Past Residents Freja Bäckman
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Freja Bäckman, I was told I chop wood like a ballet dancer (On Circles), 2020. Photo by Sheung Yiu @sheungyiuphoto
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Freja Bäckman, Listening session of the sound work 'I was told I chop wood like a ballet dancer (On Circles)' at HIAP Gallery Augusta during the HIAP Open Studios Spring 2021. Photo by Sheung Yiu @sheungyiuphoto
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Freja Bäckman, I was told I chop wood like a ballet dancer (video still), 2018. Videography by Elis Hannikainen
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Freja Bäckman, I was told I chop wood like a ballet dancer (performance), 2018. Photo by Tamir Lederberg
Freja Bäckman works as an artist, educator and researcher. Their practice is concerned with collective formations, informed by queer and intersectional feminism. Through dialogues and negotiations, analysis of power, language and knowledge sharing they work with performance, sound, text, installation and workshops.
Their work has been shared at Vantaa Art Museum Artsi, Lydgalleriet and Hordaland Kunstsenter in Bergen, nGbK and District in Berlin, Third Space in Helsinki, Repose in Krakow, and EMMA-Espoo Museum of Modern Art among others. They are currently doing a doctorate at the Department of Art at Aalto University and was a visiting scholar at Parsons, The New School in New York. They have completed a MA in Art in Context (2012) at Berlin University of the Arts.
I am working on the ongoing body of work I was told I chop wood like a ballet dancer. It is following the origin of the word concert – to contest, question, dispute (with) as well as agreement in action. It has grown as a collective effort and the works within the series have taken different forms, from collective actions to 1 on 1 performances, a concert (performance/installation), video and most recently a vinyl record. During the residency I am developing and bringing together the existing formats. Alongside, I am working on the relating publication Frail Frames together with collaborators. A collection of texts that might function as a frame story.