Jensen, Anna: Global art in a local context
In my dissertation (in the works) “The Uncanny Soul of A Place and A Being – A Cartographic Encyclopedia on Curating, Communities and Contemporary Art” I study art as a place for mediating and producing knowledge. My thesis is a mapping project on this context, a spider web of theories, experiences and encounter in where I have been moving (and sometimes stuck, struggling) in my practice for the past 20 years as an artist, writer, researcher, curator, art critic, and feminist. Art, as I see its task, should take ethics as a starting point. I consider art as a collective entity with responsibilities and possibilities, and subversive power. This is where curators’ role is crucial: what kind of narratives are told, where and how. Is the project supporting existing, possibly oppressive structures, or challenging them? Is it proposing alternatives? Who is included and who is excluded, how is the project made accessible?
As examples I use projects, have realized together with different collectives during past seven years, often in public or semi-public places outside art institutions, and often outside city centers. One motivation in these projects is the idea of practice as rooted and local, where it then can act as a platform for global and international art and theory. This would, however, demand a shift in art politics: instead of funding short-term project and expecting art to be adjustable and flexible, it should be given time and long-term funding. Short-term funding creates knowledge, but what is learned is too often lost when the project ends. One betterment could be the launch of small and mid-size institutions in Finland, other could be higher level of involvement from the cities. T.E.H.D.A.S ry in Pori is a good example of this, being given a full responsibility of historically valuable radio station by the city and actively collaborating with the nearby suburb.