INTERVIEW: Arja Miller

ARS is one of the oldest recurring exhibitions of Contemporary Art in Europe, taking place in Finland since 1961. The theme of the exhibition “ARS17 – Hello World!” is the global digital revolution whose impacts are evident in culture and the economy, as well as in human identity and behavior. The exhibition serves as a platform for Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art to develop the accessibility of art and the methods for its presentation, as well as the museum’s collection practices. “ARS17+ Online Art” is the web extension of “ARS17 – Hello World!” presenting online works by approximately 20 artists. On the occasion of “ARS 17 Hello world” we talk with Arja Miller. She is curator and art historian who has worked as Chief Curator of Collections at Kiasma since 2008. Before joining Kiasma she held various positions at Helsinki City Art Museum as Head of Education and curator. She has curated numerous international exhibitions and published extensively. Her most recent article discusses the importance of collecting online art from the point of view of Kiasma’s and Finnish National Gallery’s permanent collections. In ARS17 project she has been in charge of the ARS17+ Online Art section and curated two new commissions in it: Infinity, an interactive sound platform by Pink Twins and O.D.O. (Ordered Dance Online), an image editing software by Jarkko Räsänen. In addition, Miller has curated selected works in the physical ARS17 exhibition such as #ALONETOGETHER by LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, What The Heart Wants by Cécile B. Evans and AS Long As Possible by Juha van Ingen.

By Efi Michalarou & Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art Archive

The exhibition “ARS17: Hello World!” has as its main theme the digital revolution, exploring the question “What can art tell us about life in the digital age?” also is extending it the World Wide Web with “ARS17+ Online Art”. The online exhibition of an artwork, has the same power with an artwork on presentation in the space of a Gallery or a Museum?
I wouldn’t say that the online exhibition has the same power as the gallery exhibition, but it has a different power. The gallery space and the online space are particular kinds of mediums that artists are using in very different ways. An artwork that is native to the internet uses the language, the means and the advantages of the web, such as interactivity, collectivity, online esthetics, hyperlinks, etc. One can choose when it is the best time to experience the online artwork. It can for example be a peaceful moment at home that creates intimacy between the user and the work. I suppose both the gallery and the online space both have their strengths and limitations.

Human behaviors, feelings and desires are documented in the exhibition. What are the most typical issues that concern contemporary human?
Let’s imagine a contemporary human being that is overwhelmed by digital information and stimuli, educated by Youtube tutorials and monitored by corporations and different kinds of interest groups. He/She is inspired by a poetry produced by AI, attracted by endlessly circulated images and internet esthetics and addicted to the immersiveness of virtual reality experiences. In the middle of the accelerating technical development with new devices, hardware and software this contemporary human being sometimes ponders what traces our digital contemporaneity will leave for future generations, if any. All these issues and different sides of digitality – our attraction, concern and overload are discussed via the works in the ARS17 exhibition.

With the invasion of technology in our daily lives, on the one hand the digital services and platforms have become tools for people, on the other hand, more and more personal data are collected. Do you think that the access to our personal data, habits, desires and more generally in our lives by corporations or governments, does this circumvents our personal freedoms?
Yes, I think that digital platforms and social media have shaped our lives, identities and above all, how we see the reality perhaps more than we are able yet to understand as it has all happened so very quickly. These are key questions in the exhibition, too. Voicing critique of the commercialisation of the internet and social media is also one of the thematic undercurrents in both ARS17 and ARS17+. It is in fact quite interesting how so many artists in the ARS17 exhibition are visioning more dystopian than utopian scenarios to do with internet services and social media in their works. Surveillance, corporate or institutional control and the commodification of our emotions by big companies are indeed visible in many artworks in ARS17. For instance, What The Heart Wants, a seductive video narrative by Cécile B. Evans discusses what it means to be a person in the future, where technology, corporate interests and human consciousness have merged.

The artists, who are engaged with technology, are like all the other artists or are hermetic in their own virtual world? Is there a link between physical and virtual worlds or is the projection of the self-image, as formed by the social media?
I think it does not make sense to distinguish between physical and virtual any more. They are equally part of our existence, and I suppose in the future our identities and actions will be even more virtual. The challenge in this world for all of us is more and more about how to keep up the criticality, fight polarization, protect the freedom of speech and help the progress of equality whether we are in the digital or in the physical realm.

Which is the future of the digital art, techno-utopias or frightening dystopias?
I think both techno-utopias and dystopias are needed. Artists are often very good dreamers and can interpret the weak signals of our times in their creations, and thus mirror our fears and emotions in interesting and surprising ways in their works.

Τhe artists who are using the potentials offered by the digital technology and the power of computers, can degrade the meaning of artwork to a mass media or advertising product? Some of the works that are on presentation, depict Internet as the great collective unconscious of our time.
I can’t see this tendency in the works in ARS17 or ARS17+. Vice versa, quite many of the artists have totally lost their innocence about the freedom of the internet.

“What can art tell us about life in the digital age?” this question is the thematic catalyst of ARS 17. Would you like to discuss on it?
I think that one of the most intriguing works in ARS17 is a performance #ALONETOGETHER by LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner. The artists are spending a month in remoted cabins in total isolation in Finnish Lapland and are connected to each other and the rest of the world only via the video connection with ARS17 visitors. The work has been hugely popular, and people are queueing to the small cabin in Kiasma’s gallery to be able to chat with the artists. The work is not controlled by the artists, but all of the participants who go to the cabin and talk with the artists creating its content. The performance has brought out a mesmerizing zeitgeist: the new connectedness and intimacy, internet memes, tweeting communities, but also trolling and internet harassment. In my opinion, #ALONETOGETHER perhaps reflects our digital age the best of all the works in the exhibition.

Info: Curator: ARS17: Dr. Leevi Haapala, Curatorial Team: Marja Sakari, Kati Kivinen, Patrik Nyberg and Jari-Pekka Vanhala, ARS17+ Online Art: Arja Miller, Eija Aarnio and Milja Liimatainen, Selected commissioned works: Attilia Fattori Franchini, Theatre’s program: Mikael Aaltonen, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Mannerheiminaukio 2, Helsinki, Duration: 31/3/17-14/1/18, Days & Hours: Tue & Sun 10:00-17:00, Wed-Fri 10:00-20:30, Sat 10:00-18:00, www.kiasma.fi & http://arsplus.kiasma.fi

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First Publication: www.dreamideamachine.com
© Interview – Efi Michalarou & Dimitris Lempesis