Very excited to announce that our article, Process as the medium for socially engaged art, has been published in IMAG#7!  Big thanks to InSEA and the editorial team- Ângela Saldanha, Bernadette Thomas and Teresa Torres de Eça.

"IMAG number 7 presents a collage of different essays created by InSEA members. When we initiated this issue we wanted to make visible the diverse range of art education practices in formal and non-formal settings and to invite the readers to engage in a visual journey; a process of ‘encountering others’. There is no filter on what should or should not constitute art education. Rather, here we have a mosaic of approaches; of ways of making and ways of understanding the role of art education in the schools, museums; universities and communities. We travel according to the last InSEA roads through the encounters generated during InSEA seminars and congresses. The journal opens with a story told by Steve Willis, current Vice President of InSEA, where he shares impressions, feelings and thoughts about his experience during the InSEA seminar in Walvis Bay, Namibia (Encounters with Otherness to achieve Knowingness).

As our journey continues, the reader meets Korinna KorsströmMaggatröm-Magga (North Calling); Anastasia Artemeva and Arlene Tucker (Process as the medium for socially engaged art); Phivi Antoniou (Cyprus) and Dina Adel Hassan (Egypt). The northern authors reveal community art practices and social engaged intercultural projects in Finland and Russia. In the same section a different encounter invites the reader to learn about other socially engaged art education experiments in Alexandria, Egypt, with Dina Adel Hassan who describes using images, an experience conducted with Children at Risk in Egypt."

Download The full ISSUE ( PDF 17,9 MB) or individual chapters.

Otherness as a Form of Knowingness
Steve Willis
DOI: 10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-2

Process as the medium for socially engaged art
Anastasia Artemeva and Arlene Tucker
DOI: 10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-3

North Calling
Korinna Korsström-Maggatröm-Magga
DOI: 10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-4

Field Experiments in Visual Arts: Children at Risk, Homeless Children
Dina Adel Hassan
DOI:10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-5

People, Stories and Histories of Strovolos III – Public art, social engagement and situational practices
Phivi Antoniou
DOI: 10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-6

The past in the present
Ismini Sakellariadi
DOI: 10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-7

Educating through design | Eduquer par le design: Naissance d’un club de design
Azza Maaoui
DOI: 10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-8

Maktab Gammarth Toursom
Myriam Errais Borges
DOI:10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-9
Elisavet Konstantinidou & Eva Pavlidou
DOI: 10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-10

Exploring artistic and cultural identity through an
art curriculum unit
Fotini Larkou
DOI: 10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-11

Pensar, espacio, piel. Un ensayo visual desde nuestra experiencia como a/r/tógrafas. | To think,
space, skin.A visual essay from our experience as a/r/tographers.
María Martínez Morales; María Isabel Moreno
Montoro and Nuria López Pérez
DOI: 10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-12

“Art Lab x Kids: art as an instrument for discovery
and knowledge”: a visual literacy Project
Katia Pangrazi
DOI: 10.24981/2414-3332-7.2019-13

Welcome to the 16th ETMU Conference 2019 on SOLIDARITY, PARTICIPATION, AND POLITICS!
November 14-15, 2019
Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

Anastasia Artemeva and Arlene Tucker will be presenting Free Translation Sessions on Thursday, November 14th.  We are grateful and excited for this experience.

The conference addresses different meanings and concrete practices of solidarity, participation, and politics and their effects in the context of global mobility and ethnic relations. Today, the overall question of migration has become extremely politicized and views concerning it are polarized. In particular, populism and far-right activism manipulate the issue to promote ethno-nationalist agendas across the globe. These developments have fed into policies that rely on violence at the borders, abjection of people on the move and the negligence of their human rights. Predominant responses among states across the European Union and more globally rely on enhanced surveillance of borders, tightened criteria for entry and stay as well as hierarchical categorizations of those living inside Europe. At the same time, there are calls for policies that would support the development of more inclusive societies, respect for human rights and solidarity. Inclusive participation and solidarity are indeed described as ways to enhance equality among diversely positioned people or as antidotes to the crisis of democracy. Hence, questions of global mobility and ethnic relations touch societies profoundly at multiple levels and in diverse ways ranging from mundane relations and encounters to the principle of rule of law and social justice.

Confirmed keynote speakers are Dr. Prem Kumar Rajaram (Central European University, Vienna, Austria), Dr. Elisa Pascucci (University of Helsinki, Finland), and Dr. Nira Yuval-Davis (University of East London, UK).

For more information and to register for the conference please click here: https://events.tuni.fi/etmu2019

BIG thanks to ​Culture for All Service and Globe Art Point through the Avaus-project for supporting Free Translation Session.

During my art residency at Universidad Nacional de Colombia I had the honour to hold a few seminars with art professor Ana Maria Sanchez Lesmes and her art and education students.  A couple of the  seminars regarded my Dear You art project while the other one focused on exchange and process.  I used Translation is Dialogue and my other projects as gateways to show how translation techniques can be a method to open up dialogue, process information, and help articulate one's ideas and make oneself heard.  Since Ana has such a diverse group of students coming from fields of art education, architecture, art, and psychology, to name a few, we also discussed the value of interdisciplinary approaches. 

