1 the ability of an object or material to resume its normal shape after being stretched or compressed; stretchiness.
2 ability to change and adapt; adaptability.
The past few years have taken our necessity to adapt to a whole new level. What is considered normal has been stretched as much in the everyday as in artists’ creative processes. Despite economic and social distress, artists have kept on with their work, and collaboration between creatives has kept on happening.
The exhibition presents fragments of eight individual art projects that have been created collaboratively in exceptional circumstances during 2021. Each project has its individual processes and collaborative models, where the goal has been to come together, work together, and create something together. Through the exhibition, the viewer sees glimpses of long-lasting processes.
The artists and artist collectives in the exhibition are Milena Oksanen & Diego Machado, Anni Puolakka & Ellie Hunter, Pehmee kollektiivi, Minna Pöllänen & Bang Geul Han, Post Theatre Collective, JohannaRotko/BIOART LAB, Jaana Pirskanen & Half A Map ja The Veerkracht Collective curated by Jani Kaila.
The projects tell us stories of cycles of life, listening to the everyday, coming up with new ways of working together, and of resilience in a challenging situation. Above all, the projects show us how artists have adapted to the current situation by carrying on with what is important to them, building up on existing alliances, supporting each other, and finding new resources in a situation that has seemed hopeless.
In conjunction with the exhibition, a seminar focusing on new forms of artistic collaboration will be arranged at Hanasaari Auditorium. Join us for the half-day seminar on Thursday the 28th of April at 1-6pm.
The projects in the exhibition have been created as part of Together Alone 2.0, a project organized collaboratively by The Finnish Academic and Cultural Institutes. In the spring of 2020, the Institute network announced an open call for new art projects under the title of Together Alone. The open call sought artistic proposals related to the state of emergency, radical change and resilience. Together Alone 2.0 was launched in 2021 as a continuation of the project. Read more about the project and the artists.
There are 17 Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes around the world. They advance international mobility, visibility and collaboration of Finnish professionals in the arts, culture and research. The institutes co-operate through a Helsinki-based association, the Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes (SKTI). Find out more.
The exhibition Elastic Alliances is arranged with the support of the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland (Svenska kulturfonden) and the Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes.