As a sure sign of Spring, Peer-to-Peer returns to Suomenlinna Studios and brings the regular HIAP artist presentations back to the intimate studio context. Please join the discussion with the artists about their ongoing projects. Performance artist and co-organizer of Helsinki-based performance platform Là-bas Irma Optimisti will also introduce Là-bas biennale for experimental live art. The biennale starts on April 21 and one of the several venues is Gallery Augusta in Suomenlinna.

Ida Koitila (Sweden/Germany) presents her work-in-progress that she has been developing during the HIAP residency. The installation is a set up of Finnish design chairs, each accompanied by a hanging rope fixed to the ceiling. The work plays with the idea of national identity but also explores the historical phenomenon: what used to be present as public hangings on town squares, as horror shows for the people on the street, is today associated with a highly private action and the subject has become a taboo. Despite the diverse intentions and effects both lead nevertheless to severe social consequences.

Meta Grgurevič (Slovenia) draws inspiration from two historical figures, the artist Vladimir Tatlin and the cosmic visionary Nikola Tesla, who both believed in the potential of technology to work in harmony with nature and with the humankind. The first held onto the ancient dream of flying and the other has been described as a forgotten wizard. For Grgurevič, their work – the clash between the brilliance of their ideas and the harsh reality that prevented their realisation – left behind a wanting, a glimpse of magic in our daily lives. On the other hand, art can be devoid of functionality yet carry on with pure magic. It is like poetry, it can make an absurd idea survive. Meta Grgurevič’s residency is part of the Paths Crossing Project supported by the EU Culture Programme.