PAVILION OF FINLAND AT THE 58TH INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION
Pavilion of Finland at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Finnish Pavilion presents The Miracle Workers Collective: A Greater Miracle of Perception
Giardini, 11 May – 24 November 2019
Press Conference: Wednesday 8 May, 11am.
Please RSVP to yaz@pelhamcommunications.com
Venice Performance Iteration: Friday 10 May, 2-6pm.
Please RSVP to yaz@pelhamcommunications.com
The Miracle Workers Collective (MWC) present their inaugural project, A Greater Miracle of Perception, for the Finnish Pavilion at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.
“It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate.”
James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time, 1963
The MWC is formed and informed by a transdisciplinary and transnational community of artists, lmmakers, writers, intellectuals, performers, and activists including: writer Maryan Abdulkarim; writer and filmmaker Khadar Ahmed; writer and filmmaker Hassan Blasim; choreographer Sonya Lindfors; artist and activist Outi Pieski; visual artist and musician Leena Pukki; visual artist and activist Martta Tuomaala; spatial designer Lorenzo Sandoval; cinematographer Christopher L. Thomas and storyteller Suvi West, as well as curators Giovanna Esposito Yussif, Christopher Wessels, and Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung.
Exploring the miracle as a poetic vehicle from which to expand perceptions and experiences, the exhibition is realised through cinematic collaborations by members of the collective, and a site-speci c sculptural installation by Outi Pieski gesturing
to the transnationality of the Sámi people across Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Creating a space of encounters upon which to pause and re ect, the pavilion challenges the notion of national representation and belonging.
“We are shifting beyond the realm of the possible, exploring moments regarded as ‘failures’ and exploring technologies of listening and seeing to chart the journey of the impossible,” says the collective, “while deliberating the importance of processuality in collective practices.”
“For us, this is an exciting journey”, says Raija Koli, Director of Frame and commissioner of the exhibition. “By bringing together the multidisciplinary practices and diverse backgrounds of its members, the Miracle Workers are rearticulating the idea of a contemporary art exhibition at the Finnish Pavilion. The collective is also exploring the parameters of the biennial concept by taking the Biennale out of Venice and all the way to Karasjok into the circumpolar North.”
Running additionally to the Venice exhibition, the performative, discursive, lmic and sonic arm of the MWC is manifested through a series of public events taking place
in Berlin, Venice, Karasjok and Helsinki during 2019. By contesting the presupposed structures of exhibition making in biennial contexts, the collective questions the given hierarchies, and notions of the impossible, in the everyday.
A publication will accompany the exhibition, published by Archive Books.
Miracle Workers Collective present
A Greater Miracle of Perception: The Berlin Iteration
Address: Stiftung Brandenburger Tor, Max Liebermann Haus, Pariser Platz 7, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Date: 3 April 2019
Time: 5 – 9pm
A Greater Miracle of Perception: The Berlin Iteration is the rst in the series of public events developed by the Miracle Workers Collective for the Finnish Pavilion at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.
The Berlin Iteration is devised to present the project and open the conversation of the diverse practices of the MWC to international audiences. The programme includes screenings, readings, performances and lectures by members of the collective and invited guests. The evening includes: a performance lecture delving into the project Máttaráhku ládjogahpir – Foremothers’ Horn Hat by artist Outi Pieski and archaeologist Eeva-Kristiina Harlin; a reading by writer Hassan Blasim of his new book Allah 99; a lm screening of FinnCycling-Soumi-Perkele! by artist Martta Tuomaala; The Night Thief, a lm screening and conversation with lmmaker Khadar Ahmed and writer Maryan Abdulkarim, amongst others.
The event is organised in collaboration with Stiftung Brandenburger Tor, The Finnish Institute in Germany and Frame Contemporary Art Finland with the support of Goethe- Institut Finnland.
Commissioner
The exhibition in the Pavilion of Finland is commissioned and produced by Frame Contemporary Art Finland. Frame, an advocate for Finnish contemporary art, supports international initiatives, facilitates professional partnerships, and encourages critical development of the eld through grants, visitor programme and residencies, seminars and talks, exhibition collaborations and network platforms. The exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland.
Supporters
The main partner for A Greater Miracle of Perception is City of Helsinki / Helsinki Biennale 2020.
The main supporter of A Greater Miracle of Perception is the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland, together with the Saastamoinen Foundation, The Finnish Cultural Foundation and Embassy of Finland in Rome.
For information and requests for interviews
Milly Carter Hepplewhite and Lisa Hopf at Pelham Communications milly@pelhamcommunications.com or lisa@pelhamcommunications.com +44 20 8969 3959
Instagram: @frame_finland
Twitter: @framefinland
Facebook: @framefinland
Tags: #framefinland #finnishpavilion #MWC #MiracleWorkersCollective
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