We started the session with a long table draped with different types of paper- blank and ready to be inked up, drawn on, covered with words transferred from the mind. I suggested that we all put out on the table our drawing tools to share, in hopes of establishing a creative and collective presence. On top of the paper were images from artists that have submitted artworks to Free Translation exhibition. For example, works by Carole Alden, Todd Hollfelder, and the spring class from the Richmond City Justice Center made multimedia art with Virginia Commonwealth University Open Minds program in 2015 were presented.

I invited the group to draw whatever comes to their mind as they processed these artworks.  I simply said, "Don't think too much.  Just do, make, draw, write." As everybody works differently, the pacing at first was slow, but soon after everybody was hovering around the table drawing and painting. Splashes of conversation,  here and there, would arise, but for the most part we all were intently focused on drawing and moving around the table to add our interpretations to the different images. After about an hour of conversing artistically and visually, we felt it was time to verbally discuss. 

Some students felt this experience was therapeutic and calming. Some felt it was difficult at first to know what to draw, but once they found an entry, it became easier and fun. Some felt it was relieving to not only draw with art students- that this mix of backgrounds and disciplines made it more relaxing to just draw and not worry about being judged by other artists. Some enjoyed this as an opportunity to listen to other perspectives and not feel inhibited by contradictory thoughts. Some enjoyed experimenting with new materials. Some felt that this was a release to talk about current events and the political situation between university students and the government. Regardless, the conversation flowed naturally and went deep into corners about what we hope and dream as individuals and as a community.

It is important to mention that the day before this seminar, I was scheduled to give a presentation on my work. Last minute, it was canceled due to protests on campus regarding higher education. That day I was on campus working and having meetings. I thought my headache was from jet lag, but no, it was from the fumes put in the air by the police. I was told that the police were spraying "gases lacrimógenos" something like "tear gas" into the air. The invisible can be equally damaging and painful as what is before our eyes.

At first, it was hard to gauge the danger or severity of the protests as everybody was respectful of each other's wishes to join the protest or watch from the sidelines.  The police, as their robocop uniform suggests, creates a wall to oppose (to oppose what?), to protect (to protect what?) and mostly, from what I felt, to not listen to ideas suggested from other perspectives. Also, it was shocking to me how normalized these situations can quickly become; the sound of bombs, the feeling of the fumes getting into your system, the inconvenience of entrances being blocked due to the protests all became a part of daily life in a matter of minutes. These issues, amongst others, were raised after our collective drawing, yet you can see that they were still fresh in many people's thoughts as they became apparent in the images.

Thank you so much UNAL, Ana, and Ana's students for their openness and willingness to want to share, exchange thoughts and to have an open dialogue! I feel that, with those elements in place, anything is possible.
​
XOXO,
arlene

We are very excited to be part of No Labels No Walls Festival 2019 on Tuesday, September 24th from 15:30-18:30 at Caisa Culture Center on Kaikukatu 4 B, Helsinki!

Welcome to our September art-making sessions. We will view and discuss artworks received from all over the world in response to the Free Translation open call. These artworks are created by people affected by incarceration. During the three-hour session we will view the works and hear the stories of people who created them, many of whom are currently in prison. We will then create translations - responses to the artworks and upload them on the online exhibition, for the artists and for the general public to see and continue the dialogue.

The translations can be visual, written, audible, photographic, or in any other form. You are welcome to bring materials of your choice - or simply bring yourself.

This workshop welcomes people of all ages.

For more information please contact Anastasia Artemeva and Arlene Tucker at info(at)prisonspace.org

You are welcome to contribute to the ongoing interpretations at any time via https://freetranslation.prisonspace.org/

---

Tervetuloa meidän taiteen tekemisen sarjaan. Katsomme ja keskustelemme taiteellisista töistä, jotka ovat saapuneet eri puolilta maailmaa vastauksena vapaiden käännösten (Free Translation) avoimeen kutsuun. Teoksia ovat luoneet ihmiset, joihin on vaikuttanut vankeus. Kaksituntisen tapaamisen aikana tutustumme teoksiin ja kuulemme tarinoita niitä luoneilta ihmisiltä, joista monet ovat tälläkin hetkellä vankilassa. Tämän jälkeen teemme käännöksiä, vastauksia taideteoksille, ja lataamme ne verkkonäyttelyyn, jossa myös taiteilijat ja suurempi yleisö voivat osallistua dialogiin. Käännökset voivat olla visuaalisia, kirjallisia, kuunnelmia, valokuvia tai muita ilmaisumuotoja.

Olet tervetullut tuomaan valitsemiasi materiaaleja – tai vain tuomaan itsesi. Työpaja soveltuu kaikenikäisille.

