Projects 2000

Social Hackers (1st edition)

Series of three collaborative projects at Muu Gallery

PART 1 : Jeremy Deller (UK) / Karl Holmqvist (SE)
12 October - 4 November, 2000

PART 2 : Matthieu Laurette (FR)/ Gunilla Klingberg (SE)
9 November - 3 December, 2000

PART 3 : Plamen Dejanov and Swetlana Heger (AT) / Jarno Jokinen and
Katja Valanne (FI)
8 - 23 December, 2000



Curators: Cristina Ricupero and Paula Toppila

Social Hackers consists in a series of three exhibitions to take place at the artist run gallery MUU in Helsinki in the fall 2000. Each exhibition project involves a confrontation or a collaboration between an artist from the Nordic region and one from continental Europe. This series of projects deal with various phenomena in the field of contemporary art that both comments and analyses social and political issues. These works relate strongly to the communication system and power structures in society problematising both the system and its message. The artists to be presented in Social Hackers use everyday familiar codes from the all-around advertisement, information flow, television, newspapers and magazines. But they use these signs innovatively, subverting their original message and context, making fun of these through literal interpretations of the messages and bringing art into the very focus of different contexts - consumerism, commercialism and manipulation.

In addition to the use of the gallery space (as described above) a project initiated by the artist Brett Bloom from Chicago entitled Dispensing with Formalities will also be presented outside the gallery in the cityscape.

This art project consists of dispensers situated in a public space in the city which includes artists' projects designed to be delivered for free to the audience. Each of the two individual artists performing in the gallery will also develop a project for the dispenser in Helsinki.