Biographies
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Andrew Gryf Paterson (SCO/FI)
Initator and co-organiser of Herbologies/Foraging Networks project Andrew Gryf Paterson is a Scottish artist-organiser, cultural producer and independent researcher, based in Helsinki, Finland. His work involves variable roles of initiator, participant, author and curator, according to different collaborative and cross-disciplinary processes. Andrew works across the fields of media/ network/ environmental arts and activism, pursuing a participatory arts practice through workshops, performative events, and storytelling. Selected curatorial/organisational projects include recently 'Alternative Economy Cultures' programme of Pixelache Helsinki Festival (2009), 'Clip Kino' in Kirjasto10 Helsinki library and other locations (2008-2009), 'Add+PF+?' in the Pedagogical Factory programme at Hyde Park Art Centre, Chicago (2007), 'Locative Media Workshop: Rautatieasema' for Pixelache Helsinki Festival (2004). This activity has been characterised by the bringing together of unexpected elements and components around a 'boundary object' which each participant interprets differently, producing new imaginations and potential. He is currently a doctoral candidate at Aalto University School of Art and Design, consolidating under the thesis title of “Artivistic Fieldwork”. http://agryfp.info Ulla Taipale, Capsula (FI/ES)
Co-organiser of Herbologies/Foraging Networks project, producer of Herbologies workshops and seminar. Ulla Taipale / CAPSULA (FI/ES) is an independent curator, cultural producer and photographer. Lives in Barcelona and in Finland. Taipale holds a B.Sc. in environmental engineering and communications and a postgraduate degree in Curating and Cultural Practices in Art and New Media. Since 2005 she works in Capsula, that is a curatorial research group whose interests focus on the meeting point between art, science and nature. Capsula collaborates with cultural institutions internationally and has curated and produced events for CCCB (Centre for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona), El Matadero/Cultural Centre of Madrid City, El Laboral/ Centre for Art and Industrial Creation in Spain, Pixelache Festival and Kiasma Mediateekki in Finland, among others. http://www.capsula.org.es Signe Pucena (LV)
Co-organiser of Herbologies/Foraging Networks project, coordinator of Latvian Fieldwork Expedition, and 'Moonshine and Wild Herbs' Workshop at Pixelache Signe Pucena is executive director and programme curator of The Centre for Interdisciplinary Arts SERDE in Aizpute, Latvia, founded in 2001. She has gained her higher education at the Latvian Academy of Culture in Folklore and Traditional Culture, aswell as a MA in Cultural Management. Between 2000-2008 Pucena was project manager at RIXC Centre for New Media Culture, Riga, producing various new media events, festivals and workshops. Since 2005 she has been participating in the expeditions and fieldwork research in the Latvian countryside, learning about the traditional cultural forms still existing in the contemporary age. Her creative and innovative approach to cultural heritage work with SERDE was recognised with the Latvian Folklore Grand Prize in 2007. http://www.serde.lv Mikko Laajola (FI)
Lead developer of Windowfarms Finland presented at Pixelache Mikko Laajola is an artist-gardener and maker based in Turku and Helsinki. In the last years he has been organising electronic workshops within the collective KoKoMYs, and is a member of Piknik Frequency ry (organisers of Pixelache Festival). He interested in open-source practices and exploring open-hardware technologies. In the previous year, Laajola has been actively working with current lo-tech gardening systems, including hydroponics, and hacking household appliances to create more sustainable solutions. He is working towards social change and the development of self-organised education. http://kokomys.org/ Niko Punin (FI)
