NUAN65 Blog

Introducing artist Johanna Jämsä / MarjaJohanna / rapper-beatmaker Upsista

What do you work with? Guitar, old bells, radio, sounds in general, lyrics, tunes, Fl Studio 11, sounds collected from kitchen/forrest/basements/--- What is the main lead you follow in your artistic work? My own enjoyment and what inspires me in the moment. My dreams and premonitions.

Do you have a recurring theme in your work? I describe small moments in my songs and raps – somehow they always become anecdotes that tell something meaningful about the way I perceive this world. Feminism. Nature. Naivism that grows to enormous proportions and overpowers the truth. Giving voice to things that can't speak.

How does the northern location affect your work? Sometimes you can hear the sounds of the northern natural environment in my rap beats: rhytmical scrunching of walking in the snow that has a thick upper layer,singing of the swans right before they head south, barking of a domestic rottweiler with a natural echo of a Finnish summer cottage landscape.

What kind of reaction you hope to get from the audience? Action, no reaction. In the best scenario people leave in the middle of my gig because they can't resist the urge to go make their own songs/paintings/poems/whatever makes them happy.

How would you describe marginality in art? This is hard. I have no answer to this one? Maybe it is ahead of its time, maybe not. Maybe it has something to do with the need to protect your unique way of expressing things. Not willing to compromise. Not seeing the reason to compromise. Not knowing many chords. Listening your heart. Being content with small audiences. Not believing that your art is amazing. Doing it purely for yourself. Maybe I will be famous someday. I want to focus on the art, not marketing.

What sort of role would you wish the organizations, such as galleries,etc. to hold in relation to (marginal) art? Well, this camp is good. It is fresh. Opportunities to perform your art and meet new people.

What inspires you in your work? My sisters, friends, little men, LOVE and crushes soo much, moments of bliss or some other big feeling. Sex, sexuality and gender. Small (abandoned) industrial areas. Playing the recorder while a dog sings. My dad and his love for singing. The memory of myself before I started making art.

What kind of questions do you ask yourself while working? How can I just continue feeling that I make my songs for myself? Which incense should I pick today? Does anything else really inspire me other than someone I have been crushing on?

How much do you wish the audience to participate in your work? I wish to dispel the boundary between the performer and artist. How? I'll figure it out.

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Who are you?  SUSANNA VOIUSHINA. Independent art curator | dancer | traveller

What do you work with? What is your media? Conceptual art | Urban development At the Camp Underground I'm representing a SELEKTOR project from Arkhangelsk, RUSSIA. It is a city festival at one of the oldest currently working printing-house in Russia. And potencially it's a new level of communication between the artists and city residents, active participants of the social environment, who are making joint steps for the important decisions of developing the infrastructure and industries of the city.

How does the northern location affect your work? It gives me a hope that being remoted from the rest of the world geographically we have the strongest ability to cooperate in a people2people aspect.

What inspires you in your work? People. and their endless creativity.

What kind of questions do you ask yourself while working? What's gonna be next?=)

What is your best advice for the audience? Do not estimate anything.

In scale from 1 to 10, how underground are you? 5 - connecting both worlds.

Last week my emails finally materialized into Camp Underground. Artists from Petrozavodsk to Tromsø arrived in Oulu to meet each other and to brainstorm and work ideas for cross-border collaboration in the north.  There was twelve of us, a good amount for conversation.

During the week our workshops and conversations rolled around underground art, money and collaborating in the Barents area. With gentle guidance by Marlene Hyyppä, we visualized these subjects into our own zine on the walls of Bingo.

Actually, we ended up doing quite a lot of walls...

From the start of the week it turned out, that the artist led places that were hosted at the Camp; Bingo, Kurant and Selektor are about to loose their walls in the near future. Culture association Valsa from Rovaniemi had to give up their event space a while ago. They are now only renting workspaces for the artists. Loosing places like Valsas in the North is very unfortunate. The effects multiply hundredfold. A vibrant city needs spaces where people can meet and stay proactive from their own standpoints. Enforced consumerism just isn't enough for a good life. This is why it is important for us, artists across the Barents region, to work together and learn from each other. That's how we can bring more value to our personal work. That's how we'll make the value of our work more visible and audible to our local community.

I now got to meet these artists for the first time. I'm already looking forward to our collaboration.

Introducing artist Iliya Baidakovsky

I am Iliya Baidakovsky, Muralist from Northern Russia.

I‘m a concrete fanat. I paint with aerosol and acrylic.

Guided by the scale and the environment I paint

qubistic styles, vintage fish illustrations, my logo.

Most of my themes are connected to Northern environment.

Marginality in art is the foundation of true freedom of expression.

I’m inspired by vintage illustrations, environment, concrete, arcitecture.

I dont think about It.

Marginality exists and true graffiti is a part of it.

I’m five units underground.

Links:

Introducing Erica Masuya JP

Introducing artist Adrey Dickey

My name is Andrey Dickey. I have been writing "that's my name" graffiti since 2001. And actually I am still into it, but the last 3 years I started to make more illustrative paintings using not only spray paint but latex paint and rollers/brushes as well. I just like the idea of something being painted in the place which is not supposed to be painted. I try to fill my illustrative paintings with irony and sense of humor but not always I have good enough ideas to realize:)  And also I am fond of making graffiti fonts, it is also one of leading themes in my works. I find inspiration in styles, techniques, picturesque locations, artistic people...

How does the northern location affect your work? As I mostly paint outside the main affect of northern location is  weather. Almost half of year I can't spend much time painting in the street.

