ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival is an art festival that presents site-specific

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

which covers all artistic forms from

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and environmental art to dance,

live art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

and

performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...

. The annual festival is held in

Kuopio Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The first ANTI Festival was first organized in 2002 by The Arts Council of

Northern Savonia North Savo (or Northern Savonia; ; ) is a Regions of Finland, region in eastern Finland. It borders the regions of South Savo, Central Finland, North Ostrobothnia, Kainuu, and North Karelia. Kuopio is the largest city in the region and Kallavesi, ...

. The ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival Association was established in 2005 to coordinate the festival. Over the years, ANTI has become Finland's leading presenter of live art, as it promotes innovative developments in

sonic Sonic or Sonics may refer to: Companies *Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in, fast-food restaurant chain * Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities * Sonic Foundry, a computer software company whic ...

and

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and texti ...

s. Artworks featured in the festival are presented in multiple different locations depending on the theme and nature. The name "ANTI" means "gift" in Finnish, which reflects the festival's policy to make art accessible to all, artworks that are presented in the festival are free of charge, allowing people who may not typically engage with art to become accidental participants and viewers, which leads to most audiences often experience the disruptive potential of the works profoundly. In 2007, Artistic Director Erkki Soininen was replaced by Gregg Whelan, who was appointed as Co-Artistic Director of ANTI. Whelan also works as a performance-maker, writer and co-artistic director of Lone Twin and Lone Twin Theatre. In 2013, ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival launched the ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art, an international art award with a prize of 30,000 Euros. The Live Art Prize has been awarded since 2014, recognizing outstanding contributions to the field of live art.

Live Art Prize recipients

In 2014, the ANTI festival established an International Live Art prize of 30,000 Euros. * 2014: Cassils * 2015: Willoh S. Weiland * 2016: Terike Haapoja with shortlisted artists: Action Hero, My Barbarian and Public Movement * 2017: Tania El Khoury with shortlisted artists: Sethembile Msezane, Alexandra Pirici, and the Vacuum Cleaner * 2018: Sonya Lindfors with shortlisted artists: All The Queens Men (Australia), Nic Green (United Kingdom), Jeanne van Heeswijk (Netherlands) by a jury chaired by

Jacques Rancière Jacques Rancière (; ; born 10 June 1940) is a French philosopher, Professor of Philosophy at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII: Vincennes—Saint-Denis. After co-authoring ...

* 2019: Dana Michel (Canada) with shortlisted artists: Cuqui Jerez (Spain), Keijaun Thomas (USA) and

Mammalian Diving Reflex The diving reflex, also known as the diving response and mammalian diving reflex, is a set of physiology, physiological responses to immersion that overrides the basic homeostasis, homeostatic reflexes, and is found in all air-breathing verteb ...

(Canada) * 2020: Brian Fuata (Australia) with shortlisted artists: Geumhyung Jeong (South Korea), W A U H A U S (Finland), Ingri Fiksdal (Norway) * 2021: Alex Baczynski-Jenkins (Poland/UK) with shortlisted artists: keyon gaskin (US),

Florentina Holzinger Florentina Holzinger (born 1986) is an Austrian choreographer, director and performance artist. Her stage work involves nude all-female casts and sexual acts. She is based in the Netherlands. Early life Holzinger was born in Vienna in 1986, the ...

(Austria),

Narcissister Narcissister is an American, Brooklyn-based, feminist performance artist, born of Moroccan Jewish and African-American descent. Narcissister's work tends to focus on race, gender, and sexuality, using her slight anonymity to explore such topics co ...

(US) * 2022: Latai Taumoepeau (Australia/Tonga) with shortlisted artists: Liz Rosenfeld (US/ Germany), River Lin (Taiwan), Zinzi Minott (UK) * 2023: Tiziano Cruz (Argentina) with shortlisted artists: Autumn Knight (United States), Jota Mombaça (Brazil) and Joshua Serafin (Philippines/Belgium)

Themes

2003 Over the years, the festival had explored various themes. Works were presented in unconventional spaces such as a hair salon, a gas station, and a nursing home. Main artists of the festival was butch artist Saga Kobayashi from Japan and Live Art artists Eve Dent and

Kira O'Reilly Kira O'Reilly is a performance artist based in the UK. She graduated from Cardiff School of Art in 1998, and has participated in a number of performance art festivals throughout the UK and Europe, including at the Bonington Gallery, Nottingham Tre ...

