International Inspiration #1: Mustarinda

Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia and Institute of Art History and Visual Culture of Estonian Academy of Arts present:

Lecture series “International Inspiration” 2019/2020

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Alma Heikkilä and Saara-Maria Kariranta (Mustarinda Association)
16.10 at 18 lecture "Mustarinda activities, experiences and experimentations" at Estonian Academy of Arts (room A501)
17.10 at 12.30 seminar "Creating and sharing tools for the post-fossil future" at Estonian Academy of Arts (room A501)

In the presentation we will tell about Mustarinda, our goals, and activities and present our experiences, experimentations and solutions we have developed during the past 10 years. We will go more in detail about our practicalities and the best solutions when trying to reach post-fossil practice.

The lecture is accompanied by seminar, on October 17 at 12.30. Please write to Mari Laaniste for additional information: mari.laaniste@artun.ee. In the workshop we would like to hear about the thoughts and experiments that people taking part have developed. We would also like to share our thoughts about the ecological transition that needs to happen in the whole art scene. Discuss the problems we are facing with these bigger-than-life topics and the problems that might occur when thinking and planning the post-fossil transition.

The Mustarinda Association is a group of artists and researchers. At the centre of our activity lie contemporary art, boundary-crossing research, practical experimentation, communication, teaching and events. Mustarinda reaches towards a post-fossil culture by combining scientific knowledge and experiential artistic activity. Mustarinda house is located in the remote Kainuu region in Finland, next to old-growth spruce forests of Paljakka nature reserve. In 2020 Mustarinda celebrates its 10 years anniversary.

Alma Heikkilä (b. 1984) lives and works in Helsinki, Finland. Heikkilä's painterly, sculptural and spatial works materialize merged agential aspects of humans, non-humans and infrastructures affected by the various dimensions of the global ecological crisis. She completed an MFA at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2009. Her work has been presented recently at Kiasma, Art Encounters Biennale, Casco, Tensta Konsthall, Gwanju Biennale, EKKM, Vilnius Painting Triennial, Norrköping Art Museum, EMMA Museum and Gallery AMA. Heikkilä is the co-founder of Mustarinda association.

Saara-Maria Kariranta is an Inkoo based sculptor (b 1974). She graduated with an MFA from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2012. Kariranta combines traditional sculptural techniques with contemporary technology, often in combination with everyday objects that are found around us. In her recent work, Kariranta examinate the practices of Western post-capitalist society. Installations create multi-sensory, charged spaces where the boundaries of the inanimate and the living as well as the mental and the material are blurred.

All lectures and seminars are free of charge and in English. The lectures are recorded and shared on Estonian Academy of Arts’ Vimeo page.

International Inspiration is a collaborative lecture series between CCA and Estonian Academy of Arts that first started in 2015. The lecture series hosts internationally recognized curators and critics who are introducing their practice, work methods and are consulting students in seminars.

Season 2019/2020 is focused on the politics of different art institutions – museums, residencies, and art criticism. The aim has also been to invite thinkers from the regioon (Nordic countries, Eastern Europe). The list of speakers includes Alma Heikkilä ja Saara-Maria Kariranta(Mustarinda), Helena Kåberg (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm), Anna Novikov (Greifswaldi ülikool), The White Pube (art critics from London), Christoph Platz (Steirischer Herbst).

Supported by Estonian Cultural Endowment.