PUBLICS Youth presenting at Nordic Youth Symposium 2023, 6th October 2023, Tøyen Bibliotek, Oslo. Photo credits: Katrine Eltvik.

Vitória Fiorella Freitas, Lucas Jordi, Aliina Kemppainen, Aapo Kivivuori, Stella Massa, Gabriella Presnal, Spencer Strachan, Emmi Surwillo, and Yu Yue are PUBLICS Youth Advisory Board 2023!

Read about our activities on Publics Youth Portfolio 2023

Through the year, the Youth Board engages in different ways of cohabiting space and communicating through sound, voice and words. The activity of the Youth Advisory Board 2023 is part of the project Reaching Out (2023-2026) with PRAKSIS and Index Teen Advisory Boards (Oslo and Stockholm). Reaching Out questions and expands how cultural organisations reach out and address new young audiences. The three Boards constitute the Nordic creative youth network Future Futures.

COMING UP NEXT

You are warmly welcome to TAKEOVER, March 9, a day full of workshops, conversations and music led by our Board!

The event celebrates the year-long work of the nine engaged, caring and silver-quick smart members of our Youth Board. Aapo, Aliina, Emmi, Gaby, Lucas, Spencer, Stella, Yue, and Vitoria have worked with PUBLICS, experiencing the different ways in which contemporary arts and culture use collective platforms, public resources, and shared spaces. The Board has explored using arts, words, voices and sounds to send messages, reach out to one another, and collaborate.

Read the full program!

RADIO, PODCAST, AND SOUNDS

On December 7th 2023, the Board members were live on radio at Helsinki Open Waves to look back at their experience in the project and discuss what the contemporary art filed can and should do for and with young adults.

The radio show is available as a podcast in three episodes on HOW and on our SoundCloud!

You can also access the live recording from Oslo of Dear Friend, Letter for Nine Voices, a collective message to art institutions, their peer young adults, their younger and future selves, inviting new forms of mutual support, self-expression, engagement and listening. The letter was inspired by Sandra Nuut and Ott Kagovere’s project Dear Friend (2019-2022). The letter was performed live in Oslo and in Helsinki, and has been printed in 150 copies available in our Library!

On October 7th, PY coordinator Micol Curatolo led a workshop at Fotografihuset during which the three Boards have written and recorded audio descriptions for the exhibition All the Whisperings of the World, 22.9.-22.10.2023.

NORDIC YOUTH CONFERENCE 2023, Olso 

Between October 4-8th 2023, the Youth Advisory Board travelled to Oslo to work with their partners PRAKSIS and Index Teen Advisory Boards. During their stay, the Boards have attended workshops led by Marit Sisland, Micol Curatolo, artist duo Samvær under Tilsyn, Fernanda Branco, Mar Reykjavik. They visited PRAKSIS, Nitja Art Centre, Fotografihuset, and KIHO Olso Art Academy.

On October 6th, the Boards have hosted the Nordic Youth Symposium 2023: Sounding Out! Voicing the new institution at Tøyen Bibliotek.

EARLIER THIS YEAR

Guided by Jo Hislop, the artist leading PUBLICS monthly Reading Group, the Youth Board has started thinking about written language and publishing through the practice of reading together out loud. The workshop was hosted by Nordic Culture Point, and invited two other youth collectives based in Helsinki: Nuori Taide and Photofuss.

PUBLICS Youth have met artist and PUBLICS Board member Pilvi Takala to reflect on what it means to advise an institution, and how they can carry the knowledge stemming from their life experiences and interests into the Advisory Board and their collective work.

The Board has also been introduced to our partners in Stockholm and Olso, Index Teen Advisory Board and PRAKSIS Teen Advisory Board, during a hybrid workshop on the visual and embodied representation of sounds.

In May, the Youth Board has worked on intersectional practices and spoken words with writer, poet and educator Tania Nathan.

On May 13th PUBLICS Youth participted to Nuori Taide’s yearly event in Tiivistämö, Helsinki, which gathered 13-23 year-old creatives from all over Finland. The PUBLICS Youth PODCAST 2022 was presented, together with the book How do we know? Institutional Listening and Youth Agency in the Arts, written by Index Teen Advisory Board (Stockholm) and PRAKSIS Teen Advisory Board (Oslo) in collaboration with PUBLICS Youth.