What sort of reaction do you wish from the audience? If I put sense into my drawing  the audience must at least smile on it, if there s nothing to understand, I hope people will admire my work with colors and technique.

How would  you describe  marginality in art?  Painting whatever I want , wherever I need.

What sort of role would you wish the organizations, such as galleries, forums, etc. to hold in relation to (marginal) art? It is always interesting to face with "another side" of common  art. Galleries and forums can pull the marginal art out  of the DIY underground area showing its beauty/ugliness to wide audience. Really hope  such events will make all sorts of artists to mix their forces in impressive collaborations.

What kind of questions do you ask yourself while working? Quite often I make freestyle paintings and every time I look for better solution in combining colors and searching best final result. I am fond of painting in abandoned areas. I really can feel aesthetic of such dead places.  What  art could be more underground than this

In scale from 1 to 10, how underground are you? 7

Links:

Who are you? Sculptor, 34 years, based in Oulu Finland.

What do you work with? What is your media? I work in the field of sculpture. My media changes almost in every piece. I use alot of natural and recycled everyday materials.

Do you have a recurring theme in your work? This year I have represented a new art movement called ART FRAGILE. Briefly, it glorifies and bends over and comments the stereotypes in viewing and experiencing art. It ́s coincidentally fragile and strong, sensitive and powerful. It ́s about freedom and might, nature and the unnatural, femininity and sexuality.

How does the northern location affect your work? I guess it gives me a fair amount of solitude that I need. And not too much stimulus.

What kind of reaction you hope to get from the audience? Maybe the obvious: not to think what I had meant it to be, but rather what questions it awakens in them. I think I work alot with humor, and I hope after the immediate sneers audience will have some serious pondering within.

What sort of role would you wish the organizations, such as galleries, forums, etc. to hold in relation to (marginal) art? I would ́t wish any roles but natural ones. Art tends to lose something valuable when insitutionalised. And if marginal goes mainstream its not marginal anymore. Marginal artists tend to seek optional spaces for their art.

What inspires you in your work? Everything is so interesting, everything. I ́m very curious by nature and love to work with my hands. Most of my time I spend thinking. I have long discussions with myself about the world, and I guess the main thing that keeps me going is to understand things and trying to be, trying to undestand how to be.

What kind of questions do you ask yourself while working? What is this? Why is it? What does it represent?

What is your best advice for the audience? Forget the word: ART and forget the question: Is this ART?

How much do you wish the audience to participate in your work? Without audience there is nothing, so a huge part I guess.

Introducing Kurant Visningsrom

Kurant Visningsrom is a self-organised, artist-run exhibition space in Tromsø, Northern Norway. Founded in 2009 by art students, later passed on to three successive generations of young artists. Today, Kurant is Henrik Sørlid, Lisa Jørgensen, André Enger Aas and Robert Julian Badenhope Hvistendahl.

What do you work with? What is your media?

Mainly we exhibit young contemporary art. In addition, Kurant is or can be when neccessary a bar, music scene, night club, cinema, think thank, and a social arena for the art community in Tromsø.

How does your work affect the northern location?

Very carefully. What sort of role would you wish the organizations, hold in relation to (marginal) art?

Artists and cultural workers - like everybody else - must organise to work towards common needs and interests. The nature of these organisations should ideally be defined by how to approach these needs and interests in any given setting.

Your advice for the audience?

Relax. Look twice. In scale from 1 to 10, how underground are you?

Introducing artist Tessa Astre

I'm Tessa Astre, multiartist and working class art heroine from Northern Botanica, Liminka. As my daily work I teach comics and visual novels for independent boarding school in Liminka Art School. I work as a performance artist, ug-comics drawer and portraitpainter.

What is the main lead you follow in your artistic work?

I want to create a new platform in idea changing and discussion in my art. Art is a dialoque, seperated from words and speech and can create different kinds of level of people to share, participate and develope themselves.

Do you have a recurring theme in your work?

Classical themes of love and death seem to appear at my works. I also use semiotical pictures, allegories and mix macro- and micro political themes.

How does the northern location affect your work?

I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I think artists of north are more independent, and there's no competition or pressure of selling and being part of ”culture life”. Artists are more free, though it's more difficult to find people that are doing same media as you (like there's not so many performance- artists to co-operate with)

What kind of reaction you hope to get from the audience?

Any reaction, I hope to hand a mirror for audience. Experiance of art is personal.

How would  you describe  marginality in art?

Marginality is something that isn't easy to cope with. Marginal art exposes something difficult but accurant, thus it's not sellable for masses easily.

What sort of role would you wish the organizations, such as galleries, forums, networks and foundations to hold in relation to (marginal) art?

Spaces to meet, co-operate and work. Materials, and workshops, held in more northern locations. Inclusive happenings, platforms and stages.

What inspires you in your work?

Anything.

What kind of questions do you ask yourself while working?

”Am I brave enough?”

What is your best advice for the audience?

Try to accept (your own) feelings that artpiece awakes. When you say yes you get more far to the knowing your own ideas, prejudges and points of learning.

How much do you wish the audience to participate in your work?

Volunteer. I try to include sensibilities and not to push them across the edge. Though those who participate are rewarded.

Do you think there is such thing as underground art?

Yes. Ug doesn't mind laws of consumerism and capitalism.

Links:

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I am an independent curator. I am interested in power of knowledge and the folk art (traditionally seen, or today as design and architecture) as a democratic alternative to the dominating, dogmatic and shallow structures of "contemporary art". Basically, I am interested in the creative impulse, which every human has. Links: