Demos Helsinki - Untitled Festival (2020) - Curating the Art Program

Overview:

Producer/Curator Role

• Curated Untitled Festival's art program
• Integrated technology, performance, and ecological themes
• Coordinated collaborations with European STARTS program

Flagship Project: "Associate" (by Otso Havanto)

• AI-driven poetry and documentation project
• Analyzed festival discussions through machine learning
• Created real-time poetic interpretations
• Served as Otso's thesis supervisor and concept co-developer

Environmental Art Highlights

• "By the Code of Soil" (Kasia Molga): Living soil ecosystems
• "Holding Space with Yarrow" (Mari Keski-Korsu): Nordic plant healing rituals

Program Innovation

• Adapted live performances for digital/hybrid formats
• Maintained performance immediacy in online context
• Explored machine learning as artistic documentation tool
• Successfully bridged technology and traditional art forms

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The Intersection of Technology, Performance and Ecology

As curator of Untitled Festival's art program, I developed a comprehensive framework integrating technology, performance, and ecological art. The program reflected the festival's evolving nature, particularly through our collaboration with the European STARTS program, which brought innovative perspectives to our exploration of art and technology.

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Curating the "Associate" by Otso Havanto

The festival's centerpiece was "Associate," an ambitious AI-driven poetry and documentation project by Otso Havanto. This artwork analyzed recorded discussions from festival events and ran them through machine learning algorithm, creating poetic interpretations that revealed unexpected connections and meanings. The project functioned simultaneously as an independent artwork and as experimental documentation, offering alternative perspectives on festival dialogues.

My involvement extended from initial concept through to advicing and commenting the development througout the process. I also served as thesis supervisor for the artist for his master's thesis which centererd on this piece.

Environmental and Participatory Works

The program featured several groundbreaking works exploring ecology and human connection. Kasia Molga's "By the Code of Soil" revealed soil as a living, interconnected organism, shifting viewers' perspective from soil as resource to soil as a matrix of life. Mari Keski-Korsu's "Holding Space with Yarrow" engaged participants in traditional Nordic plant healing rituals, creating spaces for communal reflection and ecological connection.

Program Innovation

The pandemic challenged us to reimagine live art presentation. Through innovative approaches and close collaboration with artists, we successfully adapted performances for hybrid formats while maintaining their immediacy and impact. Our partnership with the STARTS program enriched the curatorial mix, demonstrating how technology can both create and reinterpret art in real-time.