24.9.2014, klo 15.30-18.30
Kulttuurikeskus Caisa
Kaikukatu 4 B, 00530 Helsinki

Lisätietoa tapahtumasta meihin voit ottaa yhteyttä Anastasia Artemeva ja Arlene Tucker sähköpostilla osoitteeseen info(at)prisonspace.org.

https://freetranslation.prisonspace.org/

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Добро пожаловать на встречу на тему выставки Свободный перевод! Мы будем изучать произведения искусства, полученные из разных стран мира, и созданные людьми, на судьбу которых повлияло ограничение свободы. Эти работы были впервые показаны на выставке в пространстве MAA-tila в Хельсинки в ноябре 2018 года.

В течение трехчасовой встречи мы рассмотрим рисунки, услышим стихи, и узнаем личные истории авторов работ, многие из которых в настоящее время находятся в тюрьме. Мы создадим свои собственные творческие работы, интерпретируя, “переводя” услышанное и увиденное, и поместим их на сайт выставки, где их увидят авторы и публика. Мы будем писать письма, рисовать, фотографировать, и использовать другие формы художественного самовыражения. Приносите любимые материалы, или просто приходите.

К участию приглашаются взрослые и дети.

По всем вопросам обращайтесь к Насте или Арлин по адресу info(at)prisonspace.org.

https://freetranslation.prisonspace.org/

Vapaa käännös #2
8.8-1.9.2019
&
Tulkitaan vapaita käännöksiä 
klo. 12.00-15.00, 25.8.2019

Galleria Bokvillan, Hämeentie 125, Helsinki 

Vapaa käännös -teoskokonaisuus on kerätty vapaassa haussa vangeilta, ex-vangeilta ja ihmisiltä, joiden elämään vankeus on vaikuttanut. Ensimmäinen Vapaa käännös -näyttely oli esillä MAA-tilassa Helsingissä vuonna 2018 osana Prison outside #2 (Vankila ulkona) -tapahtumaa. Vapaa käännös #2 esittelee Bokvillanissa ja Venäjällä marraskuusta 2018 lähtien Tulkitaan vapaita käännöksiä -työpajoissa tehtyjä teoksia.

Tulkitaan vapaita käännöksiä on osa taiteen tekemisen sarjaa, jossa katsomme teoksia ja keskustelemme niistä. Teokset ovat saapuneet eri puolilta maailmaa vastauksena vapaiden käännösten (Free Translation) avoimeen kutsuun. Tapaamisen aikana tutustumme teoksiin ja kuulemme tarinoita taitelijoista, joista monet ovat tälläkin hetkellä vankilassa. Tämän jälkeen teemme käännöksiä, vastauksia taideteoksille, ja lataamme ne verkkonäyttelyyn, jossa myös taiteilijat ja suurempi yleisö voivat osallistua dialogiin. 

Seuraava tapahtuma on 25.8 klo 12:00-15.00 ja paikalla on korealainen tanssija ja koreografi Hany P. Työpaja soveltuu kaikenikäisille.

Lisää tietoa: https://prisonspace.org/Free-Translation-Sessions-August

Voi rekisteröityä: https://forms.gle/XqZUYqqRCUWPEZqA6 tai lähettää sähköpostia Arlenelle translationisdialogue@gmail.com.

Free Translation #2
8.8-1.9.19
&
Free Translation Session 12.00-15.00, 25.8.2019

Galleria Bokvillan, Hämeentie 125, Helsinki 

​Free Translation is a multi-disciplinary exhibition showcasing international works generated from an open call to incarcerated people, ex-convicts, and anyone affected by imprisonment. Free Translation exhibition premiered at MAA-tila in Helsinki in 2018 as part of Prison Outside #2. Free Translation Exhibition #2 is the subsequent viewing of works made during Free Translation Sessions held in Bokvilla and in Russia since November 2018.

Free Translation Sessions are gatherings where we make art, interpretations, and view and discuss artworks received for the international Free Translation exhibition. The sharing of personal stories, experimenting with art techniques, and listening to subjective views will hopefully help guide your artistic process and shed light on different walks of life.

August session will be hosted by Hany. P. Her Dancing Dice is a corporeal performance based workshop that allows one to find joy by playing with poetic dice. Hany.P will share with participants how she choreographs a physical language by using the artworks on display at the Free Translation exhibition. Diverse media such as sounds, texts and drawings will give participants space to explore how they interact with each other and how they can create an amalgamated body of language. This workshop welcomes people of all ages who have an interest in interactive creations and, in particular, with physical dialogues.

All ages are welcome. Participation is free and therefore pre-registration is encouraged. Email Arlene at translationisdialogue@gmail.com to register for the workshop and to receive more information. Alternatively, please fill out a form https://forms.gle/XqZUYqqRCUWPEZqA6 

Hany.P is the founder of Non Gothic Body Collectives that is a nest for nomadic artists encouraging the artistic solidarity. She holds a Master’s degree in theatre and performance from Goldsmiths University of London. She has worked internationally in a wide spectrum including installation performances, body dialogues with sounds as well as dance films. Her passion is on a creation of independent discourses by suggesting a fresh relation between the body and the instantly changing environment. These experimentations are oriented in a variety of spaces, objects and sounds. Her experiences in the cultural diversity including her recent workshops held in Rota(Spain), Athens(Greece), Essex University. E14 (U.K), Berlin(Germany). Non Gothic Body Collectives, https://www.facebook.com/nongothicbody

​Free Translation Sessions are organized by Anastasia Artemeva and Arlene Tucker of Prison Outside.

