The gift of seeing

Host: Lea Kantonen, Professor, Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki

The Wixarika people living on the Western Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico have a rich tradition of non-official and unofficial art education dating back to pre-colonial times. Today many Wixarika communities are also founding their official self-governed institutions such as schools and museums and using digital technology in art pedagogy. Wixarika headmaster Carlos Salvador from the secondary school Tatuutsi Maxakwaxi (Great-grandfather Deertail) and the media researcher Sarah Corona from the University of Guadalajara have since 2000 studied Wixarika teenagers' perception by participatory photography. The traditional Wixarika authorities are responsible for arranging traditional agricultural ceremonies for the whole community. At the same time, each of them individually strives for a specific gift of seeing by different artistic means. How does a Wixarika teacher see an art students' quest for seeing? Carlos Salvador responds to presentations of Uniarts students.

Venue: Exhibition Laboratory gallery, Merimiehenkatu 36, Helsinki

PROGRAM 

13:00 Keynote: The gift of seeing. 20 years of Our Visual History. PhD Sarah Corona, Media researcher and Carlos Salvador, Rector for the secondary school Tatuutsi Maxakwaxi

14:00 Exercise for seeing: MA-student Sanni Priha, Aalto University

14:30 Interview workshop: Carlos Salvador and anthropologist Katri Hirvonen-Nurmi

15:30 Coffee break

16:00 Performance and ritual workshop: Otso Kautto and the Quo Vadis theatre ensemble

17:30 Break

18:00 Video screening: Formal, non-formal and informal art education in the Wixarika community, filmed by Pekka Kantonen and Eduardo Madera, edited and screened by Pekka Kantonen

18:30 A gift of seeing – Intercultural conversation: Carlos Salvador together with students from the Academy of Fine Arts