from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 2004 The international program included artists from many countries such as

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, Canada,

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

, Germany, Japan and

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In four days, there were 17 performances. One of them was Will Kwan's (CA) performative lecture in University of Kuopio which was mentioned in media as well as Jennifer Nelson's (US) and Glen Redpath's (CA) work Prisma Relay, which was held in local supermarket. 2005 The theme of the 2005 edition was the time. The theme was defined by Charles Landry, who said that ”It is important that a city does not wipe out its memory”. 2006 There were 17 artists from all over the world giving their performances in Kuopio City Hall,

Väinölänniemi Väinölänniemi is a district in the city of Kuopio, Finland. It is more commonly known for the Väinölänniemi Peninsula (nicknamed Vänäri), located in this district and surrounded by Kallavesi, with its beaches, sports fields and park area ...

Tennis Court, Youth Center 44, Hotel Puijonsarvi, Huuhanmäki Observatory, Cinema Maxim, an empty property on Tasavallankatu, balcony of the Carlson department store, Kuopio airport, Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Health Professions Kuopio, an apartment mediated by the real estate agency Huoneistokeskus and the office of Reijo Kela. 2007 For the 2007 edition of the festival a community college, a

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...

park, the pages of a city newspaper, a late-night grill, a children's playground and an entire island were negotiated by an international program of artists. The most popular work of the year was the vacuum cleaner's ''One Hundred Thousand Pieces of Possibility,'' where the artist gave away 1000 euros in 1 cent pieces. Claire Blundell Jones's work ''Introducing Tumbleweed to the Finnish Landscape,'' was noticed by media press. 2008 For the 2008 edition Kuopio's residents opened their homes to audiences and host works made for domestic space. Other projects took place in a sports stadium, on a public stage, across the network of city streets and on, and under, the

Rönö Rönö () is an island in Lake Kallavesi and also a district in the city of Kuopio, Finland. It is located about 2,5 kilometers southeast of Kuopio Market Square, measured along the street network. Since 1988, the island has been connected to V ...

bridge. 2009 The theme of the ANTI Festival was walking. Vincent Chevalier (CA) traveled from one place to another while walking along a 2-metre length of red carpet. Tim Knowles (UK), set off walking while being guided by the wind, and he created a wind vane mounted to a helmet. 2010 This edition of ANTI concentrated on how artists working with writing and language navigate, read and inhabit the city. 2011 2011 was year of celebration since it was 10th ANTI Festival. There were pieces presented by artists from

, United States, Canada, Belgium and France. In the program there was multiple different works, such as Blast Theory's Rider Spoke, which was a work for cyclists who explored the city by bike while searching for places to hide recorded messages and found digital treasures others have hidden. The choir was conducted by Heidi Fast, and a balloon piece was made by Gaëtan Rusquet. The festival culminated with Mammalian Diving Reflex's "The Children's Choice Awards". 2012 This year the ANTI Festival program worked on the themes of masculine relationship, along with nature and the connection between sexuality and the body as well as the natural state of the human body. For the 11th time, The festival took over public spaces in Kuopio, the Luonnon ANTI program set up a camp on the island of Karhusaari. And a weekend-long artwork and workshop program were organised. 2013 During its twelfth year, the ANTI Festival offered encounters in Kuopio and

. During its twelfth year, the international festival of contemporary art spread to other locations, such as Lapinlahti, Hietasalo island and the smoke sauna in Rauhalahti. In Cruising for Art about 20 Finnish and international artists made over 800 1-to-1 performances around Kuopio. Also the first PechaKucha night in Kuopio was organized during the festival. 2014 Children and teenagers were in the focus of this year's ANTI Festival. The youngest family members nearing adulthood were either the theme or an active part of the production. This year the first ever ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art was awarded. Winner of the first prize was Canadian artist Heather Cassils. 2015 ANTI was running in cooperation with the Kuopio Marathon. The festival started to no longer be an annual event due to the new artistic concept, but it was organised with different partners to coincide with non-artistic events. The themes were much broader and were featuring endurance, fitness, sports and training.

References

External links

ANTI - Contemporary Art Festival -site"New Co-Artistic Director selected for the ANTI Festival". February 5th, 2007.
(pdf) {{DEFAULTSORT:ANTI - Contemporary Art Festival Festivals in Finland Kuopio Festivals established in 2002 Tourist attractions in North Savo 2002 establishments in Finland Street art festivals