Saari Fellows in January and February

Artists Jelena Jovčić, Antti Kauppinen, Mia Mäkelä, Lindsay Parnell and Kevin Schwenkler arrived for their two-month residency at the beginning of January. In addition, Saari Invited Artist, translator Kristiina Drews will work at the Saari Residence throughout the spring.

The turn of the year saw the arrival of the first artist group of 2018. In January and February, the residence will host Jelena Jovčić (RS), Antti Kauppinen (FI), Mia Mäkelä (FI), Lindsay Parnell  (US) and Kevin Schwenkler (US). Saari Invited Artist, translator Kristiina Drews will continue her eight-month residency during the spring. Because of renovations in the kitchen wing, the groups this spring will be unusually small.

Documentary director, anthropologist and curator Jelena Jovčić from Serbia will be working on her documentary The Lost Innocence, which shows 11 years of the life of Andrea, an orphan from Romania. At the Residence, Jovčić will go through filmed material, examine the non-linear narrative, finish the script and prepare for the last shoots on Andrea’s 18th birthday. Through her artistic work, she wants to narrate stories of people and groups that remain invisible and silent and give voice to storytellers.

Author Antti Kauppinen is writing his new novel at the Saari Residence. Rakkauteni jäi Venäjälle (‘My Love Was Left in Russia’) describes the treatment, persecution and survival of sexual minorities. It is set in places such as St. Petersburg and a reception centre in Espoo in the early 21st century.

Explorative artist Mia Susanne Mäkelä is using her time at the residence to write the script for her new documentary, which deals with the Finns’ relationship with the honeybee (Apis mellifera mellifica). Mäkelä discusses the interspecies history from the perspective of zoology, combining cultural-historical research with forms of audiovisual presentation.

Artist Lindsay Parnell examines the origins of movement through performing art, installations, sculpture and choreography. At the Saari Residence, she works together with her partner in collaboration, composer Kevin Schwenkler. They wish to examine the generation of scores in the performing arts and their specific language. In their work, Parnell and Schwenkler combine various genres of art, and they also apply a communal perspective in their research.

The starting point for composer Kevin Schwenkler’s artistic work is in  queerness and mixed racial identities. He wishes to highlight this theme by, for example, composing scores for the performing arts in collaboration with others. These scores highlight his idea of collective activities being the source and goal of an aesthetic experience.

Read more about our Saari Fellows from here.