Co-developer of Windowfarms Finland presented at Pixelache, speaker in Camp Pixelache Niko Punin is a designer based in Kemiö. He has a background in new media, development of digitally enhanced spaces and digital communities. Since moving to the island of Kemiö in 2007, he has been researching possibilities and developing systems for self-sufficiency, off-the-grid living and alternative models for small-scale communities. He is in the process of starting an open distributed horticultural research community, that combines the use of low-cost DIY LED plant lights and the power of the distributed research model to accelerate the progress of plant research. http://www.punin.com WindowFarms (US)
Remote Speaker in Camp Pixelache, and local installation created in Kiasma 'taka-ikkuna' (window next to Kiasma Theatre, ground floor). 'Window Farms' are vertical, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield edible window gardens built using low-impact or recycled local materials. The 'WindowFarms' project and research was initiated by New York-based Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray in 2009, as part of their shared collaborative work: collaborative distributed 'R&DIY' (Research & Do-It-Yourself) solutions for environmental issues. The intiative is promoted by the Windowfarms Project, a non-profit organisation led by artist Britta Riley, based in New York, USA. http://www.windowfarms.org/ Sinikka Piippo (FI)
Co-curation of WindowFarm in Kiasma & Speaker in Herbologies Seminar at Pixelache Professori Sinikka Piippo on koulutukseltaan kasvitieteilijä. Hän on valmistunut filosofian maisteriksi vuonna 1981 ja lisensiaatiksi 1984, sekä väitellyt tohtoriksi 1986 Helsingin yliopistossa. Hän on toiminut Helsingin yliopiston luonnontieteellisen keskusmuseon kasvimuseon itiökasviosaston johtajana vuodesta 1995 lähtien. Piipon tutkimustyö on suurimmalta osin keskittynyt Kaakkois-Aasian, erityisesti Papua-Uuden-Guinean ja Kiinan, maksasammalten systematiikkaan ja kasvimaantieteeseen. Hän on julkaissut alalta lähes parisataa tieteellistä ja yleistajuista artikkelia. Jo varhain Sinikka Piipon mielenkiinto suuntautui myös lääke- ja yrttikasveihin, joiden käyttöä hän alkoi opettaa jo 1980-luvun loppupuolella. Matkat eri puolilla maailmaa kartuttivat omalta osaltaan tietämystä alalta ja synnyttivät monia artikkeleita kasvilääkinnästä. Piippo on opettanut luonnonkasvien hyötykäyttöä 1980-luvun lopulta alkaen ja kirjoittanut lukuisten artikkelien lisäksi kirjasarjan Luonnon lääkeyrtit 1--4, Rakkauden ja Mielen Kasvit (2006) ja Kasvien salaiset voimat (2009). Hänet on palkittu 2006 Suomen tietokirjailijoiden Tietokirjailijapalkinnolla. Ossi Kakko (FI)
'Wild Vegetable Fermentation' Workshop at Pixelache, speaker in Herbologies Seminar, and invited to Kurzeme Ossi Kakko (s. 1979) on keräilijä-puutarhurin elämäntapaan erikoistunut taiteilija, joka on aktivistina kampanjoinut videotaiteen ja verkostoivan kurssitoiminnan keinoin mm. GMO:ta ja biorosvousta vastaan, sekä luonnonmukaisen metsänhoidon, keräilytalouden, omavaraisviljelyn ja ekorakentamisen puolesta. Hän on myös kieltäytynyt asepalveluksesta, siviilipalveluksesta ja tästä saamastaan vankilatuomiosta. Viime aikoina hän on toiminut yhteistyössä Intian alkuperäiskansojen kanssa. Adam Zaretsky (US)
'DNA Isolation SkillShare' Workshop Adam Zaretsky is a bioartist, performer, researcher and art theorist. A former researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he recently founded VASTAL: The Vivoarts School for Transgenic Aesthetics Ltd. which focuses on legal, ethical and social implications of some of the newer biotechnological materials and methods: Molecular Biology, ART [Assisted Reproductive Technology], genomics, developmental biology and Transgenic Protocols. Vastal Public labs aid people in their own exploration of the intersections between art and life: Ecology, Biotechnology, Non-human Relations, Live Art and Gastronomy. http://emutagen.com/vivoartgl.html Kultivator (SE)
