinds of communities, individuals and species. Her medium of expression is a hybrid combination of performance, visual arts and live art. Her current practice for several years now, is focused on interspecies communication and care, aiming to enable empathy towards whole ecosystems. She is interested in intersections in between art, activism and science from permaculture and ecofeminist perspectives. In 2020 -2022, she is an artist member of an art & science team working in the Access Abisko program in sub-Arctic Sweden, researching on how climate breakdown affects values ​​and rituals.

More about Mari Keski-Korsu and her art at marikeskikorsu.net .

More about Holding space with Yarrow at www.artsufartsu.net/akantupakilla-lahirohtola

Twitter: @real_mkk

Photos: Ida Enegren / Frame Contemporary Art Finland.

Related UNTITLED Agenda Tracks : Reimagining Human, Reimagining Climate

 

Papana & Norkko are two fictive Siberian Flying squirrels (ie Flying squirrels!) Living in Solkivuori forest, Tampere, Finland (that is Solkivuori’s Collaborative Flying squirrel care and protection forest). They are professionals of forestry, legislation, bureaucracy and unconventional co-operations.

In their own words:

“During the festival days we are having a round table discussion with human and other-than-human experts. On our discussion agenda we have common-to-many-species-things that shape our shared Futures, such as hunger, roots / flying and sustainable livelihoods.

We have done research for the discussions by making some future-leap-Flying-Orientation-interviews for Untitled community and participants. You can see some digested fragments on our internet-influencing-channels Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter. We will continue in making the interviews after the Festival. If you wish to be interviewed by two Siberian Flying squirrels, please contact them through metsaesitys@gmail.com

Our mission is to stop the ongoing mass extinctions threatening both squirrels and humans. To further our goal, we have started developing ways for human–Siberian Flying squirrel -co-operation. One way is to learn to use human platforms to create spaces for interspecies utopian conversations. We believe this will commit to nourishing the political imaginations of our multispecies societies.

“Anything is possible for a squirrel with an agenda! Everything is possible for a squirrel who has an agenda!” “Kaikki on mahdollista oravalle, jolla on esityslista!”

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Papana & Norkko are created by the Metsäesitys collective (Milla Martikainen and Katri Puranen).

www.forestation.wordpress.com

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube

Related UNTITLED Agenda Tracks : Reimagining Human, Climate

Photos: Flying squirrels Papana alias Milla Martikainen and Norkko alias Katri Puranen (c)

Kasia Molga will present her work “By the Code of Soil” done in Collaboration with the musician Scanner . The work was developed within S + T + ARTS Vertigo Residencies and took place alongside the Grow Observatory , a citizens’ Observatory that has empowered people and whole communities to take action on soils and climate across Europe. 

The session includes a screening of the work By the Code of Soil followed by a discussion of the project by artists and guests. The work mixes various dynamic data from soil sensors, combined with more Static data on soil texture and season, into a system of visual noise.

“By the Code of Soil is about handing over power to the land – to soil – and depicting it as a first and foremost living organism; not as a resource whose capacity must be maximized for our own benefits. Soil with all its Myriad of processes happening there all the time is like a matrix of the computer – an Invisible force and organizational structure binding all components of the Biosphere together. In times of uncertainties and transitions we need to pay attention to what is Invisible, possibly more than to what is in front of us. – Kasia Molga.

Kasia Molga is a designer, artist, creative technologist and environmentalist in heart. She calls herself a “design fusionist”. She reimagines our relationship with nature, while questioning our technologically mediated perception of the environment – and the technology itself. Kasia’s work is part of a Collaboration between S + T + ARTS (Science, Technology & the Arts), an initiative of the European Commission launched under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and Untitled. STARTS’s purpose is to support Collaborations between artists, Scientists, engineers and researchers to develop more creative, inclusive, and sustainable technologies.

Scanner (British artist Robin Rimbaud) traverses the experimental terrain between sound and space connecting a bewilderingly diverse array of genres.

 

Website Links:

http://www.studiomolga.com/codeofsoil/

http://scannerdot.com/

https://growobservatory.org/

https://vertigo.starts.eu/article/detail/by-the-code-of-soil-in-greece/

Images: Kasia Molga (c)

Today’s Internet is becoming increasingly centralized, slowing innovation and challenging its potential to revolutionize society and the economy in a pluralistic continent. DECODE is a project in which practical alternatives will be developed for managing online identity, personal and other data and collective governance in a citizen-friendly and privacy-aware fashion. Larisa’s work ‘Data Union Fork: Tools for Data Strike’, realized in Collaboration with the DECODE project  asks what it means to Strike in the digital domain and how citizens can mobilize and organize for collective action. The Fork encourages audience reflection on critical issues arising from persistent personal data harvesting, digital surveillance and profiling.It also engages the participants to think how collective action could help regain control and redefine the value of data collected whilst promoting solidarity and mutual aid.

