A Screening-evening of WALLFLOWER/TAZ Tallinn

A Screening-evening of WALLFLOWER by Pilvi Takala (Finland) in TAZ Tallinn

TAZ TALLINN (Rael Artel Gallery: Non-Profit Project Space)
Pärnu Road 27-13, Tallinn, Estonia
October 6, 2006
www.moskva80.com

The video work Wallflower is based on a simple performative event in a dance-evening, a version of the traditional Finnish summer pavilion dance. Mostly elderly couples enjoy themselves dancing to old-fashioned music while the artist, a younger woman, is sitting in a shiny dress alone the whole evening waiting for somebody to ask her to dance. But everybody is dancing only with their partners and never ask the stranger to dance, as it would be appropriate in the proper dance-events in Finland. So the girl is sitting, the hours are passing, the band finishes and everybody is about to leave. What a unpleasant situation! What a foolish situation! On the one hand, the piece evokes embarrassment and sweet-bitter discomfort as well as raising the question, what is the artist looking for from the territory that is clearly not hers? The territory she tries to "fish" is shared by a particular community with a clear set of rules shared among them. This in-between contradictory feeling seems to be shared among the dancers in the some kind of spa in Pärnu as well as among viewer in front of the screen. Wallflower is a smart interference, which points to the characteristics and value system of one generation as well as unwritten rules shared on national bases. The performative experiment comes to an end with the same result as several of Pilvi's works before: the social structure is functioning and protecting itself.

The artwork Wallflower was commissioned by Rael Artel Gallery: Non-Profit Project Space in summer 2006.

The show is supported by Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, Finnish Institute, Tallinn and Estonian Cultural Endowment.

A poster with a text by Rael Artel is available to download here (about 200 kilos):

Wallflower poster

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Forever Yours,
Rael Artel
+ 372 56 460 983
+ 372 56 229 213
moskva80@moskva80.com
www.moskva80.com

WALLFLOWER in Rael Artel Gallery, Pärnu

WALLFLOWER by Pilvi Takala (Finland)
Rael Artel Gallery: Non-Profit Project Space
Lõuna 20, Pärnu, Estonia
August 17st throughout 20th, 2006
www.moskva80.com

Consisting of two videos and a small installation, the project titled as Wallflower by Pilvi Takala is based on a performance situated in dance-events for Finnish tourists in Pärnu, Estonia. Pärnu is very popular tourist destination among Finnish people and events visited by the residence artist Pilvi Takala are a version of the traditional Finnish summer pavilion dance. Mostly older couples on their holidays come to these events, they dance only with their partners and never ask strangers to dance as it would be appropriate in the proper dance-events in Finland.

The performance is a subtle act: just the artist, a younger woman, going into the dance in a shiny dress and sitting alone the whole evening waiting for somebody to ask her to dance. Just being overdressed and obviously expecting to get to dance creates a very awkward situation and pushes the boundaries of Finnish modest mentality and the Finnish idea of politeness. Everybody is embarrassed on the lonely girls behalf, but nobody thinks they are the man to ask her to dance. Pilvi is playing with uncomfortable feelings generated by following/not following a set of rules shared by a social group.

The artwork Wallflower was commissioned by Rael Artel Gallery: Non-Profit Project Space in summer 2006.

The show is supported by Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, Finnish Institute, Tallinn and Estonian Cultural Endowment.

A video still is visible at www.moskva80.com

Stranger Than Fiction/LAB, San Fransisco

Stranger Than Fiction
A video screening curated by Nomi Talisman
Wednesday, July 19, 2006, 7-9 PM
$5-10 sliding scale admission

Stranger Than Fiction will include short video pieces (up to 12 minutes long) that combine real life with performative acts. This event will showcase works that manipulate the sense of what is real and what is present, by highlighting, subverting, or acting upon it--documents which capture mundane, extraordinary, or surreal events occurring in the everyday.

Program:
Victor Barbieri – Beauty No. 3
Benjamin Bellas – “doesn’t matter that I followed the rules…”
Ian Cheng – MoMa Audio Adventure Club
Lisa Erdman – Annual Checkup
Claudia Esslinger w/ Leslie Seiters and Ron Estes – Breathing Lessons
Sean Fletcher & Isabel Reichert - Proceedings
Linda M. Ford – Fille Publique
Robert Heel – Downtown Crossing
Berit Hummel – Arena TV
Scott Kidall – Stolen Moments
MAS-Lab/ The Egg Ensemble – (The Enigma of Salvador) Dali’s Egg
Sean Olson - Affection
Julie Orser – Bit Parts
Carol Pereira - Remote
Pilvi Takala – Easy Rider
Michael Trigilio – Book 15
Nyok Mei Wong _ I’m too sad to tell you
And special guests

The LAB
2948 16th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
p: 415.864.8855
f: 415.864.8860
http://www.thelab.org

Stranger than Fiction program

Songs of Freedom and Love, Platform, Istanbul

Songs of Freedom and Love – Contemporary Art from the North of the North
Platform, Garanti Contemporary Art Centre, Istanbul
17 March – 22 April, 2006
www.platform.garanti.com.tr

Songs of Freedom and Love – Contemporary Art from the North of the North is an exhibition presenting works by ten artists of the younger generation who are working in Finland. The exhibition explores the ways and means of how we live together, how we form, shape and maintain our relationships to ourselves, our surroundings and others who occupy the same contexts we are in. It is about the idea of sharing, about being-with, and about the growing awareness and self-reflection of not being alone.

The exhibition brings together a group of artists, who each individually stand up for themselves and the themes they are confronting and obsessed with, not representing any kind of collective identity. It is a selection of interpretations on how to be and live together in a reality that is complex, pluralistic and confused. The aim of the exhibition is to construct a frame for a wide variety of sensations and sensibilities that are not insular and exclusive, but inclusive and open.

The participating artists are Panos Balomenos, Anna Tuori, Kati Immonen, Mauri Kuitula, Aurora Reinhard, Joonas Kota, Minna L. Henriksson, Henri Tani, Pilvi Takala, and Tuomas Laitinen. The exhibtion is curated by Mika Hannula and Minna L. Henriksson

Talk is cheap-Mika Hannula&Minna Henriksson