Speakers in Herbologies Seminar, and invited to join the Kurzeme expedition in June 2010 KULTIVATOR is an experimental cooperation of organic farming and visual art practice situated in rural village Dyestad, on the island Öland on the southeast coast of Sweden. By installing certain functions in abandoned farm facilities (including a white cube made of cow dung, for exhibition and gatherings) near to the active agriculture community, Kultivator provide a meeting and working space that points out the parallels between provision production and art practice, between concrete and abstract processes for survival. Founded in 2005 by Mathieu Vrijman, Malin Lindmark Vrijman and Marlene Lindmark, artists, and Henric Stigeborn and Maria Lindmark , farmers. With support from Swedish governmental Foundation for future culture, Agricultural ministery of Sweden and Provincial funds. Kultivator has under 4 years of activity hosted around 30 visual artists from more than 10 different countries for longer or shorter periods, and as an artist farmer collective set up projects, exhibitions and screening on site on Öland or internationally. Kultivators organic farm has 30 milking cows, 30 mother sheep and production of vegetables, forestry and rape seed oil, running since 1995. http://www.kultivator.org/ Christina Stadlbauer (AT/BE)
Invited to present in Herbologies seminar at Pixelache Christina Stadlbauer is an artist and chemist from Austria. She is especially interested in the complexity of nature-processes and health. Obtained a phD in Natural Sciences, and has been practicing and teaching Shiatsu (Japanese Acu-Massage). Currently occupied with urban environments, their transformation and potential. Works with honeybees, primarily in the city and with water in a context of health and healing. She is currently active in Brussels, occasionally in Austria. Within the context of the Herbologies and Foraging Networks seminar, we would like to invite her to present her project "The Bee Observatory", and bring in the perspective of honey foraging in urban environments http://apiary.be/ Nina Nordström (FI)
Invited to present in Herbologies seminar at Pixelache & co-curator of Clip Kino: Foraging! event Nina Nordström on 24 vuotias dokumenttielokuvaohjaaja Helsingistä. Ennen elokuvaopintojaan hän teki pätkätöitä kokkina. Hänen viime projektissaan hän soluttautui kommuuniin pariksi viikoksi ja oppi sieltä käsin roskisdyykkaamaan. Hän teki samalla aiheesta dokumentin nimeltä "fregaani huuma tai elämäni vihreällä sohvalla". Se näytettiin joulukuussa YLEn FST5:lla ja on ollut mukana erilaisissa ympäristöaiheisissa tapahtumissa, kuten Ympäristötoimintapäivillä Orivedellä. Nina innostui dyykkaamisesta toden teolla dokumenttia tehdessään ja on siitä lähtien elänyt fregaanin elämää. Hän on myös osallistunut aihetta käsitteleviin tapahtumiin, kuten Äiti, minulla on nälkä -näyttelyyn Sanomatalossa sekä puhunut kouluissa ja radiossa aiheesta. Interdisciplinary Art Group SERDE (LV)
Coordinators of Kurzeme expedition & documentation sprint in June 2010 The Interdisciplinary art group SERDE is a public association and the mission statement of the organization is to develop the regional and international collaboration between different culture fields, organizations and professionals. SERDE's main activities contribute in the exchange between culture, science, traditional knowledge, and education fields; organizing workshops, residencies, seminars, lectures, presentations etc. SERDE offers a platform and infrastructure for cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary collaboration - an alternative space where to get the inspiration and create. We expect the Baltic expedition to contribute to our mission to help positively to overcome regional backwardness, as well as local and international disconnection. Focusing our projects on local knowledge and traditions which have been held by older generations and cultures in the past, the contemporary local audience gains re-awaked awareness about it's own area. In the process, working also within contemporary art and technology processes, we offer educational introductions and encounters with artists and cultural workers to reinvigorate local knowledge and understanding. http://www.serde.lv Klaipeda Cultural Communication Centre - KCCC (LT)
Invited to the Kurzeme expedition in June 2010 The Klaipeda Cultural Communication Centre is an institution established by the city municipality. It stimulates cultural exchange programmes and creates conditions for artists from Europe and all over the world to live and create in Klaipeda. http://www.kulturpolis.lt/ . [*] Photo credits: Windowfarms Project - Nicholas R. Clark, Bee Observatory - Annemie Maes, Forest foraging - Ossi Kakko.