Свободный перевод #2 
8.8-1.9.2019
&
Интерпретируя Свободный перевод 12.00-15.00, 25.8.2019

Galleria Bokvillan, Hämeentie 125, Helsinki 

Свободный перевод  - это международная выставка художественных и литературных работ, которая является частью проекта Тюрьма Снаружи. Экспозиция сформирована из работ, присланных нам по почте от осужденных, бывших заключенных, а также людей, на судьбу которых оказала влияние тюрьма. Первая интерактивная выставка прошла в пространстве MAA-tila в Хельсинки в 2018 году. В настоящий момент проект существует в электронном формате. Мы приглашаем вас на вторую выставку проекта. В ней представлены переводы и интерпретации, созданные в Галерее Боквилла в Хельсинки, а также в России, начиная с ноября 2018 года.

В течение трехчасовых встреч Интерпретируя Свободный перевод мы рассматриваем произведения искусства, полученные из разных стран мира, и созданные людьми, на судьбу которых повлияло ограничение свободы. На их основе мы делаем свои собственные, ответные художественные работы. На встрече 25 августа мастер-класс проведет корейская хореограф и танцовщица Хани П. 

К участию приглашаются взрослые и дети. Участие бесплатное. Чтобы зарегистрироваться, отправьте письмо по адресу translationisdialogue@gmail.com или перейдите по ссылке https://forms.gle/XqZUYqqRCUWPEZqA6 

Дополнительная информация  https://prisonspace.org/Free-Translation-Sessions-August

https://freetranslation.prisonspace.org/

This text is a re-post of Camila Rosa's message first published on Facebook on December 4, 2018 in response to Free Translation exhibition held at MAA-tila in November 2018. The original version and selected responses from Camila's post, written in Portuguese, are below.

Last week I went to an art exhibition in Helsinki, made of works of prisoners from several places @FreeTranslation. Overall, the works dealt with the themes of loneliness, fear, longing, depression, time and death. Obvious consequences of confinement time.

It got me thinking about how such an exhibition would be important in Brazil, how I would love to take my students there and have following discussions about crime and punishment. Crime in general, even those kinds of crimes that benefit the students, or those socially accepted crimes, that the white majority of the middle class people easily tolerate.

But then, I realized that to discuss these issues it's needed to overcome the colonial reasoning / sadistic instinct that wishes the suffering of prisoners. As if all prisoners were murderers and rapists. As if these crimes made the majority of the prison population. As if the crimes of trafficking, selling drugs should only be punished if they involve black and poor people. 
"Whitened" crimes (violence against women, tax evasion, money laundering - especially in my former home town, Gramado, for example), seem to be more gentle causing greater empathy. I imagine that in a fictional prison setting for crimes like these, associated with white middle / upper classes, overcrowding, police violence, or rape would render greater opposition from society.

All that because people do not understand that to be arrested is to be excluded, to be alone, not to have freedom. And that by itself is punishment, and more, an opportunity to reflect and regret.

When are we going to end this sadistic spirit that is only happy in the humiliation and in seeing the blood of those who are already fucked?

Thank you, Arlene and Anastasia for the initiative and for facilitating this!
​
Response to Camila's post:
Letícia - super important the questions you bring. Why not to plan something with the prison population? Especially in prisons for women. Here (in Germany) there's a theater project that works in juvenile prisons that is incredible. I would love to do such a project in the future.

Letícia - The situation of women in detention is fucked. Already begins that most often female prisons receive the same budget as male prisons, and women have other needs that men do not have (menstruation, every person with an uterus needs care in those days, needing to be careful with their pussies to not get sick every two weeks, baby care that can be born while a woman is locked up ...). This is not entirely disregarded in prisons for women in Brazil in general. By saying this I do not mean that male prisons are wonderful, but rather they reproduce the patriarchal structure that is extremely cruel to the woman. That's why I think this work in general is important, especially when it's made with women. 

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Camila Rosa is a Helsinki-based researcher, educator and performing artist. She is continuously investigating the approximation between art and critical pedagogies, focusing on the intersection of art and public spheres and institutional contexts. As an investigator, she is mostly dedicated to exploring postcolonial epistemology in the framework of performance art. She has been associating multiple art forms in artistic and pedagogical processes in different Brazilian and Finnish contexts. https://camilrosa.wixsite.com/camilarosa

Na semana passada eu fui numa exposição em Helsinki, de arte feita por presidiárixs de vários lugares. @FreeTranslation 
Num geral as obras tratavam de solidão, medo, saudade, depressão, tempo e morte. Consequências óbvias do tempo de confinamento.

Fiquei pensando em como uma exposição assim seria importante no Brasil, em como eu adoria levar alunxs e discutir sobre crime e punição. Crime no geral, até aquele que traz benefícios pra alunxs, ou aqueles crimes socialmente aceitos pela maioria branca das classe médias.

