#beyondthegallery

[[my summary of the video]]

Artists as citizens

Similar to the idea of art being this separate thing, and the gallery being this isolated, insulated thing, also the artist is seen as this romantic outsider figure, the seat of genius. And because of this infrastructure the benefits of art stay in the higher echelons: the artist (to a degree) and the galleries, but much like economic benefits, they don't trickle down to the larger part of society.

Even the idea of "participating" is problematic, as the word "participation" implies you are taking part in someone else's agenda. So we're looking for a way to balance this, taking the art away from the sovereign genius that is the artist, who sits on the sidelines. What if the artist comes down and works among and on the same level as other citizens.

The artist could be replaced by "the initiator." Usually in these participatory projects the artist retains control. And that usually stops that thing from taking hold in the world, because the artist needs to still be there to author it. The artist needs to learn to let go, let the "participants" run with it. That way the project has hope of being sustainable, of actually existing in the world on its own.

I’m really feeling this. Because my town Hamina had the exact opposite worst-possible-scenario of the “participatory” art thing, when Miina Äkkijyrkkä (not sure if that is the name she goes by now/went by then) did the Woima-sonni sculpture. She’s a “successful” (aka famous) artist who makes a lot of cow sculptures from old cars and things like that, so she came to Hamina to make a bull (sonni in Finnish) out of wood - because this is an old boat-making kind of town, and the torso of the bull was done with that old craft of boat making. And it was like the material had this drift wood kind of feeling, and overall it was a great sculpture for this seaside town thing we’ve got going on, and the sculpture was placed in a very prominent place by the water near the entrance to the city. Very good stuff. But then during the process she became really huffy and got mad at someone or something and didn’t finish the work. So the “participants” kept working on it without her “supervision”, and she got even more mad at this, threatening with legal action because the people were messing with her “copyright” and “artistic integrity” and what all else. 

Then the unfinished thing just sat there for years and years, vulnerable to the elements and vandalism, and whenever the city tried to reach out to her to figure out what to do with it (was she going to finish it? it should be moved or done something with, you can’t just leave it) she just... wouldn’t respond, didn’t have the courtesy to even respond. The whole thing got people talking a lot in the city of course, lots of opinions, I must admit at the time I felt ashamed to be an “artist” because of the unprofessional way she was behaving. And especially when this bull was such a great fit for the town, it was huge and impressive, like, it was great. It just needed to be finished, and then tarred or something so that the wood would withstand rain and snow. 

Eventually, as the bull was going to get evicted, this other cultural-lady Aira Samulin swooped to the rescue and agreed to have the bull housed at her art range thing in Hyrsylänmutka. A huge moving operation was orchestrated (which included the legs of the bull getting sawed off Y____Y imo the bull got actually vandalised worse for this dealio than it ever did by the “participants” who tried to finish it without the artist being present) and the bull was removed from Hamina. 

I still grieve this on some level. I thought it was a great piece of art, and part of its greatness came from the way it belonged in Hamina: it fitted here, to the tradition, it was built by the locals, it inspired conversation and divided opinions, and you saw it standing there when you drove into town over the Tervasaari bridge. And it failed because of the artist (sorry, but no, I place all the blame on her. Maybe I don’t have her view on it, but that too is on her for not at all communicating after her pants got into a bunch >:C ) In Hyrsylänmutka it’s just a big sculpture.