Six artists based in Varsinais-Suomi, Finland are given the opportunity to develop a new performance work under the guidance of artist Joshua Sofaer. The results of the workshop will be presented in the opening night of New Performance Turku Festival. The international festival for new performance and Live Art takes place in Turku from 13th to 16th June 2013.

Open call for Artist as Art workshop participants

Workshop at Kutomo (Kalastajankatu 1 B, Turku, Finland)

18th-22nd March 2013
Mon 18.3. at 9:00-15:00
Tue 19.3. at 9:00-15:00
Wed 20.3. at 9:30-17:00
Thu 21.3. at 9:30-17:00
Fri 22.3. at 9:30-17:00

Selected artists will workshop ideas with Joshua Sofaer in March and have the opportunity for two one-to-one follow up Skype sessions at prearranged times before presentations in June.

Performance Presentations: Thursday 13th June

Artist as Art will concentrate on three main themes: the body, autobiography and the fantasy self to explore the diary, the confessional, the self-portrait, the signature, and the trademark, in an attempt to understand what is constituted by the ‘I’ in performance practice.

Artists have depicted themselves since the earliest years of cultural production. Examples that survive include ancient Egyptian reliefs, although it is the 4th Century BCE Greek painter Apelles who is credited with making the first painted self-portrait. It was in the 15th Century, with the development of better and cheaper mirrors, that artists began to produce self-portraits with greater frequency, often in part, to connect their ‘person’ with their ‘skill’ in a double demonstration.

In literature, there are examples that are at least as old, and today ‘autobiography’ and ‘memoir’ represents a major national interest, as a visit to any high street bookshop will prove.

For performance practice, the shift away from fictional narratives to ‘true stories’ has given currency to works that are perceived to issue directly from experience. Many artists have seen a political imperative in the presentation of their own body or life narrative, and for those studying visual and performing arts, exploration of the autobiographical is often a rite of passage.

The workshop is free of charge and it is organized by Arts Promotion Center Finland – Regional Office of Southwest Finland (Varsinais-Suomen taidetoimikunta).

Please note: The workshop and follow up sessions will be conducted in English.

The deadline for all applications is 18th February 2013.
For more information, please download the Application Form.

The application should be written in English.

The workshop is limited to 6 participants. Artistic directors of the New Performance Turku Festival Leena Kela and Christopher Hewitt will make the selection together with the workshop leader Joshua Sofaer. Selected artists will be informed latest by 1st March 2013.

In co-operation with Arts Promotion Center Finland – Regional Office of Southwest Finland, New Performance Turku festival and Ehkä-production.