FINLAND/NORWAY: What have you for one reason or another, chosen to – or been forced to - forgo in your life?

Forgo was an international project produced by the artists Maria Nordbäck (FI) and Brynhild Bye-Tiller (NO), with participants in Norway and Finland. The participants was asked to create an embroidery of something they had given up or refrained from. Nordbäck and Bye-Tiller arranged several sewing and embroidery workshops in cooperation with local women's groups in Vaasa, Finland and Trondheim, Norway. More than 100 women and a few men participated. The project focused on people who, for one reason or another, have chosen to – or been forced to - forgo something, hence the title.

The FORGO exhibition was a part of a large group exhibition: "To have - To own" at KUNTSI Museum of Modern Art in Vaasa. The curatorial task focused on expansion.

ARTISTIC WORK BRYNHILD BYE-TILLER
Parallel with the embroidery workshops Bye-Tiller started working with visual documentation, visual stories, making interviews and collecting audio recordings of the participants. They spoke about things in their life they had to forgo. Things they had let go. Things in life they chose not to do. Or couldn't do. These low tech audio recordings are bits and pieces of conversations with the participants in the Forgo project. The recordings are edited and sequenced by the artist.

ARTISTIC WORK BRYNHILD BYE-TILLER. Audio works:
1. A mix of oral statements from participants. Duration 15:42 min. 15 MB

2. A conversation with Helena Jern (FI). Duration 18:36 min. 17.9 MB

3. A conversation with Helena Wistbacka (FI). Duration 12:20 min. 11.9 MB

4. A conversation with Sumaya Mansi (FI). Duration 19:37 min. 18.8 MB

PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK BRYNHILD BYE-TILLER
The embroideries were stretched and sewn together in Trondheim (NO)
ARTISTIC WORK BRYNHILD BYE-TILLER. A photo and sound installation at KUNTSI Museum of Modern Art in Vaasa (FI)
ARTISTIC WORK BRYNHILD BYE-TILLER & MARIA NORDBACK. The wooden house structure with embroideries and a sound installation at KUNTSI Museum of Modern Art in Vaasa (FI)
PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK BRYNHILD BYE-TILLER. Home visits, interviews, portraits of three selected participants in Finland

Short introduction to the exhibition «To have - To own»
"To have - To own" was an exhibition organized by Platform. The base for the activities starts out in the periphery, in being out on the edge, researching the periphery of thoughts. Trying to make local artistic identity and global context meet, in a physical place in Vaasa, Finland. To have - To own wants to shed light on and to expand some of the accumulated cultural and intellectual capital created by the projects and the contemporary art platform has hosted or produced so far. The curatorial task of the project had an experimental touch; it focused on expansion. The strategy was to encourage as much local decision making and participation on all levels possible as well as nurturing all already created networks and knowledge both on local, regional, nordic and international level. Ulrika Ferm had the curatorial responsibility.

Platform - history and concept
Platform is an artist-run initiative founded in 2000. Platform runs a residency program in Vaasa, Finland and is behind the consept. The aim of Platform is to promote, show and be part of producing international contemporary art. The following persons are or have been involved in the organisation of Platform: Maria Ångerman, Albert Braun, Ulrika Ferm, Maria Nordbäck, Jimmy Pulli, Peter Rosvik, Tuomo Väänänen, Hasse Österblad, Hannah Kaihovirta-Rosvik, Eija Leinonen, Marcus Lerviks, Joakim Hansson, Rasmus Hedlund, Maria Lundström and Dragos Alexandrescu.

The Seminar and an external didactic pilot project
Hannah Kaihovirta-Rosvik, from Vaasa, a PhD in art as an aesthetic approach to research, has been following the Platform activities closely since the beginning. By creating performing lectures, arts based learning events and multimodal publications she explores various forms of arts interpretation areas in diverse cultural settings. Her research practice focuses on articulating methods for creating arts, science and education collaboration projects. In 2008 she curated the CFL Istanbul Parasite event in Platform. She was invited to contribute to the" To have - To own" publication and exhibition and she made a didactic pilot project that involved participating artists, the guides at the museums and teachers of aesthetic subjects in the primary and secondary schools in the region. The book, exhibition and didactic pilot project culminated in a seminar that looked at collaborative and artist run cultures as a local resource for development of aestetic and cultural awareness.

See PDF, Fanzine – Et konstdidaktis program av HANNAH KAIHOVIRTE-ROSVIK

EXHIBITION		PARTNERS
Exhibition period December 4 th 2011- January 31 st 2012		Local partners were MIRA Centre, Welcome Office Vaasa, Vaasa Reception Centre.
Venue: KUNTSI Museum Of Modern Art. Sisäsatama, FIN-65100 Vaasa.		www.marianordback.com Venue: FORGO was part of a group show organized by Platform. "To have/To own" was curated by Ulrika Ferm (FI/DE). More infomation on Platform's webpage. http://www.platform.fi/index.php/2011/11/28/to-haveto-own/   Artists: Dragos Alexandrescu (FI/RO) & Sarah Browne (IE) Maria Nordbäck (FI) & Brynhild Bye (NO) Stefan Constantinescu (SE/RO) Kane Do (DE/US) Audun Eriksen (NO) Maria Ångerman (FI) & Miha Erman (SI) FinnFemFel (FI) & Simo Brotherus (SE/FI) Rasmus Hedlund (FI) & Maria Lundström (FI) & Eija Leinonen (FI) & Tuomo Väänänen (FI) Esther Pilkington (GB/AT) Jimmy Pulli (FI) & Christian Rupp (AT) Anri Sala (DE/AL) Helga Steppan (SE) Andrew Taggart & Chloe Lewis (NO/CA) Omistamisen pakko vai siitä kieltäytyminen, by art critic Maaria Niem, Pohjalainen 15.01.2012 (FIN)
SECOND EXHIBITION Maria Nordback produced a second show with the Forgo project in KRISTINESTAD (FI) August 2012. Art work: A sculptural installation with embroideries, audio recordings and photographs. Details: 1 assembly of 117 embroideries in a large wooden house structure, 4 audio recordings mixed together and 50 framed small format photographs in color. FORGO was an art project based on contemporary art's ability to help identify opinions, exploring participatory methodologies and evolving documentary photography within the contemporary art field. Documents: Invitation group show To have/To own I Invitation group show To have/To own II Invitation group show To have/To own III Programme group show To have/To own about FORGO Programme group show To have/To own Paper on group show To have/To own (SE)

The project was funded from: