INVISIBLE IN SEVEN DAYS

An exhibition and a live art studio in Kallio Kunsthalle 16.-22.5.2016

Invisible in seven days is a project by visual artist Anastasia Artemeva and performance artist Annika Niskanen, which picks up where the duo’s previous work Invisible Neighbours left off.

The Kallio Kunsthalle exhibition 16.-22.5.2016 featured photographs of the cards made during the Invisible Neighbours project. There, men in Helsinki prison made and exchanged postcards with their neighbours – residents of nearby flats. As well as exhibiting the correspondence, Kallio Kunsthalle was turned into a meeting place and a live art studio for that one week. In the space we served coffee and discussed invisibility.

“It may be a genuine human aspiration, as well as a concrete fear, to become invisible. As a superpower invisibility is something to strive for, but as a human condition it is devastating. This is why we wanted to continue exploring the theme, to probe the limits of invisibility in both ourselves and others”, explain the artists.

NÄKYMÄTTÖMÄKSI SEITSEMÄSSÄ PÄIVÄSSÄ

Näyttely ja esitystaideverstas Kallio Kunsthallessa 16.–22.5.2016

Näkymättömäksi seitsemässä päivässä on kuvataiteilija Anastasia Artemevan ja esitystaiteilija Annika Niskasen projekti, joka jatkaa siitä, mihin taiteilijakaksikon edellinen teos Näkymättömät Naapurit jäi.

Syksyllä 2015 toteutettu Näkymättömät Naapurit oli Helsingin vankilan asukkaiden ja sen naapuruston välillä toteutettu yhteisötaideteos, jossa vangit ja naapurit lähettivät toisilleen itse tekemiään postikortteja. Postikorteissa toisilleen tuntemattomat, vankilan muurin molemmin puolin asuvat ihmiset kuvasivat erilaisten teemojen ja materiaalein kautta jokapäiväistä elämäänsä. Alkuperäiset postikortit jäivät aina vastaanottajille lahjaksi, mutta korteista tehty valokuvanäyttely on nyt esillä Kallio Kunsthallessa 16.5.-22.5.2016.

Kallio Kunsthalle on viikon ajan paitsi galleria myös kohtaamispaikka ja esitystaideverstas. Tilassa tarjoillaan kahvia ja kysymyksiä näkymättömyydestä.

“Näkymättömäksi muuttuminen voi olla ihmisen aito toive yhtä lailla kuin pelkokin. Näkymättömyys on supervoimana inspiroiva, mutta lopullisena olotilana murskaava. Tästä syystä halusimme jatkaa teeman parissa ja tutkia sekä oman että muiden näkymättömyyden rajoja.”, kertovat taiteilijat projektin taustoista

The project is implemented in cooperation with Kallio Kunsthalle, Helsinki prison and Performance Centre Eskus. The project has received the support of The Arts Promotion Centre Finland.

Projekti on toteutettu yhteistyössä Kallio Kunsthallen, Helsingin Vankilan ja Esitystaiteen Keskuksen kanssa. Projekti on saanut tukea Taiteen edistämiskeskukselta.

Day 1

Monday May 16th, 2016 was the opening of Invisible in Seven Days project, that featured artworks from Invisible Neighbours project, that took place in Autumn 2015 in Helsinki prison and around.

Invisible neighbours was an art project where people from Helsinki prison and from the prison neighbourhood sent each other post cards. The cards were made and written in weekly workshops. They were sent anonymously – only a self-made stamp as sender’s signature.

Thanks to you all who sent these cards – and who’s names we cannot mention here. Thank you for sharing those moments and thoughts with us.

Thank you to Kallio Kunstahalle for the wonderful space

From our Guestbook: Q: If you would turn invisible what would you do first? A: “Float on my back in the Gulf of Finland”,”Fall asleep in the woods.” ”Take the train / plane for free.”

Day 2

Beetroot juice, blueberry juice, turmeric, coffee, tea, spinach, and ginger on paper

INVISIBLE | Shopping | VISIBLE

1. Test your ability to turn invisible while shopping for your everyday groceries:

Go in to a grocery store and try to pick up the items you need in a way nobody sees what you are buying. Try to move from one thing to an other so that nobody pays any attention to you. Practice and try to get so good that you could easily steal anything if you wanted to.

