Opening and introduction to the performance 23.8 at 17.30 and opening celebration at 18.00
Open Fri 14-19, Sat-Sun 12-17
“Art is a wave, flowing in all directions.”
“The artist creates nothing. The artist discovers art.”
“The highest form of visual art is transforming the mind.”
(Ad Reinhardt)
The exhibition theme ‘Meeting Point’ arises out of Jaakko’s and Akasaka’s shared interest in communicating the invisible through the visible, examining the non-material processes involved in the making of art and receiving it, focusing on working with the mind within a process of discovery. Artists have long been interested in how this process hinges on the nature of perception, and specifically the workings of perception for both artist and audience.
Jaakko Autio’s work for this show focuses on this theme through an interactive multimedia installation generated through a live performance of the artist that involves audience interaction to illuminate the natural process of conditioned co-production. Through this work Autio seeks to question assumptions of otherness in a gentle way and aims to dismantle invisible boundaries between artist and viewer, between subject and object.
Akasaka’s works on paper are series’ of abstract drawings that attempt to reveal a sense of presence, through an awareness practice that centres on freeing the mind from distractions and obscurations in order to contemplate more directly the unfolding of the art making.
Her video work, Living the Question, reflects on immediate experience as an interplay of relationships that questions assumptions about the boundaries of ourselves, artworks, and the artistic process, promoting a sense of active participation to the experience of art, and thus in life. The starting point for this piece poses the question: When I look, what do I see?
Akasaka (b.1958) is a Finland-based British visual artist whose art practice has a firm basis in over 30 years of meditation practice.
Jaakko Autio (s. 1981) on suomalainen äänitaiteilija joka työskentelee nykytaiteen kentällä. Hänen työnsä ovat yhteisöllisiä ja käsittelevät ihmisen kuuluvuutta maailmaan. Ne ravistavat oletuksia toiseudesta lempeällä tavalla ja pyrkivät purkamaan näkymättömiä rajoja välillämme. Niiden ytimessä on moninaisen ja jaetun ihmisyyden samanaikaisuus.
Aution taiteellista toimintaa ohjaa radikaalin empatian filosofia. Hän haluaa luoda turvallisia ja inklusiivisia tiloja, joissa toinen kohdataan aina lähtökohtaisesti lempeällä katseella. Perusturvallisuus on välttämätön osallisuuden kokemukselle ja uuden tiedon omaksumiselle.