Ptarmigan existed as a project space in Vallila from 2009-2011 and a mobile curatorial/creative platform until 2014. We no longer exist as an organised collective, but this website will continue to serve as an archive of the activities produced as/at Ptarmigan during these years.
We are looking for elephants and performers to take part in a new art work by British artist Amelia Beavis-Harrison on Friday 18th October 2013. The performance is part of the Dimanche Rouge Estonia-Finland-France festival which will take place in Helsinki from 17-20 October. The new piece called The Elephant Dance will see six people take on the roles of elephant and hunter as a durational performance plays out around the Helsinki Art Museum. The performance uses movement as a way of interpreting traditional tribal dance to create a re-worked performance but is not a choreographed piece.
Who we are looking for:
- People prepared to give their time to a workshop to develop the work and a subsequent performance.
- You can be an artist, dancer, student or someone with a general interest, 18 years or over
- There is no requirement to come from a dance or performance background, there will be no set dance steps to learn
What you will be asked to do:
- Take part in a day workshop led by the artist that will incorporate learning performance techniques which will lead into development of the performance. Workshop is Friday 18th October from 11am
- Take part in the durational performance around the Helsinki Art Museum. Performance is on Friday 18th October from 4pm
- Wear a costume for the duration of the performance
Overall this aims to be an enjoyable experience where you become a part of a new and evolving piece and get to meet other new like minded people.
For more about Amelia’s art practice see: www.ameliabeavisharrison.com
Ptarmigan Tallinn's current artist in residence, Camilla Graff Junior, will perform My Mom is a Wolf, My Dad... at XL Art Space on Tuesday, 26 November at 18:00. The performance is free and lasts about 80 minutes.
‘Kontaining13: Traces’ was a one week takeover of a shipping container turned art container in the centre of Helsinki. The programme was coordinated by Ptarmigan directors (Amal Laala, James Andean, Marek Pluciennik and Sari T.M. Kivinen) in collaboration with Outi Korhonen (regional artist on cultural diversity of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland).
This was the second time we were invited to present a programme for the art container. In 2012 we focused on presenting the work of selected artists who responded to an open-call in a programme simply called Kontaining. This year we decided to shift the focus and to develop the programme more in accord to our collective and individual artistic interests. Subsequently each director oversaw one day of the programme, during which we developed both solo and collaborative work. We also included a day of improvised collaboration at the conclusion of the week, in which all of us bought in aspects explored in the previous days.
The red string that ran through the entire programme was that we all explored various ways to engage our activities with the site of a busy urban space and the random people walking past. For example Marek invited people to look inside the container through a peep-hole in which they could see themselves looking into the container via a live video feed; Amal collaborated with Karim Galenius to present an open workshop and discussion about the role of protest in society; Sari worked with artist Hannah Harkes to develop a collective narrative (drawn and written) about the container, the people passing by were drawn and written into their narrative in real-time; and James explored the site with the Tuesday group – a group who normally explores improvisation together on Tuesdays (this time on a Saturday).
In addition Alejandro Olarte presented a sonic workshop, Rank Ensemble presented live improvised sound evening, Catalysti spent a day promoting their activities as a new association supporting transcultural artists in Finland, and Rebecca Clamp performed a dynamic concert as the final event of the week.
Check out linked photo evidence of our activities.
Performance installation duo, ROOMS, is looking for seven to nine performers to perform in Ritual No. 1: Counting Birds, for Dimanche Rouge Experimental Performance Festival which Ptarmigan is co-producing in Helsinki. One rehearsal is required on October 16 (3pm-5pm), 2013 with performances on October 17th and October 18th (2.30pm - 5.30pm). The performance is three hours long and requires very little performance experience but endurance to stand and speak with minimal movements is necessary. Counting Birds is interesting to perform as it provides a meditating experience for the audience as well as the performer.
ROOMS, is comprised of husband and wife, Marrakesh and Todd Frugia. They are a performance art installation duo from Chicago, USA.ROOMS maintains the belief that the power of art lives within the visceral reaction to the questions that mystery and ambiguity provoke.Please visit roomsgallery.com for past artwork. Video to see Ritual No. 1: Counting Birds first performed in ROOMS gallery can been seen here: http://vimeo.com/61550456
Christian Cruz - christian@roomsgallery.com / ROOMS / Studio Manager || Curator
Or:
Sari Kivinen - sari@ptarmigan.fi
From 17th-20th October 2013 Ptarmigan will collaborate with French based organisation Dimanche Rouge to realise part of the tri-national experimental performance festival Dimanche Rouge Estonia-Finland-France (DR.EFF for short).
Dimanche Rouge Estonia-Finland-France will bring together a host of prominent art institutions, alternative un-institutions and artist-run spaces, with over 100 of the most exciting performance artists coming from some 30 countries.
The aim of the festival is to present a diverse international platform to create exchange, dialogue and debate around the thriving experimental performance scene. In addition to the performances, the festival will also offer roundtable discussions, workshops and talks for artists and the general public.
Programs will be video streamed live and publicly screened at several locations worldwide.
In Helsinki collaborating partners include: EMMA (Espoo Museum of Modern Art), Helsinki Art Museum, HIAP (Helsinki International Artist Programme), XL Art Space, Oksasenkatu11, and Presentaatio: Live Art Info Finland.
The festival is co-produced by: Dimanche Rouge, Ptarmigan ry, Art Container/Polymer, and Le Generateur/Frasq.
Partially supported by the City of Helsinki Cultural Office. Support for artists by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and the Korean Arts Council. Additional support for some artists by the British Council, the Austrian, Hungarian, and Polish embassies in Tallinn, and Le Generateur/Frasq. Other support is pending.
"Our Cuisine=Our Stories" is a Ptarmigan participatory project facilitated by Amal Laala & Sari Kivinen, in which nine women from diverse cultural and occupational backgrounds living in Helsinki met weekly at Stoa cultural centre during April-May 2012. On Saturday 23.3 the publication of the project was launched alongside a group performance of an interactive cross-cultural food demonstration. The launch and performance was part of the event IRVi - an experimental live arts event hosted by Willem Wilhelmus and presented artists in different fields of experimental arts facing themes of the week against racism at Stoa Cultural Centre. Other artists included: Jimi Tenor & Abdissa "Mamba" Assefa, Baaba Jakeh Chande, and Tomasz Szrama.
