Seminar: Forming the future for all

Presenting art in public spaces can offer artistic experiences to those for whom traditional art venues are inaccessible. However, public art always has a relationship with its surroundings, such as the built urban environment.

The seminar will explore who has access to built environments. How can public art, art events, and urban culture be made accessible, for example, to disabled participants or artists?

The seminar will focus particularly on temporary, ephemeral, and event-based public art. Speakers will include artists featured in the ANTI Festival 2024 programme.

The Arts Promotion Centre Finland’s Creative Net project and ANTI Festival are organising the Forming the future for all seminar as part of the ANTI Festival in Kuopio.

The seminar will be conducted in English.

Programme

9.15 Doors open

9.30 Registration and coffee

10.00 Opening the event  
Elisa Itkonen, director – lead curator, ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival 
Pia Repo, advisor, Creative Net project, Arts Promotion Centre Finland

10.05 Keynote: The early years of architectural accessibility in Finland 
Marja Rautaharju, architect and PhD researcher, Tampere University

The first accessibility legislation came into force in Finland in 1973. How was architectural accessibility formulated and debated in the 1970s, half a century ago? The presentation navigates the early landscape of accessibility in Finland as an interplay of knowledge, policies, actors and discussions.

10.50 Commentary speech
Maija Karhunen, dancer

11:10 Commentary speech
Arvind Ramachandran, architect, city planner and stand-up comedian 

Audience questions & comments

11.30 Break

11.40 Artist’s viewpoint: Tarik Elmoutawakil (UK)  

Tarik Elmoutawakil is a creative producer and independent artist, and co-founder and Artist Director at The Marlborough Theatre in Brighton. Tarik is plugged into a network of disabled QTIPOC artivists across the globe, contributing to an ongoing movement to reshape access and leadership. At ANTI Festival, Tarik and his working group will present Brownton Abbey, the Afrofuturistic, Space-Church themed performance party that centres, celebrates and elevates disabled queer people of colour.

12.00 Artist’s viewpoint: Rhiannon Armstrong (UK/CA) 

Rhiannon Armstrong is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist making works with empathy, interaction, and dialogue at their core, often for unfiltered audiences. Conversation and collaboration are central to her practice: between makers of different disciplines, public contributors, and audiences. At ANTI Festival, Rhiannon will present Public Selfcare System, a performance that considers who is and is not allowed to rest and where, and what resting as an act of solidarity might mean.

12.20-13.15 Lunch

13.15 Outdoor workshop: Pottering about public, art and space 
Arvind Ramachandran, architect, city planner and stand-up comedian 

In this workshop, Arvind Ramachandran invites seminar participants to ponder some of the ways in which our art and our spaces both invite and restrict. Joining does not require any prior preparation or specific expertise. You are welcome to take part in ways that seem most comfortable for you. Active participation in the discussions, watching from the sidelines, and dropping in for only part of the event are all equally valid ways of participating in the workshop.

15.00 Closing the day

Registration

Participation in the seminar is free of charge, and includes a vegan lunch. To avoid food waste, seminar registration is binding. Please cancel your registration if you are unable to attend (pia.repo@taike.fi).

Register for the seminar by September 5 at 4:00 pm. You may register also after the deadline but we can not confirm lunch service and special access needs after the deadline.

You can attend the entire event in person. The speeches can be followed via livestream.