Zero-sum game: The autonomous artist vs community values - De Structura 2022 forum podcasts with The Wise Art Fool Podcast

In this episode of the podcast, Matthew Dols, Professor of Photography at the University of Maryland, artist and producer/host of the Wise Fool Art Podcast talked to Sanna Hirvonen, Finish dance artist, choreographer and writer and Anastasia Matskevitch, Belarusian-Polish multidisciplinary artist, musician, performer, director and art-manager.

Contemporary artists have raised the question of what authorship means within the sector, as well as the methodologies used to empower artists. What steps need to be taken to support the transition from “toxic competition” to sustainable support systems within the arts?

Sanna Hirvonen – https://sannajhirvonen.art 

Anastasia Matskevitch – https://theanamova.wordpress.com 

The De Structura forum was supported by Allianz Foundation, Erasmus +, European Cultural Foundation and Narva City.

The Wise Art Fool Podcast is supported in part by: EEA Grants from Iceland, Liechtenstein + Norway. 

Music by Peat Biby

The Wise Fool Art Podcast appreciates the assistance of its partners in this project:

Hunt Kastner – https://huntkastner.com

Kunstsentrene i Norge – https://www.kunstsentrene.no

Myymälä2 cooperative of artist running a gallery exhibition and event space in the centre of Helsinki since 2002. Over the years, it has strengthened its position in Helsinki as an alternative space dedicated to visual arts, experimental music, design and street culture. It also includes a small shop of independent publishing. Myymälä2 is presenting dedicated artists from different disciplines of various cultural and educational backgrounds, whose attitude toward art is experimental and unconventional.

Mathilde Palenius is a French-Finnish freelance creative producer & projects coordinator

based in Helsinki (FI). She works side-by-side in Helsinki with different associations such as Pixelache, Bio Art Society and Myymälä2 and in a collaboration with the European Lab. (Lyon, FR). She graduated in 2021 in Coordination/Engineering of international cultural projects, with a specialisation in the Creative Europe programme (PIECE master's degree, Dijon, FR)

Ramiro Camelo is Myymälä2 curator and the project manager of the Baltic Fellowship Network, a curatorial research programme whose aim is to potentiate collaboration, foster partnerships and facilitate artistic exchanges with art institutions, exhibition spaces, individuals and counterparts in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 

The discussion is focused on the cultural and artistic producer profession, starting career in arts, art projects organising, freelancing and importance of networking. Mathilde also brings up the subject of working in different countries and her experience in learning cultural differences. 

Links: 

https://www.myymala2.com/

https://pixelache.ac/ 

https://www.ubfc.fr/en/training/masters/master-piece/

Improper walls is an intercultural art platform based in Austria. It is managed by an international and multicultural team. They enable and initiate social impact in Austria and across Europe through co-creating socially engaged art projects.

In this episode, we will talk about the difficulties and the opportunities in managing a non-profit like Improper Walls and how such organisations can help young artists achieve their goals through supporting socially-engaged art practices.

Guest star: Katerina Lipovka, core team member of De Structura

Why are the spaces for arts and culture shrinking? And how can digital tools help to counter this development? Listen to De Structura founder Anastasia Lemberg-Lvova and Gitte Zschoch, General Secretary of ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), in a conversation about the role of artists and culture in our society and how funders and policymakers can better support cultural workers.

This podcast was produced within the framework of Europe takes part! launched by Das Progressive Zentrum in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut, supported by the German Federal Foreign Office. The project aims to shed light on the role of arts and culture in Europe and to strengthen its actors through the use of digital tools.

You can find a full description on Das Progressive Zentrum. 

Sofia Vieira is the co-founder and director of Krea, one of De Structura's partners. She is a Portuguese cultural programmer and producer, currently based in The Netherlands. Sofia develops projects focusing on contemporary art forms to promote the development of new manners of human communication, and to encourage the establishment of healthy communities that unite people through their creativity.

In Sofia's episode, we'll dive into the ever so painful topic of funding in the culture sector, the flaws of the traditional education system, and the reasons to get talking about the issues young people experience in the art sector.

Intro music: Julen Hamilton: Sun - L.L.E.U.U.Fuck.You 

Outro music: Julen Hamilton: End - L.L.E.U.U.Fuck.You 

Cyril Pesenti is a 25-year-old young culture politician and head of communication for the Opéra de Rouen Normandie. He is not afraid to start over in the search of fulfilment - from seriously pursuing cross-country skiing he switched to being a pianist at the age of 14, entered the conservatory of Reims with the plan of becoming a composer. He then went on to study musicology and now holds a master’s degree in culture management with a second MA from Science Po on the way.

Cyril believes that young artists mustn’t let the world tell them who they should be, instead he believes that they should be the one defining themselves. 

Intro music: Julen Hamilton: Heal - L.L.E.U.U.Fuck.You 

Outro music: Cyril playing his piano at home

Katerina Lipovka is an architect, artist and art manager. She was born in a family of sculptors and has been interested in fine arts since childhood. She holds a master's degree in Architecture of buildings and structures obtained at the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture in Kyiv.

She is currently doing a second master's in Innovations and Entrepreneurship at Lviv Business school. Lipovka believes in cross-disciplinary practices, mutual inspiration and international collaboration between people from different creative fields.

Katerina had a gallery in Kyiv but things went sour with one of her partners and she started an NFT+physical art project to be launched in a month.