Mas logo me veio na cabeça que pra discutir isso tem que superar aquele raciocínio /instinto colonial de sadismo, e de anseio pelo sofrimento ds detentxs. Como se todos presidiários fossem assassinxs e estupradores. Como se esses crimes fizessem a maioria da população prisional. Como se os crimes de tráfico, venda de drogas só devessem ser punidos se envolver negrs e pobrs. Os crimes "branquizados" (violência contra mulheres, sonegação, lavagem de dinheiro - em especial em Gramado por exemplo-), parecem mais delicados e devem causar maior empatia. Imagino que num cenário fictício de uma prisão pra crimes como esses - associados a classes médias/altas brancas - super lotação, violência policial, estupros sofressem maior oposição da sociedade.

Porque as pessoas não entendem que estar preso é estar excluídx, ser sozinhx, não ter liberdade. E isso sem si é castigo, e mais, oportunidade pra refletir e arrepender.
​
Quando vamos matar esse espírito sádico que só é feliz na humilhação e no correr de sangue de quem já tá merda?

Resposta ao post da Camila:
Letícia - super importante teu questionamento. Pq não planejar algo com a população prisional mesmo? Especialmente nos presídios para mulheres. Aqui tem um projeto de teatro que trabalha em presídios juvenis que é incrível. Eu adoraria fazer um projeto assim no futuro.

Letícia - ​A situação de mulheres em situação de reclusão é muito foda. Já começa que na maioria das vezes presídios femininos recebem o mesmo orçamento que presídios masculinos, sendo que mulheres tem outras necessidades que homens não tem (menstruação e que toda pessoa com útero precisa naqueles dias, cuidado com a ppk pra não ficar doente a cada duas semanas, cuidado com bebe que podem nascer enquanto uma mulher está trancafiada...). Isso não é totalmente desconsiderado em presídios para mulheres no Brasil em geral. Com isso não quero dizer que presídios masculinos são uma maravilha, mas sim que a estrutura patriarcal é extremamente cruel com a mulher. Por isso acho importante esse trabalho em geral, ainda mais com mulheres

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Camila Rosa é pesquisadora, educadora e performer vivendo em Helsinque. Ela continuamente investiga a aproximação entre arte e pedagogias críticas, enfoque na intersecção entre arte e o esferas públicas e seus contextos institucionais. Como pesquisadora, ela explora principalmente epistemologias pós-coloniais nas artes performáticas. Ela tem combinado várias linguagens de arte em processos artísticos e pedagógicos, em diferentes contextos no Brasil e na Finlândia. https://camilrosa.wixsite.com/camilarosa

Intersemiotic Journeys: book launch and poetry performance on June 26th from 18:30-20:00
King's College London, River Room, 2nd floor, King's Building, Strand Campus

The event is free, but please register here: 
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/intersemiotic-journeys-book-launch-and-poetry-performance-tickets-62637794329 

Madeleine Campbell and Ricarda Vidal will present their book Translating across Sensory and Linguistic Borders: Intersemiotic Journeys between Media, which explores translation as a creative, self-reflective and transformative method. Drawing on first-person narratives from artists and performers, Madeleine and Ricarda will examine how an artefact can be translated from one medium to another, for example from poetry to collage, from music to mediated performance or from video art to experimental narrative. The book seeks to understand the creative processes involved in the individual act of translation, and more generally in the perception and expression of art works. This will be followed by a performance by poet and translator Jen Calleja, who will present her feminist intersemiotic translation of Christian Marclay’s The Clock into poetry, which she composed as part of her contribution to Intersemiotic Journeys. 

Wine and soft drinks will be available during this event.

The introduction and conclusion to Intersemiotic Journeys can be downloaded for free by clicking the link below and selecting 'Front Matter'  and 'End Matter' from the table of contents
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-97244-2

The launch is supported and hosted by the Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries, King’s College London.

“Porttiteatteri on helsinkiläinen, ammattilaisvetoinen, vankilasta vapautuvien teatteri, joka tuottaa taiteellisesti korkeatasoista teatteria. Teatteri tuottaa 1-2 ensi-iltaa vuodessa ja vuotuiset esittävän vankilataiteen Porttiteatterifestivaalit, sekä järjestää työpajoja vankiloissa.“

Porttiteatteri esittää Sovinto 1919/2019 esityksen Hiljaisella viikolla 15. – 17.4.2019 Suomenlinnan kirkossa. Yhteisöteatterin toimintatapaan nojaava esitys on Suomenlinnassa nyt olevien, sieltä vapautuneiden sekä muiden rikoksiaan sovittavien ja jo sovittaneiden kädenojennus sadan vuoden yli noina vuosina kovia kokeneille suomalaisille, olivat he sitten punaisia tai valkoisia.”

Arlene Tucker ja Juha Hilpas menivät esi näytökseen.  Tämän on heidän keskustellu kokemuksesta. 14. huhtikuuta 2019. 