Initator and co-organiser of Herbologies/Foraging Networks project Andrew Gryf Paterson is a Scottish artist-organiser, cultural producer and independent researcher, based in Helsinki, Finland. His work involves variable roles of initiator, participant, author and curator, according to different collaborative and cross-disciplinary processes. Andrew works across the fields of media/ network/ environmental arts and activism, pursuing a participatory arts practice through workshops, performative events, and storytelling. Selected curatorial/organisational projects include recently 'Alternative Economy Cultures' programme of Pixelache Helsinki Festival (2009), 'Clip Kino' in Kirjasto10 Helsinki library and other locations (2008-2009), 'Add+PF+?' in the Pedagogical Factory programme at Hyde Park Art Centre, Chicago (2007), 'Locative Media Workshop: Rautatieasema' for Pixelache Helsinki Festival (2004). This activity has been characterised by the bringing together of unexpected elements and components around a 'boundary object' which each participant interprets differently, producing new imaginations and potential. He is currently a doctoral candidate at Aalto University School of Art and Design, consolidating under the thesis title of “Artivistic Fieldwork”. http://agryfp.info Ulla Taipale, Capsula (FI/ES)
Co-organiser of Herbologies/Foraging Networks project, producer of Herbologies workshops and seminar. Ulla Taipale / CAPSULA (FI/ES) is an independent curator, cultural producer and photographer. Lives in Barcelona and in Finland. Taipale holds a B.Sc. in environmental engineering and communications and a postgraduate degree in Curating and Cultural Practices in Art and New Media. Since 2005 she works in Capsula, that is a curatorial research group whose interests focus on the meeting point between art, science and nature. Capsula collaborates with cultural institutions internationally and has curated and produced events for CCCB (Centre for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona), El Matadero/Cultural Centre of Madrid City, El Laboral/ Centre for Art and Industrial Creation in Spain, Pixelache Festival and Kiasma Mediateekki in Finland, among others. http://www.capsula.org.es Signe Pucena (LV)
Co-organiser of Herbologies/Foraging Networks project, coordinator of Latvian Fieldwork Expedition, and 'Moonshine and Wild Herbs' Workshop at Pixelache Signe Pucena is executive director and programme curator of The Centre for Interdisciplinary Arts SERDE in Aizpute, Latvia, founded in 2001. She has gained her higher education at the Latvian Academy of Culture in Folklore and Traditional Culture, aswell as a MA in Cultural Management. Between 2000-2008 Pucena was project manager at RIXC Centre for New Media Culture, Riga, producing various new media events, festivals and workshops. Since 2005 she has been participating in the expeditions and fieldwork research in the Latvian countryside, learning about the traditional cultural forms still existing in the contemporary age. Her creative and innovative approach to cultural heritage work with SERDE was recognised with the Latvian Folklore Grand Prize in 2007. http://www.serde.lv Mikko Laajola (FI)
Lead developer of Windowfarms Finland presented at Pixelache Mikko Laajola is an artist-gardener and maker based in Turku and Helsinki. In the last years he has been organising electronic workshops within the collective KoKoMYs, and is a member of Piknik Frequency ry (organisers of Pixelache Festival). He interested in open-source practices and exploring open-hardware technologies. In the previous year, Laajola has been actively working with current lo-tech gardening systems, including hydroponics, and hacking household appliances to create more sustainable solutions. He is working towards social change and the development of self-organised education. http://kokomys.org/ Niko Punin (FI)