During the workshop, participants are invited to explore collective bargaining in the Labor union tradition through ‘word & image example mapping’, a subverted software design methodology, and investigate what is a breach, how to communicate alert, mobilize and organize citizens locally and across Neighborhoods.

Larisa Blazic is a London-based artist focusing on critical examination of digital technology, its impact on power relations, dominant narratives surrounding it and the consequences of lack of ethical consideration and / or framework in the world of digital innovation. Over the past 20 years, Larisa has been combining hybrid interests ranging from the creative use of the Internet to intersections of video art and architecture and has initiated, collaborated and participated internationally in projects ranging from net.art to FLOSS art and design. Larisa’s work is part of a Collaboration between S + T + ARTS (Science, Technology & the Arts), an European Commission initiative launched under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and Untitled.STARTS’s purpose is to support Collaborations between artists, Scientists, engineers and researchers to develop more creative, inclusive, and sustainable technologies. 

Websites:

https://www.ewns.net/dataunion/dataunion.html

https://vertigo.starts.eu/calls/2017-2/residencies/data-union-fork-tools-for-data-strike/detail/

https://decodeproject.eu/

 

What is the role that art, creativity and contemplation can play in helping us turn our inspiration & joy, as well as our frustration & pain into choices for the future which are aligned with our highest values ​​and ethics? How can we use our whole body and being as an antenna of deep listening to feel into these thresholds and play with them? And finally, how can we learn to explore the liminal spaces of our consciousness with curiosity and openness in order to allow the future to emerge organically from the mists of time?

In this workshop we will use a combination of reflective, meditative and creative techniques to feel into these questions and tap into the subtle Dreamscapes of our subconscious in order to create a “Dreamseed” drawing. This piece of art will hold within it the potent Intentions and answers explored through a number of exercises designed to awaken more of our inspiration, Imagination and intuition.

I invite you to gently step into your mytho-Poetic Dreamscapes and discover the wisdom and beauty waiting to be seen, heard and expressed as we collectively explore more creative solutions to the most pressing problems.

* Please have a piece of paper and drawing materials handy for the workshop (a pen or pencil is enough) If you want to bring color pencils and pastels please do. No previous experience with mediation or art is required to attend, everything has been designed to be accessible to all. *

Eileen Hall is a creative director, artist and explorer based in London. She is the founder of Tayos, a multidisciplinary and multicultural collective of artists and Scientists looking to reconnect people to nature through art & music with the aim to also help protect the endangered wild habitats of her home country of Ecuador. In her paintings she enjoys Exploring the liminal and fluid spaces between our inner consciousness and our outer environments with a special focus on our connection to nature, Poetry and Dreamscapes. As a meditation and mindfulness teacher she has worked with individuals, groups and companies worldwide combining creativity and contemplation practices for wellbeing and health for a number of years.

Websites:  www.eileen-hall.com, www.tayos.org,

Instagram: @hall_eileen @tayos_art

Twitter: @eileen_hall

Images: Eileen Hall (c)

We invite you to an intimate check-out session to process and integrate the sparks and triggerings of the day in a group setting, without restrictions as to what topics should emerge. The purpose is connecting, instead of networking. It takes the pressure off cerebral representation and can – paradoxically – result in profound Intellectual contributions. But it doesn’t have to. It is essentially an exercise around liberalizing ourselves and each other from expectations to unlock deeper and personal imaginaries. As importantly, it creates a spacious readiness to find a common rhythm and shape the collective identity of the Alliance.

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Ilona Puskas (she / her) works in Community Activation at EIT Climate-KIC. She is a cultural programmer with a keen eye for irregulars and dormant rebels. She has worked in a variety of contexts from public policy to exponential technology, striving for positive impact. She is a devoted advocate for the revised role of the curator in facilitating sustainability, and solidarity in curatorial praxis.

Twitter: @ClimateKIC

Website: www.climate-kic.org

Metaphors are central to how we imagine and describe the experiences and systems of everyday life, from climate to pandemic, governments to economies, education to care. Once we notice and think about the metaphors we’re using, it can prompt us to understand our situation better, but also to re-imagine, to use alternative metaphors to think in new ways. 

In this fun session we’ll be exploring how re-imagining, through new metaphors, can help us re-imagine the world, and create new ways of thinking and living. We’ll use the New Metaphors cards along with your own ideas and experiences to experiment with and generate ideas for transforming our imaginaries of some major issues for humanity and the planet. 

The session is run by Dan Lockton and Sanika Sahasrabuddhe from the Imaginaries Lab, an international research studio creating design tools to support people’s imagining, with the aim of more equitable socially and environmentally sustainable futures. Bridging research and practice, we work extensively with Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design and Tepper School of Business, and collaborate internationally with a variety of organisations in Europe and North America. 

Twitter handles: @imaginari_es and @soopersawnic

Website: imaginari.es 

Kinship Photo is a moment of contemplation. It is an exploration of the physical and virtual spaces through a Collaborative photogram. The Kinship procedure creates shadowlike images that turn the power structures of photographing upside down, and broaden the meaning of friendship.

