RECEPTION 31 March – 5 June 2016

RECEPTION, a triennial of the collaborative arts, will be organised for the first time next year. Based on engagement, interaction and collaboration, RECEPTION is a project put together jointly by the Saari Residence’s community artist Pia Bartsch and Suvi Solkio, regional artist for collaborative a

Community artists have long wished for a networking forum where they can exchange ideas and experiences. Greater recognition and appreciation of community art has also been a goal.

This challenge has now been taken up by the Saari Residence’s community artist Pia Bartsch and Suvi Solkio, regional artist for collaborative arts at the Southwest Finland regional office of Arts Promotion Centre Finland, who began working together last autumn. They came up with the idea of a triennial of the collaborative arts.

RECEPTION will take place between 31 March and 5 June 2016 in different locations around Finland, with the aid of local organisers. The locations are Helsinki, Kemiönsaari, Turku, Mynämäki, Rauma, Pori and Vaasa. Each location will focus on community art from different angles by means of work by artists from Finland and abroad. The programme includes visiting artists, discussions, art work presentations and various other events.

RECEPTION as a name refers to questions of how art is received and welcomed, or opposed, and also looks at the role of power structures. The first triennial will ask who it is that we wish to welcome and who we will turn our backs on. Who do we side with and whose voice gets heard? What creates a feeling of togetherness in today’s world? What kind of artistic expressions emerge from the trinity of artists, communities and society? Some of the works at Kemiönsaari, Turku and Pori will be selected through an open call process. The application period is 26 June – 31 August 2015. You can read more about the open call here.

Connected with the event is VOL.2, in which topical questions in community art are examined and various discussions, presentations and workshops held. At the end of August the VOL.2 discussion café will feature the topic “Language, power and colonisation”. A discussion event will be held at Turku Book Café in Turku’s Vanha Suurtori square on 29 August 2015, 12 noon until 2.00 pm. Entry is free of charge.

You can read more about the event on its own website.

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