Arlene Tucker (AT): Moi Juha! Sain paljon energia esityksen jälkeen! Miltä sinusta tuntui kun esitys loppui?

Juha Hilpas (JH): Huomasin esityksen loputtua olevani positiivisesti yllättynyt kuinka virkistävä kokemus näytelmä oli. Traumaattisten kokemusten käsittely taiteen ja varsinkin teatterin kautta kaatuu niin helposti jonkinlaiseen moralismiin tai surkutteluun että huomasin lähteneeni vähän ennakkoluuloisestikin näytökseen. Se että esityksen jälkeen jaksoi vielä kävellä suomenlinnaa ja keskustella aiheesta kertoo jo paljon. 

AT: Kyllä, muistan. Ymmärrän hyvin mitä tarkoitat.  On ollut pitkä aika että olin teatterissa ja unohdin miten vahva tämä työkalu voi olla. Menin sinne ilma odotuksia, vain kysymyksiä ja jännittävä tunne. Ja koska esitys oli Suomenlinnassa se lisäsi tunnelmaa että olemme matkalla, prosessissa.  

Oliko yksi aihe, kohtaus tai tarina joka koski sinun omaa elämääsi erityisen läheltä?

JH: Koin enemmänkin että vaikka näytelmä on vankien ja entisten vankien tuottamaa, että tuo ulottuvuus kaikessa todellisuudessaan tuntui enemmänkin symboliselta. Tarkoitan tällä että esiintyvien henkilöiden traumaattiset kokemukset tulivat esiin inhimillisellä tavalla. Vaikka en täysin suoria yhteyksiä omaan elämääni voisikaan vetää, oli joihinkin lauseisiin ja esitettyihin tuntemuksiin yllättävänkin helppo samaistua. Huomattava seikka vankien tarinoissa oli esimerkiksi päihde ja mielenterveysongelmien läsnäolo, mikä tuntuu yhä olevan jonkinlainen julkinen salaisuus suomessa.

AT: Kaikkia on koskenut trauma riippumatta pienet tai isot.  Luulen, että voimme löytää tavan ymmärtää ja olla empaattisia jonkun kanssa, jos jaksamme tai meillä on siihen motivaatiota. 

JH: Trauman kautta? 

AT: Ei välttämättä trauman kautta. Kun neljä näyttelijä veisasivat yhdessä vahvaan mutta samalla hieman uupuneeseen sävyyn “Miksi en kunnioita auktoriteettia?” tämän kohtaus herättää paljon kysymyksiä ja tunteita itsessä.  Mistä tämä ominaisuus tuli? Miten on näkyvissä omassa elämässä tällä hetkellä? Miten se piilottaa sitten tule ulos? 

JH: Rehellisesti sanottuna, ensimmäinen ajatukseni tuon lauseen kuullessani oli että “Miksi pitäisi kunnioittaa?”. Seuraava olikin sitten “Mikä on auktoriteetti?”

AT: Niinpä! Hyvä kysymys. Minulle, auktoriteetti tarkoittaa joku ajattelee että heillä on power over me.  Voisi olla opettaja, presidentti, kiusaaja, esim. Tämä ei tarkoittaa että heti en kunnioittaa, vain selittää mitä on minun oma yksinkertainen hierarchy malli tai rakennus.

JH: Ymmärrän kyllä. Kyse onkin ehkä auktoriteetin nostattamasta ensi reaktiosta, huolimatta sen järkeistämisestä. Kysymys herääkin että millaisiksi olet kokenut elämääsi vaikuttaneet auktoriteetit? Ja miksi luulet että auktoriteetti on muodostunut traumaattiseksi elementiksi?

AT: En sanonut sitä itsestäni.  Ehkä nämä ovat parempi kysymykset näyttelijöille koska mikä he kertoivat tosi tarinoita.  Esityksen jälkeen kun puhuin Kari Vähä-Ahon kanssa, hän kertoi minulle että tarinat olivat todellisia. Ja sitten esitys tuli yhä merkityksellisemmäksi!  Kari sanoi, että he, näyttelijät, kirjoittivat kaikkien tarinat itse, jotka sitten laitettiin yhteen. Käsikirjoitus oli upea.  Ja dramaturgia myös. Tykkään paljon miten koko kirkkoa ja tila oli käytetty tosi hyvin. Mikään ei ollut pysähtynyttä. Se oli kuin virta, joka löysi tiensä merelle.  Puhutun sanan, kirjoitettujen sanojen, ja se miten musiikin välinen virtaus tapahtui oli toimiva.

JH: Kyllä. Nyt kun ajattelen, niin on melko hämmentävää kuinka helppo oli unohtaa esitettyjen tarinoiden ja tilanteiden olleen todellisia kokemuksia, jollain tapaa teatteria kuitenkin seuraa esityksenä, tai representaationa, ei todellisena. Tämä tietysti viestii myös jotain esityksen teknisestä laadusta.

AT: Niin ja tämä tarkoittaa että olet empaattinen ihminen. Merkki empatian työskentelystä.  Eikö niin?

