Jan Kaila and Henk Slager have been working as a team for years now.
“The first one was a pilot version. This time we’re doing it for real,” says Jan Kaila, former professor of artistic research and currently visiting researcher at Uniarts Helsinki.
He is referring to the Research Pavilion organised in the context of the prestigious Venice Biennale, initiated by Uniarts Helsinki. This year will mark the second time Kaila and his counterpart Henk Slager from University of the Arts Utrecht are working on the Research Pavilion in the Sala del Camino in Venice.
Things are very different this time, Kaila says.
“In 2015 we did a very brief pavilion that lasted only for two months. We made lots of mistakes as well.”
Slager adds: “It was a good thing that we chose the theme of experimentality. It allowed us to test out the whole idea, discover the conditions of the exhibition space, and explore what it means to have a research pavilion in Venice.”
Both Kaila and Slager are pioneers in the field of research in the arts, and their collaboration dates back almost 15 years. In 2003 Slager visited Helsinki while working on artistic research, and in 2005 the pair were involved in the founding of the European Artistic Research Network.
DIALOGUE WITH THE ART WORLD
For several years they have been arranging shorter events such as seminars and symposia at art schools and collateral events within biennales and triennales like the Venice biennale, Manifesta and Documenta. It was during these that the idea of a whole pavilion dedicated to artistic research began to take shape. It was the next logical step in engaging the somewhat insular discussion on artistic research with a wider world.
“We want to talk not only within academia, but to also connect to what is currently going on in the art world,” Slager notes.
The first pavilion in 2015 was carried out with more enthusiasm than careful planning. It featured just one exhibition and a handful of parallel events, and a limited budget. Nevertheless, it generated plenty of interest and raised the question: why has this not been attempted before?
That first run taught the organisers lessons in logistics and communication, but it also highlighted some mistakes. To some visitors it was unclear what the pavilion was supposed to be. Another exhibition, a research centre, or something completely different? The project was lacking a clear context and fluent logistics.
“We learned that Venice is a tricky place. You have to transport almost everything there by yourself. We had a car driving through Europe with our stuff, and will probably do the same again,” Kaila says.
“It also became clear that we have to articulate specifically what the pavilion is. This is something that we’re still working on, how to contextualize it, how to specify its mission. This time these things are much better thought-out and expressed,” Slager explains.
BUREAUCRATIC ROOTS
One concrete difference between a run-of-the-mill exhibition space and the artistic research pavilion is the parallel discursive programme. Over 40 events have been scheduled for the duration of the pavilion. They contextualize the ongoing exhibitions, but also delve into research aspects of music, performing arts and contemporary art in general.
“You cannot say the pavilion is only an exhibition space; it is also an exposition space,” Kaila says.
The theme of this year’s programme, Utopia of Access, brings questions of accessibility to focus. The limits to and consequences of open access in arts, education, research and even political arenas are explored. The theme seems almost too topical at a time when thousands of migrants are desperately trying to gain access to Europe, with Italy facing the brunt of the crisis.
“When we started planning one year ago, we didn’t imagine the topic would be as urgent as it is at the moment,” Slager says.
Instead, the idea stemmed from more banal and bureaucratic roots. The initial inspiration was taken from an EU edict that aims to have all publicly funded research open to public access as early as 2020. This reflects the spirit of the 2003 Berlin Declaration for Open Access to Knowledge in Science and Humanities, a statement signed by more than 500 universities, institutions and organisations around the world. For art schools this creates a unique set of problems. Such as how to make public a theatre performance or an installation accessible to audiences who were not present during the event.
“As we talked about these things, the topic transformed into larger questions about art and research as a whole. How open is Europe politically, and how does art deal with that? Or how open is contemporary art in itself, not to mention artistic research?” Kaila explains.
Those discussions turned into a declaration that became a curatorial starting point for an open call for contributions. But the exhibition curated by Kaila and Slager, composed of works by doctoral students and researchers in Nordic art schools, is only one-third of the exhibition program.
Beyond that, the space is being rented out to two other European art schools, Vienna and Zürich. They are arranging their own exhibitions, featuring works by Florian Dombois of Zürich University of the Arts and PhD students from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.
On top of all this, the equally important discursive programme features participants from various countries, making the research pavilion an intensely international venture. Such cross-border collaboration is part and parcel of contemporary art education and artistic research, the curators say.
“This ‘discipline’ is so international nowadays, that we no longer have to think about it separately. It’s just a given, a natural environment. We’re so small, that if we don’t turn to other countries we’re in trouble. We would stop developing,” Kaila says.
All of which makes the Research Pavilion a valuable platform for collaboration and discussion, Slager notes.
“What Uniarts Helsinki has done in Venice is not simple. It’s really remarkable, I would say it’s brave, even radical. Nobody else has done anything like it before, and I have to commend them for it.”
Jan Kaila
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Scientific advisor for artistic research at the Swedish Research Council and visiting researcher at Uniarts Helsinki since 2014
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Former Professor of Artistic Research and Vice Dean at Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts
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Born 1957
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Recipient of Pro Finlandia prize (2008) and honorary doctorate from the Estonian Academy of Arts
Henk Slager
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Dean of the Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design (MaHKU) and Professor of Artistic Research
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Born 1960
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Background in philosophy, art history and general literature
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Member of the advisory board of Platform for Artistic Research Sweden (PARSE)
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Curator of several biennials (including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tbilisi)
This article has originally been published in the May issue of Uniarts Helsinki's IssueX magazine, this time a special edition dedicated to the Research Pavilion.