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Mitä kuuluu/Kuin elät/Kaka Dela?

How Are You/Kak Dela?

Community Art Project in Finland and Russian Carelia
with Kaisu Paavilainen
In this community art project we walked into people's everyday life and asked: "How are you?". The idea was to find out, using artistic methods, what is important and meaningful in life. What are the prerequisites for a good life?

The project workshops were carried out in Finland (Hyvinkää, Lappeenranta, Kajaani, Kerava) and Russian Karelia (Vuokkiniemi) in 2004–2008 among both children and adults. The material produced was compiled into pieces of art presenting the everyday life, dreams and stories. The pieces were shown in several exhibitions in Finnish art museums and the village school of Vuokkiniemi.

We also made an art publication about the project. If this is of interest to you, feel free to contact me (see bottom of the page)!

Parts of the project:

THE BOARDS – How are you? Write a message!

TWO SETTINGS – video installation: children make their favorite dishes; photos of the dishes projected on tables; paintings with recipes

WIND PLACE – video installation: a view on a Carelian graveyard with a white ribbon hung on a cross, swinging in the wind, meaning that someone is thinking of the dead person; in the audio, Maikki from Vuokkiniemi describes how a corpse is prepared for the burial; towels with the names of the closest people written on them, made by children

FLEA MARKET/NOT FOR SALE – installation made of 20 tables with stories about the most defining moments of people's lifes

SORTING SITE – sound installation where five people describe their lives, helping others and being helped; 2nd hand clothing and objects

PORTRAIT OF THE SELF IN 20 YEARS' TIME – mixed media on mdf board: children's dreams about the future

MOTHER AND FATHER – installation of acrylic paintings on mdf board: children's paintings about textiles that remind them of their parents
The village school of Vuokkiniemi in Russian Carelia
The Boards: Live Simply So Others Can Simply Live
The Boards: I'm Not Short of Anything
The Boards: My Nationality is Human, My Home is the Earth
The Boards: I'd Like Another Cat, Take Care of Your Pets
The Boards: Animals Aren't Machines!
The Boards: The Slower You Drive, the Further You'll Get
The Boards: Give Me Your Hand, Friend, I Need It
The Boards: There Used to Be a Grand Cattle Shed Here
Two Settings: favorite recipe paintings on the wall
Two Settings: children's favorite recipes
Two Settings: a child cooking her favorite dish (still from the video)
Two Settings: Two-channel video projection
Wind Place: Dvina graveyard, video installation
Wind Place: names of children's closest people written on handtowels
Wind Place: installation view at the Museum of Cultures, Helsinki 2008
Flea Market/Not for Sale: Tuula's table
Flea Market/Not for Sale: my table
Flea Market/Not for Sale: Dorothea's table
Flea Market/Not for Sale: Yrjö and Abu's table, the stories of an evacuee and a refugee
Flea Market/Not for Sale: Tor's table
Flea Market/Not for Sale: Ludmila and Anni by their table
Sorting Site: installation view in Hyvinkää Art Museum 2005
Sorting Site: installation view in Hyvinkää Art Museum 2005
Portrait of the Self in 20 Years' Time: installation view in Lappeenranta Art Museum 2007
Portrait of the Self in 20 Years' Time: close-up
Portrait of the Self in 20 Years' Time: close-up
Portrait of the Self in 20 Years' Time: close-up
Mother and Father: detail
Mother and Father: installation view
Mother and Father: detail