JH: Ainakin sitä toivoisi aina näin. Tunnustan että puhuttaessa anteeksiannosta ja (jostain) oli ehkä välillä vähän palakin kurkussa. Kuka ei kaipaisi välillä vähän rauhaa luurangoiltaan? Ainakin näyttelijät tuntuivat saaneet osakseen hieman armollisuutta ja siitä osasi iloita heidän puolestaan. 

AT: Ehkä tämä on syy miksi esitys oli kirkossa! Anteeksi pyytäminen. En tiedä.  Minulla on aina asia että haluaisin pyytää anteeksi ja kiitää. Toinen kysymys teatteri ryhmälle.

JH: Mielestäni näytelmässä ei aneltu, tai pyritty anomaan armoa, tai edes korostettu katumusta, vaan haettiin tietynlaista rauhaa menneisyyden kanssa omien ja muiden tuottamien haamujen kanssa.

AT: Olen samaa mieltä.  Se oli heidän tarinansa ja on heidän aikasa kertoa kaikille ketkä haluavat kuunnella.  Oli heidän oma päätös olla todellinen, haavoittuva. Aikaa vahva. Kunnioitan tätä!

JH: Kyllä, minulle se tuntui enemmänkin siltä kun yleisölle olisi tarjottu jotain. Ja kuten myöhemmin metron portailla keskustelusta kävi ilmi, ei näytelmän tekijöillä ollut halua väkisin syöttää kenellekään ajatuksia.

AT: Ei lainkaan. Oli kiva että melkein koko-matka kotiin päin, törmäsimme eri näyttelijöiden kanssa ja saimme kiittää heitä kasvokkain ja puhua vähän heidän kanssa.  Tuntui hyvältä keskustella tästä heidän kanssa, vaikka vain kolme minuuttia. Kolme tärkeää minuuttia.

JH: Hyvin kuvastavaa on sekin että näytelmän jälkeen yleisö löytää itsensä samalta matkalta kotiin.

AT: Kokonaisuutena, tunnen että esitys ja koko porukka oli tosi koskettava.  Todellinen, reaaliaika, oikea elämä.

Juha, onko sinulla on jotain muuta mielessäsi?  Ymmärrän että tunteita on aina jatkuvassa, koko ajan muutoksessa.  Hyvä juttu, että meillä on tällä hetkellä.

JH: Kuten jo mainitsin, huomasin lähteneeni saarelta virkistyneenä, huolimatta näytelmän raskaista aiheista. Teatterissa on monella tapaa kyse yhteydestä toiseen ihmiseen ja hänen kokemukseensa elämisestä, kaikkine eroine ja samankaltaisuuksineen. 

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Vuosien 1919-2019 välillä on paljon eroja. Sovinnon tekemisen ja anteeksiannon prosessi on tuskin muuttunut. Esitys on tarinoita anteeksiannosta, pieniä kertomuksia siitä, miten sovinto tehtiin.

Ohjaus: Tuija Minkkinen
Musiikki & äänidramaturgia: Sanna Salmenkallio
Dramaturgi: Taija Rautio
Esiintyjät: Porttiteatterilaiset
Esitykset: 15.4, 16.4 ja 17.4 klo 18.00 Suomenlinnan Kirkko
Liput:15/10€ Lipunmyynti: Tiketti (www.tiketti.fi)
https://porttiteatteri.fi/

Kuvat: Arlene Tucker & Porttiteatteri
15.4.2019
https://prisonspace.org/Porttiteatteri-esittaa-Sovinto-1919-2019-esityksen

Porttiteatteri is a Helsinki-based, professional theatre that produces artistic and high-quality theatre productions. The theatre produces 1-2 premieres per year and an annual prison arts Porttiteatteri festival, and organizes workshops in prisons.

Porttiteatteri presents Sovinto 1919/2019 (translates to Reconciliation in English) during Quiet Week 15th to the 17th of April 2019 at Suomenlinna Church. Sovinto is based on the community theater’s method of working and reaches out to over a century of inmates from Suomenlinna prison to the people who suffered from the Finnish Civil War.

Sidenote: ‘Portti’ in Finnish means gateway, port, entry and ‘teatteri’ means theatre. You can interpret what Porttiteatteri means to you.

Arlene Tucker and Juha Hilpas went for the theatre preview.  This is their conversation about the experience. April 14, 2019.

Arlene Tucker (AT): Hi Juha! I got a lot of energy after the performance!  How did you feel when it was over?

Juha Hilpas (JH): I did make a note after the performance about how positively surprised and refreshed I felt about it. Dealing with traumatic experiences in art and especially through theater falls very easily to some manner of moralism or tear jerking that I confess having a few prejudices about such play on entry. The fact that after the performance one found energy to walk around Suomenlinna and talk about the play and subject matter says a lot though.

AT: Yes, I remember that. I understand well what you mean.  It has been a long time since I have been in the theatre and I forgot how strong of a medium it can be. I went there without any expectations, only with questions and and a feeling of excitement. I suppose that because the performance was on Suomenlinna it added the feeling that we were on a journey, in the process.  

Was there a particular subject, scene or story that especially touched your own life?