Co-developer of Windowfarms Finland presented at Pixelache, speaker in Camp Pixelache Niko Punin is a designer based in Kemiö. He has a background in new media, development of digitally enhanced spaces and digital communities. Since moving to the island of Kemiö in 2007, he has been researching possibilities and developing systems for self-sufficiency, off-the-grid living and alternative models for small-scale communities. He is in the process of starting an open distributed horticultural research community, that combines the use of low-cost DIY LED plant lights and the power of the distributed research model to accelerate the progress of plant research. http://www.punin.com WindowFarms (US)
Remote Speaker in Camp Pixelache, and local installation created in Kiasma 'taka-ikkuna' (window next to Kiasma Theatre, ground floor). 'Window Farms' are vertical, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield edible window gardens built using low-impact or recycled local materials. The 'WindowFarms' project and research was initiated by New York-based Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray in 2009, as part of their shared collaborative work: collaborative distributed 'R&DIY' (Research & Do-It-Yourself) solutions for environmental issues. The intiative is promoted by the Windowfarms Project, a non-profit organisation led by artist Britta Riley, based in New York, USA. http://www.windowfarms.org/ Sinikka Piippo (FI)
Co-curation of WindowFarm in Kiasma & Speaker in Herbologies Seminar at Pixelache Professori Sinikka Piippo on koulutukseltaan kasvitieteilijä. Hän on valmistunut filosofian maisteriksi vuonna 1981 ja lisensiaatiksi 1984, sekä väitellyt tohtoriksi 1986 Helsingin yliopistossa. Hän on toiminut Helsingin yliopiston luonnontieteellisen keskusmuseon kasvimuseon itiökasviosaston johtajana vuodesta 1995 lähtien. Piipon tutkimustyö on suurimmalta osin keskittynyt Kaakkois-Aasian, erityisesti Papua-Uuden-Guinean ja Kiinan, maksasammalten systematiikkaan ja kasvimaantieteeseen. Hän on julkaissut alalta lähes parisataa tieteellistä ja yleistajuista artikkelia. Jo varhain Sinikka Piipon mielenkiinto suuntautui myös lääke- ja yrttikasveihin, joiden käyttöä hän alkoi opettaa jo 1980-luvun loppupuolella. Matkat eri puolilla maailmaa kartuttivat omalta osaltaan tietämystä alalta ja synnyttivät monia artikkeleita kasvilääkinnästä. Piippo on opettanut luonnonkasvien hyötykäyttöä 1980-luvun lopulta alkaen ja kirjoittanut lukuisten artikkelien lisäksi kirjasarjan Luonnon lääkeyrtit 1--4, Rakkauden ja Mielen Kasvit (2006) ja Kasvien salaiset voimat (2009). Hänet on palkittu 2006 Suomen tietokirjailijoiden Tietokirjailijapalkinnolla. Ossi Kakko (FI)
'Wild Vegetable Fermentation' Workshop at Pixelache, speaker in Herbologies Seminar, and invited to Kurzeme Ossi Kakko (s. 1979) on keräilijä-puutarhurin elämäntapaan erikoistunut taiteilija, joka on aktivistina kampanjoinut videotaiteen ja verkostoivan kurssitoiminnan keinoin mm. GMO:ta ja biorosvousta vastaan, sekä luonnonmukaisen metsänhoidon, keräilytalouden, omavaraisviljelyn ja ekorakentamisen puolesta. Hän on myös kieltäytynyt asepalveluksesta, siviilipalveluksesta ja tästä saamastaan vankilatuomiosta. Viime aikoina hän on toiminut yhteistyössä Intian alkuperäiskansojen kanssa. Adam Zaretsky (US)
'DNA Isolation SkillShare' Workshop Adam Zaretsky is a bioartist, performer, researcher and art theorist. A former researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he recently founded VASTAL: The Vivoarts School for Transgenic Aesthetics Ltd. which focuses on legal, ethical and social implications of some of the newer biotechnological materials and methods: Molecular Biology, ART [Assisted Reproductive Technology], genomics, developmental biology and Transgenic Protocols. Vastal Public labs aid people in their own exploration of the intersections between art and life: Ecology, Biotechnology, Non-human Relations, Live Art and Gastronomy. http://emutagen.com/vivoartgl.html Kultivator (SE)