Kinship photo is made for a festival participant who are tired of conference calls and seeks for a way to connect.
With this piece two people meet: one of them online and the other onsite at the festival premises or in a nearby location. With the help of gentle instructions and a material Envelope they explore the physical space of their close surroundings. The aim is to find elements, places, or ways of being that both participants feel kin of. When a mutual agreement has taken place, the two people with the chosen kinships get exposed onto a light sensitive paper. During the procedure, all parties have to stay still and focused. It is an opportunity to breath deep and contemplate on the closeness and distance between themselves and other beings. When the exposure is done, the picture on a light sensitive paper remains as a memory of that shared moment.

With this simple gesture we believe it is possible to create and explore new spaces and places that are not only virtual or physical, but genuinely both. They are experienced, shared Moments facilitated by light within communication technologies, and marked by light being trapped on photographic paper.

We, Dominik Fleischmann, Emilia Pennanen, Jenni Toivonen, Kristiina Mäenpää and Tatu Heinämäki, are from the MA Photography program at Aalto University ‘s School of Arts, Design and Architecture . Together with artist and mentor Maija Annikki Savolainen we have developed a photography-based work for the festival which includes multiple Collaborations between human participants and other beings. Our shared interest in photography is to explore its possibilities as a world-making practice.

Please sign up to take part in the project through this Google form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_NvujGdO1t-T4Eh_TGGYTvuUymKhIjpm0jIh6Orq7zDOXgg/viewform

Website: instagram.com/kinship.photo.gram/

Related Untitled Agenda Theme : Reimagining human

 

Photos: Kinship Photo Group (c)

Any social or political envisioning is constrained by an invisible frame: by the implicit values and views on which it is created, most importantly its view of the nature of human beings.

A big vision begins with a vision for the “Being” of human beings. We need to go back to basics if we are to rediscover our imagination and create possibility for ourselves and our societies. Any social or political envisioning is constrained by an invisible frame: by the implicit values and views on which it is created, most importantly its view of the nature of human beings. For example, much of modern economic and political thought rests on the assumption that you or I know what we want (think markets, democracy etc). However, most wisdom traditions teach us that discovering what we want is actually very hard and takes deep practice and reflection.

In this session, participants will enquire into the nature of “Being” for human beings and how this would translate into a big vision for humanity and a new framework for progress. A mixture of play, embodiment and reason will be used in this workshop like session.

The session is led Sylvie Barbier and Rufus Pollock, the co-founders of Life Itself. Sylvie Barbier is a performance artist, entrepreneur and educator who loves to create powerful embodied experiences.  Her life ambition is to become a witch! Rufus Pollock is a researcher, technologist and entrepreneur. He has been a pioneer in the global Open Data movement. He is the founder of Open Knowledge. Formerly, he was Shuttleworth Fellow and Mead Fellow in Economics at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge and is currently an Ashoka Fellow and Fellow of the RSA. (Bio source: Life Itself)

Website: Life Itself
Twitter: @forlifeitself @rufuspollock

Related Untitled Agenda Theme:  Reimagining human     

 

Centerpiece is the screening of the audio-visual art-piece. This part is non interactive. For high immersion, headphones, a darkened room and a comfortable seating position are recommended. Before the screening, we will start the session with an introduction to give some context about the used materials and featured artists / authors. After the screening we will engage in a conversation about central ideas from the artpiece.

Innovation Von Gestern, or Yesterday’s Innovation, is a multi-layer live Collage about mobility, information society and the decline of industrialism in West Germany. The performance is based on a generative audio visual engine, which creates an emergent and self writing performance out of visual, sound and text input. Musical fragments and progress-critical texts are fed into the engine along with video sequences of remains of the industrial age and vast structures. With that input a strange and Immersive narrative showing how the belief in progress and individual mobility has  shaped landscapes and the crumbling cityscapes of today. The hopes and fears of people on the brink of a new era, about the skepticism and positivism of the past. An ambivalent Aesthetic for tomorrow’s world between utopia and dystopia.

The overall concept and execution of this performance is by Max Göttner and Miriam Gronau from Hyperreal. Göttner works as a creative coder and electronic engineer in the fields of media arts and rethinks the future of mobility in the VW group Future Center. Gronau works as an actor and voice artist in progressive political performances and business coaching.

Gottfried Hamburger [ Music ] was an unknown pioneer of electronic music from the West German industrial town of Remscheid. He worked as a communication technology engineer from the 60s to the 90s. His music was never released and consists of small home studio experiments, which can be seen as comments on the post industrial era and the upcoming information society.

Jürgen Dahl [ Text ] was an author and journalist from the West German town of Moers. He wrote texts about gardening as well as environmental and scientific topics. There is a strong progress and a tech-skeptical tone to his work. Living from 1929-2001 he was a coeval of Gottfried Hamburger.

Images : Max Göttner (c)

Related UNTITLED Agenda Tracks : REIMAGINING cities