JH: I experienced that even though the play was produced by inmates, who are serving or have already served their time, that fact no matter how real, took more of a symbolic quality to it. By this I mean that the real traumatic experiences of the performers were presented in a very human and relatable way. Even if I can’t draw absolutely direct comparisons to my own life experience I still find some sentences and sentiments very relatable. I find it important that in the play considerable weight is put on the fact that behind many prison stories there tends to be a long history of substance abuse and mental health issues. Subjects whose management still tends to feel like the elephant in the room. ​
​
AT: Everybody has been through trauma.  I think that we can find our way to understand and to be empathetic about something or with someone, if we have the energy and if we have the motivation.

JH: Through trauma?

AT: Not necessarily through trauma. When the four actors chanted in a forceful yet slightly exhausted tone in unison, "Why do I not respect authority?" this scene brought up a lot of questions and feelings from inside.  Where does this characteristic or personality trait come from? Where do I see it in my life at the moment? When does it go into hiding and when is it revealed?

JH: To be honest, my first reaction to that chant was: “Why should authority be respected anyway?” The next one was “What IS an authority?”

AT: Yes! Good question. For me, authority refers to when someone thinks they have power over me. It could be a teacher, a president, a bully, for example. It doesn't mean that right away I don't respect, I am just explaining what is my own simple hierarchy model or structure.

JH: I understand. I feel it’s more about the initial reaction that the concept of authority is triggering (in me), that which arises without rationalisations or justifications. The question is, what kind of authority figures have affected your life? And why authority has formed into a traumatic element in your life?

AT: I didn't mean that directly about myself. Perhaps these are better questions for the actors because of what they told were true stories. After the performance, I talked with Kari Vähä-Aho and he told me that the stories were real. The presentation became even more relevant! Kari said that they, the actors, wrote all the stories themselves, which were then put together. The script was really great, as well as the dramaturgy. I liked how they used the whole space of the church. Nothing was still.  It was like a stream finding its way to the sea. The flow of the spoken word, written words, and music worked really well.

JH: Yeah. Now that I think about it, it’s somewhat confusing how easy it was to forget that the stories and situations presented were real experiences. In some ways one easily follows theater as a performance, or representation, not as reality. This of course already tells something about the technical quality of the play. 

AT: Maybe this is the reason why the performance was in the church! The begging of forgiveness. I don’t know. I always have something I would like to apologize for and somebody I would like to thank.  Another question to the theater group.

JH: I don’t feel like the play was about begging, or even asking for mercy, or grace. For me it wasn’t even about regret, but about seeking to come at peace with the ghosts that one has carried or that have been imposed on one by others.  

AT: I agree. It was their story and it's their time to tell everyone who wants to listen. It was their own decision to be real, vulnerable. Quite strong. I respect this!

JH: Yeah, it felt more like something was offered to the audience, as a food for thought. And like we found later at the stairs of a metro station, the producers of the play had no intentions to force feed the subject to anyone.

AT: Not at all. It was nice that almost the whole journey home, we bumped into different actors and we could thank them face to face and talk with them for a little while. It felt good to discuss this with them, even if just for three minutes. Three important minutes.

JH: It was somehow poetic that after the play the audience and the actors would find themselves on the same ferry home from the island. 

AT: As a whole, I feel that the performance and group were really touching.  Real, in real time, real life.

Juha, is there something else in your mind?  I understand that feeling are always in motion, all the time changing.  Good thing we have the moment.

JH: Like I already mentioned, I found myself leaving the island refreshed, despite the heavy subject matter of the play. In many ways, theater is about connecting to other people and their experience about life, with all their similarities and differences. 

​+++

There are many changes over the years 1919-2019. Yet, the process of reconciliation and forgiveness has hardly changed.  The performance is a story about forgiveness, short stories around that theme, and how reconciliation can be achieved. 

Director: Tuija Minkkinen
Music & sound dramaturgy: Sanna Salmenkallio
Dramaturgy: Taija Rautio
Performers: Porttiteatteri members
Performances: 15.4, 16.4 and 17.4 at 18:00 at Suomenlinna Church
Tickets:15/10€ can be bought from: Tiketti
https://porttiteatteri.fi/

15.4.2019
Images: Arlene Tucker
https://prisonspace.org/Sovinto-1919-2019-by-Porttiteatteri

Our first Interpreting Free Translations meeting was very personal and intimate. Beautiful March sunlight made Bokvillan's library even more welcoming.

We started by moving around the room and translating own and each others feelings into performance. Then we looked at the artworks on Free Translation online gallery, and each selected pieces for translation. We used collage, writing, embroidery, language, used copy books, photography. We shared stories about identity, speaking own languages, accents. We tried to imagine what it was like for our artists to work on the pieces they have sent.

At the end we shared our translations, and talked about the choices we'd made when working on them. Our interpretations are now being uploaded in the gallery under the source images.

Welcome to join us next time in Bokvillan on Tuesday, 2.4 from 15:30-18:30.
https://www.facebook.com/events/331066980873951/?ti=ia

Arlene & Anastasia