stroj-destroy-hyoty: first steps

STROJ-DESTROY-HYÖTY

Niina-anneli Kaarnamo (FI) and Mira Podmanická (SK)
Exhibition at Nitra Gallery - Bunker, Slovakia

It was a project we started to work on a year ago. There was a open call for Nitra Gallery, its special part called Bunker, which I really like. It is a perfect place for site-specific installations. It has its own atmosphere, its own, I would say, life.

So I asked my friend, finnish Niina, to do a project with me. We talked; we talked a lot about what it would be, how we can cooperate, because it is not easy. We talked about the place, about the space. She went to see it and liked it almost as I did. She had also better idea about what I was talking, when I said, it is specific.

We wanted to ask the question about art, not the cliché ones. But the ones we need to answer every day for ourselves and for close friends. What do we do it? Where does it come from? How is it possible?

It was a project about making something – stroj – do – create, which is the base. That is also the visible part of it. There is something (usually) in the exhibition rooms. You can look at it. It is considered art, since it is in the gallery or museum. And then we wanted to destroy it – the gallery – the white rooms – the white cube – art – the ugly walls in Bunker and many other things. The plan was that at the end of the exhibition there would be only white clean walls. No art. No art pieces left to look at. And what would be the benefit – hyöty?

After almost a year since these talks we met. She came to Slovakia and we finally had time to realize the project. We had the space ready week before the announced opening. Good. We have enough time. Anyway, the exhibition will change, so even if we started the day of opening, it would be ok for us. But we have time. We collected the materials and things and moved them to Nitra.

We arrived to Bunker on Saturday morning. Here it is. The beginning was hard. But we worked and talked. Continued talking. Seven rooms were changing. There were left remains of previous exhibitions. Even part of mine from 2012. We cleaned everything up. Destroyed it.

Rooms got names. There were many associations and we left it open, so it was changing and evolving: first room became just entrance room. The second one was storage room, The World, or also the Simulacrum. Materials were stored there. Here everything started. Then on the right are three rooms, so one became trash or documentation room, the other two did not get the name yet. On the left there was definitely kitchen/room with cakes/sand cake room and one white room (white walls, white cube, gallery…).

We worked and then we sat outside in the gallery garden and continued to talk about our ideas. It was not so clear yet, but we did not want it to be clear. We wanted the ideas to come and go, to change, to grow, to evolve, to develop. And it was happening. We agreed on one thing: this is not a usual exhibition for Slovak viewer. We knew it. No artistic pieces were brought in, just materials and they were changing. The whole space was changing. But what is the result. Or the benefit?

For us even the time we spent together was the benefit. Selfish. We shared the ideas, we shared our secret, inner thoughts and opinions about art, various artistic projects. And we were creating something. We agreed that sometimes the benefit is invisible. And this might be the case. You can just feel it (for a moment).

We had the food pause, coffee pause and then the work pause in perfect equilibrium. We spent in Nitra two days. But it was not finished.