Speakers in Herbologies Seminar, and invited to join the Kurzeme expedition in June 2010 KULTIVATOR is an experimental cooperation of organic farming and visual art practice situated in rural village Dyestad, on the island Öland on the southeast coast of Sweden. By installing certain functions in abandoned farm facilities (including a white cube made of cow dung, for exhibition and gatherings) near to the active agriculture community, Kultivator provide a meeting and working space that points out the parallels between provision production and art practice, between concrete and abstract processes for survival. Founded in 2005 by Mathieu Vrijman, Malin Lindmark Vrijman and Marlene Lindmark, artists, and Henric Stigeborn and Maria Lindmark , farmers. With support from Swedish governmental Foundation for future culture, Agricultural ministery of Sweden and Provincial funds. Kultivator has under 4 years of activity hosted around 30 visual artists from more than 10 different countries for longer or shorter periods, and as an artist farmer collective set up projects, exhibitions and screening on site on Öland or internationally. Kultivators organic farm has 30 milking cows, 30 mother sheep and production of vegetables, forestry and rape seed oil, running since 1995. http://www.kultivator.org/ Christina Stadlbauer (AT/BE)
Invited to present in Herbologies seminar at Pixelache Christina Stadlbauer is an artist and chemist from Austria. She is especially interested in the complexity of nature-processes and health. Obtained a phD in Natural Sciences, and has been practicing and teaching Shiatsu (Japanese Acu-Massage). Currently occupied with urban environments, their transformation and potential. Works with honeybees, primarily in the city and with water in a context of health and healing. She is currently active in Brussels, occasionally in Austria. Within the context of the Herbologies and Foraging Networks seminar, we would like to invite her to present her project "The Bee Observatory", and bring in the perspective of honey foraging in urban environments http://apiary.be/ Nina Nordström (FI)
Invited to present in Herbologies seminar at Pixelache & co-curator of Clip Kino: Foraging! event Nina Nordström on 24 vuotias dokumenttielokuvaohjaaja Helsingistä. Ennen elokuvaopintojaan hän teki pätkätöitä kokkina. Hänen viime projektissaan hän soluttautui kommuuniin pariksi viikoksi ja oppi sieltä käsin roskisdyykkaamaan. Hän teki samalla aiheesta dokumentin nimeltä "fregaani huuma tai elämäni vihreällä sohvalla". Se näytettiin joulukuussa YLEn FST5:lla ja on ollut mukana erilaisissa ympäristöaiheisissa tapahtumissa, kuten Ympäristötoimintapäivillä Orivedellä. Nina innostui dyykkaamisesta toden teolla dokumenttia tehdessään ja on siitä lähtien elänyt fregaanin elämää. Hän on myös osallistunut aihetta käsitteleviin tapahtumiin, kuten Äiti, minulla on nälkä -näyttelyyn Sanomatalossa sekä puhunut kouluissa ja radiossa aiheesta. Interdisciplinary Art Group SERDE (LV)
Coordinators of Kurzeme expedition & documentation sprint in June 2010 The Interdisciplinary art group SERDE is a public association and the mission statement of the organization is to develop the regional and international collaboration between different culture fields, organizations and professionals. SERDE's main activities contribute in the exchange between culture, science, traditional knowledge, and education fields; organizing workshops, residencies, seminars, lectures, presentations etc. SERDE offers a platform and infrastructure for cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary collaboration - an alternative space where to get the inspiration and create. We expect the Baltic expedition to contribute to our mission to help positively to overcome regional backwardness, as well as local and international disconnection. Focusing our projects on local knowledge and traditions which have been held by older generations and cultures in the past, the contemporary local audience gains re-awaked awareness about it's own area. In the process, working also within contemporary art and technology processes, we offer educational introductions and encounters with artists and cultural workers to reinvigorate local knowledge and understanding. http://www.serde.lv Klaipeda Cultural Communication Centre - KCCC (LT)
Invited to the Kurzeme expedition in June 2010 The Klaipeda Cultural Communication Centre is an institution established by the city municipality. It stimulates cultural exchange programmes and creates conditions for artists from Europe and all over the world to live and create in Klaipeda. http://www.kulturpolis.lt/ . [*] Photo credits: Windowfarms Project - Nicholas R. Clark, Bee Observatory - Annemie Maes, Forest foraging - Ossi Kakko.