The Youth Board experiences a sound walk, explored performance and the representation of the human body, created slogans and hand printed posters during the workshops led by artists Moe Mustafa, Harold Offeh, Noor Abed, and Kathrin Böhm as part of the the European Open Up nextwork.

In June, the Youth Board has met artists Maarit Mustonen and Vlatka Horvat who featured in the our Summer COUPLING exhibition. The Board and the artists shared the behind-the-scenes collaboration to produce a group exhibition, and brought examples of how working spaces communicate with visitors and the urban surroundings.

As part of the Festival of Books and Voices organised by PUBLICS during the Autumn, the Youth Advisory Board has taken part in a workshop led by Tallinn-based Sandra Nuut and Ott Kagovare. Sandra, Ott and the Board discussed the publishing project Dear Friend (2019-2022), reflecting on accessible communication, peer networking and how to develop a sustainable project with limited resources.

The Youth Advisory Board presented their work in progress at the Nordic Youth Symposium 2023: Sounding Out! Voicing the new institution, October 6th, Oslo (Norway), as part of the Reaching Out project co-organised with PRAKSIS and Index Teen Advisory Boards (Oslo and Stockholm).

On November 13th, PUBLICS Youth hosted the Youth & Early Career Networking event at Nordic Culture Point. Seven organisations run by and for young people in Finland have come together to share about their work, and discuss how we can implement diversity within and through our activities. The participants were: PUBLICS Youth Advisory Board, Kollektiivi, Helsinki Pride-yhteisö, Nuori Taide, PHOTOfuss, Ubuntu Film Club, PRO ARTE.

On November 15th, the Board has met The Dock, Ireland to advise on the development of their youth program!

An introduction to our Board members 2023:

Vitória Fiorella Freitas is a 20-year-old Design BA student at Aalto University. Vitória is from Lisbon, Portugal, and just recently moved to Finland for her studies. Art has been a way to express herself, experiment and connect with others, whether through dance, performance, or visual art. It inspires her everyday life and projects as well as helps her gain new perspectives on the current world.

Lucas Jordi is a Finnswedish-Spanish artist interested in various forms of media such as animation, design and photography. Through his passions he likes to open discussions regarding the ways in which art affects us, and the way we differ in our perceptions. For him art isn’t an exact science, but he still thinks we should nevertheless be conscious of the material factors that affect our understanding of art.

Aliina Kemppainen is currently studying aesthetics at the University of Helsinki. Alongside studying art at the university, Aliina also creates art herself. She mostly works with time and space based arts. Growing up Aliina studied music, which led her to work especially with sonic arts. She has found themes such as the everyday life, femininity, social interactions and emotions particularly inspiring. Aliina is also interested in the social impact of art on a boarder level, working towards making art more accessible for everyone.

Aapo Kivivuori is a 19 year old from Helsinki and is interested in a wide variety of art forms but especially in how art and culture are present in our everyday lives and living environments.

Stella Massa is a white, Carelian-Finnish non-binary young adult. They were born in Finland and currently living in Helsinki. They are interested in activism, direct action and working together with others in art practices and in life. Stella enjoys working with the body and the feelings. They do acting and see it as a powerful tool to make a change, inside the artistic working group and also as and for the viewer. In their practice, art and activism often mix together.

Gabriella Presnal is a Finnish-American artist based in Espoo working with a variety of video, sculpture, painting, as well as new media forms. In their works, they are interested in the intersections between spatiality, queerness, and memory politics.

Spencer Sam Strachan is a graphic designer that is fascinated in learning new art mediums and strange facts about animals. They are predominantly self-taught but have also attended a school to study game art for a few years. They specialise in drawing but also actively expand their scope by striving to learn things including animation and how to convey layers of emotions in art.

Emmi Surwillo is an art student currently living in Helsinki. Besides participating in different art projects over the years and doing activism she is interested in technology and power, as well as sustainability and visibility in terms of modern media. When she writes and participates in creating art, Emmi loves to play with soft, visual landscapes and vulnerable objects.

Yu Yue is a 19-year-old student based in Helsinki. Yue has a background in photography but his current interest lies more in independent publishing as a means of communication and distribution of knowledge.

Micol Curatolo is the project coordinator.

PUBLICS Youth Advisory Board is supported by Erasmus+ Activ Ungdom and Nordic Culture Point.