10 000 people exploring ideas of play and games
Media release 1.10.2018
ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival was organised in Kuopio, Finland between 25th and 30th September 2018. The festival brought together artists and audiences from across Finland and over 15 different countries. The audiences experienced multidisciplinary contemporary art, explored public spaces and played together as the festival works commented on the ideas of play, playfulness, games and gaming.
The festival events took place around the city of Kuopio in 15 different locations; on streets, on a boat, in parks, gym, church and squares.
Nearly 10 000 participants attended festival events in Kuopio and 30 000 people followed us on social media.
ANTI Festival 2018 collaborated with local professionals in games and gaming, Games for Health Finland network and International Game Developers Association, Kuopio Hub.
A warm thank you to the festival artists, audiences,
staff members, volunteers and partners!
The next ANTI Festival will be organised in September 2019, and the theme of the festival
will be released in January.
Co-creating festival works
We invited the residents of Kuopio and other audiences to take part in creating some of the festival works. Mark Harvey and John Court directed workshops where local people took part in creating the Drop Kick sculptures of recycled materials.
Christopher Weymann from Theatre of Research directed Playing Up workshops in a local school prior the public Playing Up events. The workshops were cheered by both the kids and the teachers.
In the Wrestling Club workshops, artists Emil Uuttu, Lotta Suomi, Marlon Moilanen and Konsta Ojala prepared participants’ bodies tothe Wrestling Club performances, as the workshop participants performed with the artists.
Still Life by Signe Becker, Rosalind Goldberg and Ingvild Langgård was performed by a local choir, Vox Polaris and dancer students from Riveria Outokumpu.
Highlights
One of the highlights of the festival was experienced on 28th September when Tania El Khoury’s new work, The Search for Power premiered. The Search for Power is co-commissioned by ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art 2017 and Shubbak Festival (UK), and the performances at ANTI were fully booked.
The 2018 winner of the ANTI Live Art Prize was revealed on 29th September by a short film simultaneously published online and screened during the ANTI Prize Party in Kuopio. The 2018 winner of the Prize is the Finnish artist Sonya Lindfors. ANTI Prize Party featured a hypnotic show by a New York based singer Joseph Keckler.
Future DiverCities Lab #3
ANTI Festival also hosted the third Future DiverCities Lab in Kuopio prior and during the festival. In the Lab, artists from different artistic backgrounds and around the globe worked together in the frame work of the Future DiverCities project, in relation to each other, the local environment and community; sharing practices and engaging members of the community in artistic interventions.
ANTI 2018 in images
Videographer Kim Saarinen and photographers Pekka Mäkinen and Ville Hakulinen documented the festival events throughout the festival week.
More amazing images in the Best of ANTI 2018 album on our Facebook page! See the best video clips on our Vimeo page, for example, Postcard from ANTI 2018: Part 1!
