I will be in Turku, Finland next week for the opening of Alice in Wonderland, which is being organized by the Finnish Museum of Photography. I will have 5 pieces from the Technically Intimate series in the show. The show will be held at the Logomo Cultural Center in Turku and will feature quite a few Finnish and international photographers.
Info:
In feminist writings the private sphere first figured as a site of sexual inequality, unremunerated work, and seething despair. The housewife – the ideal woman of the post Second World War years in advanced industrial societies – suffered in silence. However, a resurgent feminist movement which began to name the problems accompanying woman’s multiple roles as wife, mother, sexual companion, worker, and political subject. Feminism offered women a public language for their private discontent. Alice sets a centre stage to further incite into the personal in politics.
Alice also depicts a representation of self, addressing issues considered to be political, and not a genetic or biological category. Peeling back the layers, it is evident and important to identify the commercial market forces dominating the visual culture relating to the ownership of self and our perceived ideals of the notions of self in private and in public domains.
Wonderland explores the twisted logic and absurd critical viewpoint of western society. Similar to the children’s fiction book ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’, contemporary storytelling unfolds the truisms and philosophy behind the human being, its fragility and contradictions, the ownership of land and space, a chaotic environmental system, the interrelationship between the undeniable, though not unique, community phenomenon, online social networks. Taking the media as a starting point, artists in Alice in Wonderland explore political, sexual, and cultural tension in a moment when the demise of traditional forms of communication: radio, television, film, and photography are giving way to an explosion of digitally-based forms of social interaction including Facebook and Twitter to file and video sharing sites such as YouTube, Xtube, MySpace.
Alice in Wonderland creates a loose narrative with a wide range of international artists using lens-based media, who lead us to consider what is present. The works allow the viewer to recognise what they think they know, and invites a new meaning. In this way, the obvious is unobvious, the unobvious is obvious, and nothing is how we thought it would be at first glance.
The artists in the exhibition are Claudia Angelmaier, Evan Baden, Thorsten Brinkmann, Elina Brotherus, Saara Ekström, Melinda Gibson, Atelieri O. Haapala, hanna Haaslahti, Sasha Huber, Ulla Jokisalo, Marjaana Kella, Anni Leppälä, Susanna Majuri, Jan Mancuska, Christian Marclay, Juhana Moisander, Trish Morrissey, Laurel Nakadate, Naphouse, Zed Nelson, Anneli Nygren, Tuula Närhinen, Alain Paiement, Nelli Palomäki, Hyun-doo Park, Riitta Päiväläinen, Harri Pälviranta, Tuomo Rainio, Sanni Seppo, Iiu Susiraja and Jemima Stehli.
Alice in Wonderland exhibition will be displayed at the Logomo building in more than 1000 m2. The exhibition is curated by the editor-in-chief, curator Sheyi Bankale (UK), art historians Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger and Elina Heikka. The exhibition is produced by Tiina Rauhala / The Finnish Museum of Photography. Along the exhibition will be published a catalogue in three languages and a pedagogical programme. The exhibition is curated and produced by the standards of sustainable development.
Evan Baden 