Do you feel guilty while trying to be invisible? Why is that?

Do you have an experience of this kind of behaviour already? Which products you would to like buy as an invisible person?

You can test how it is different in a small shop and in huge supermarket.

Did you feel more visible or more invisible?

Where or how you can hide? Where it is easiest to disappear? How long you can continue?

2. Go into a grocery store and ask people to help you with the shopping. It’s easy to ask where you can find a particular product but challenge your self and ask people for a recipe suggestion or just a hint which food they would suggest. Remember eye contact. Get inspired by the answer you get. Ask more. Even stupid questions. Buy what you are recommended to buy.

Did it feel easy to ask for help? Why? Why not?

Did it make your visit special?

Did you feel more visible or more invisible?

Day 3

INVISIBLE | Communication | VISIBLE

TEST 1

Decide on a period of time (1 hour / 1 afternoon / 1 day) you feel comfortable with to use for this test. During that time you are not allowed to speak, but you should keep on living your life. Be in contact with people, solve your everyday problems with them using other methods than words. Remember eye contact. Be creative with the communication.

Did it make a difference to your daily routines? What kind of situations did you start to avoid? Did you get any pleasure from this test? Did you feel more or less invisible?

TEST 2

Decide on a period of time again. During that time you are not allowed to speak and you should also avoid contact with other creatures. Not only words should be avoided but also all the other ways to communicate: typing, gestures, smiling, etc…

Did it make a difference to your daily routines? What kind of situations did you start to avoid? Did you get any pleasure from this test? Did you feel more or less invisible?

TEST 3

Decide on a period of time again. This time choose one sentence from a language that’s not your mother tongue and try to use it. Try to get yourself in situations where you get to use this sentence. Imagine that this is the only sentence – the only words – you have and you really would like to use it.

Did it make a difference to your daily routines? What kind of situations did you start to avoid? Did you get any pleasure from this test? Did you feel more or less invisible?

Day 4

INVISIBLE | Memory & Scale | VISIBLE

What significant events took place the year you were born? What about the day you got married, moved to a new country or graduated from school?

What was happening in the world then? How did that global event affect you? How did you affect it?

Tell your story.

Think about the scale. Tell the story from the perspective of your personal event. Then tell it from the perspective of the global event. How does the story change?

Everything you do affects the world. You breathe and the air moves. The air moves and a bird flies. The bird flies and …

Where does your history end and the history of the world begin?

ps when Anastasia was born the berlin wall fell, but she didn’t know about it until 24 years later someone from a western country told her.

pps what if your memories were books? What covers would they have?

Day 5

INVISIBLE | Asylum | VISIBLE

Want to turn invisible because there’s just too much to cope with?

Everyday surroundings are full of places where the world doesn’t feel too big and scary. Try these DIY shelters to give yourself a break from the outside world:

Go under your table OR
Put a paper bag on your head OR
Find a small place on the street where you can hide

If you want, you can make your hiding experience even better:

Have a (LED) candlelight dinner under the table OR
Put earplugs into your ears and then the paper bag. Listen to your body sounds and see how the light comes through the bag OR
Take a walking tour around your home/working place/favourite surroundings and find the five best places to hide. Draw a map and keep it with you – so you always have an escape plan ready.

Did it change your relation or attitude to the world? Even for a short moment? Did you get any comfort? Or joy? Did it feel distressing? Or lonely?

Do you feel like keeping it a secret or would you like to share the experience with someone in the future?

Day 6

INVISIBLE | poste restante | VISIBLE

Think of a person you have never met but would like to thank/apologize to/surprise/express solidarity to/make smile/express an emotion to/ask a question.

Find their address, or an address where you think they might be able to receive post. {A place where there is someone who might know them or a place they sometimes visit – it can be an institution, library, cafe, dog park, etc.}

Select a postcard

Take a pen

Write about the place where you are now:

Write why you wish to reach out to this person:

Sign off with initials or a pseudonym:

Send or deliver it

It is about you

Day 7

today

don’t exist

don’t leave marks

– you simply are not there

are you afraid of being forgotten ?

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