The First Round Table Conversation:
Together with Tuomas A. Laitanen & Jenni Nurmenniemi
The idea for the video came up from my master essay In the White Room. In this conversation I will elaborate on the questions which I studied in my theses as an organic conversation between the two, artist and curator, in order to create knowledge.
In this round table talk we will start discussing about how we experience visual art. In my essay I used my personal experiences as a perspective for the investigation, into how different practices in photographic art have generated implications in a gallery space. In this discussion we approach the idea of whether a successful art works needs to be experienced physically and how we understand physical experience.
We live in a world where experience of life is fast-paced and more fragmented than in the past hence we need to challenge our lived perception and how we process contemporary visual art. We dedicate more and more of our time on a variety of electronic devices, such as smart phones and computers, and there is a need to think about where we experience art and how it is experienced. Does it have to be lived in real life or does computer graphics suffice?
Often the viewer is asked ‘did you understand the art piece?’. Is the understanding of art the only way to internalize the work and what do we mean by emphasising the deciphering of art?
If visual art were to be more sons orientated, could we approach them in a more holistic way and see it as an experience rather than mere reading from the wall? Could this be one way to challenge an eye-centred culture; could this be a way to challenge our dominance of the visual realm?
How can bodily and holistic experiences be developed and challenged with a more installation type of photography, and what should be taken into consideration?