Eungyung Kim (US/KR/FI) & Shoji Kato (JP/ FI): Island aspired
Over the next 15 years a new district of Kuopio will be built, housing something close to 14,000 residents. Saaristokaupunki (translating as “the town of the archipelago”) will rise along the shores of lake Kallavesi and offer an environment that the City of Kuopio Housing Department hopes ”will make dreams come true for many of us: our own house located next to the city center, close to nature and right by the lake”. In the weeks leading up to ANTI, artists Eungyung Kim and Shoji Kato will ask the growing number of residents of Saaristokaupunki about their personal aspirations for life in the new town; what do you wish these islands, lake and this place to bring to your life? Their responses will be reflected in a text-based installation located on Palosaari. Here the private aspirations of individual residents become a part of the landscape of the public world.
Island Aspired will be launched on July 12th and runs throughout the summer.
Eungyung Kim (US/KR/FI) & Shoji Kato (JP/ FI)
Having individually exhibited their work across America, China, Japan and Europe, visual artists Eungyung Kim and Shoji Kato began their collaborative practice in 2008 with Lands on the Field, an outdoor installation for Fljótsdalur, Iceland. They live in Helsinki, Finland.
”With considerations of the locality, history and future of the specific area, our collaborative works are based on connections between the place and people who live with it. By engaging with the individuals, we learn their relationships with the land in the light of participants’ unique imaginations, memories and dreams. And we bring these things back to both private and collective space in a form of open-air installation.”