how do you feel solo exhibiton opening 15.4.23 tehdas ry pori
a multi-sensory, multi-media art installation exploring empathy and human connection. open wednesday to sunday 1300-1800 until 30th april. the exhibition is accessible.
gratitude to: tehdas ry for the space and the vibes. satakunta cultural fund and finnish cultural foundation for the working grant and the ability to dream, speak, travel, learn and share art. anna elo for the large large black and white fabrics kopo of tehdas ry for building the room and the space valtteri for driving us around when you could kaitsu for the 44 minute mixtape that surrounds the eight portraits the eight beautiful souls who bared themselves so selflessly kreeta for the gogrgeous moving incredible art piece pekkha for the poignant, wistful photography mikko and akki of tehdas ry for the extra support in installation of fabrics, lights and stuff in the space pori for being so full of exquisite and unexpected art and poetry.
how do you feel is about connections and how we form them, barriers to their formation, and ways to overcome these barriers. one way... a question... how do you feel?
August 2022 second installation at UNM Festival Iceland
how do you feel: a multi-sensory, multi-media installation exploring empathy and human connection
stranger in a strange land it's hard to find friends. hard to connect to people. culture's are not the same so it's hard for me to translate the words 'i'm lonely.' 'i don't want to be alone right now.' 'can i join you?'
'how do you feel' was conceived from my loneliness during the covid pandemic having moved to finland just as it got good and locked down. my usual ways of connecting and finding friends in anew space: concerts, perfomances, exhibitions, bars... all closed, all out of limits. so i looked for ways to connect. outside of my comfort zone.
i volunteered at a refugee centre among other things and found a kind of unexpected hope there. all of us foreign and in a strange place, all of us desperate for some company, we found a way to communicate even if we didn't speak the same language as we often didn't. it came to me that we don't just use words to communicate, to connect... we use all our senses.
after talking through the idea with lots of friends, hours on the phone of bouncing ideas off them and this is where we landed on:
an installation. a chair and next to the chair a screen showing videos of a person; earphones connect you to a conversation, not a standard conversation something natural and flowing, and deep and meaningful; a scent capturing the person; an item you could touch; a texture to match the person; a taste soemthing for your tongue that lasted a moment or longer as you heard and saw and touched and scented and tasted.
i would start with eight people, then move on to sixteen all the way to sixty-four. moving around the world to different cities and different spaces i would do my best to capture these multi-layered portraits of people. all the while asking, sincerely, openly, desperately... 'how do you feel?'
The first version of 'how do you feel' with two multi-sensory portraits at the Ung Nordisk Music Residency in May 2022
a sketch of the original concept and idea.
Showcase at Globe Art Point Window Exhibition November -December 2022
How Do You Feel is made possible by the award of a grant by the Finnish Cultural Foundation. Thanks!