Research Pavilion: Experimentality

The theme of the Research Pavilion is experimentality. Its exhibition showcases original contemporary art, whereas its research-related events inquire: How does experimentality manifest itself in contemporary art? Has the discourse on artistic research and its methodologies redefined our ideas regarding experiments and experimentality?

Does current research generate new types of methodologies (such as affective or multisensory) that reassess the essence of experimentation? Does the concept of ‘laboratory’ retain its utility in the context of artistic research? Can existing artistic research laboratories be seen as strategic, transdisciplinary platforms that enable research to be reimagined in new ways, such as by creating aesthetic preconditions for experimentation that allow topical problems to be addressed in some hybrid form? Does artistic research facilitate new ways to find connections between science, aesthetics and politics?

The exhibition in the Research Pavilion features artists from Finland and elsewhere in Europe. The artists are Tiong Ang, Magnus Bärtås, Henna-Riikka Halonen, Dirk Hoyer, Simo Kellokumpu, Matts Leiderstam, Antti Nykyri, Maija Närhinen, Tuula Närhinen, Janis Rafa, Heli Rekula and Hito Steyerl.

The Research Pavilion is also a platform for events that involve artistic research. An evolving group of researchers and research groups will use the pavilion as a platform for their work throughout the exhibition period, producing lab projects, discussions, screenings, interventions, seminars and performative situations.