Abstract
In my article, I will present as a case study the collection exhibition shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in 2016.[1] The starting point for the exhibition was the metaphor of touch. As a concept, touch is ambivalent: it is more intimate than sight, which has been the traditional metaphor for knowledge in Western thinking. Yet touching is also about grasping or understanding, as in it we are taking hold of something. Our curatorial team, Eija Aarnio, Arja Miller, and myself, was interested in touch early on, because with it the distance to the observed is lost: when touching something we, too, are being touched. To be clear, we did not want to create an exhibition where spectators are actually able to touch. Instead, we were looking at the collections of the museum and searching for artworks that would “touch” us—works that were able get under our skin. While forming the conceptual core of the exhibition, our curatorial team recognized a tension in the way in which “touchy issues,” affects and emotions, are perceived in our society. On the one hand, we were interested in emotions and affects raised by the artworks. We wanted to focus on the immersive dimension of the art that seems to escape verbalization, a dimension that makes use of the multisensory experience and addresses the viewer in a direct manner. On the other hand, we also became aware of how society in general has been taken over by an emotional surge. If previously feelings and emotions were not meant to be shown in public, today they have become commonplace. What was emotional and affective seems no longer to be private, but shared and public.[2] In fact, strong emotions seem to be a prerequisite for success, be it a matter of reality television or politics. This is also connected to the search for extreme emotions and experiences, an aspect we felt needed to be included in the exhibition—not the least because in museums’ competition for audiences, the experience-laden works are often seen as an answer.
Highlights
In my article, I will present as a case study the collection exhibition shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in 2016.1 The starting point for the exhibition was the metaphor of touch
My intention is to demonstrate with the selected artworks aspects that, from my curatorial perspective, are important for the thematics: how the spectator can be touched through multiple senses, which is especially reflected in the works that bring forth different senses and the embodied spectatorship, as well as address the traditional mind-body dualism, and lastly, how the theme is connected to the emotional surge that has taken over the public sphere to the point it becomes normal to speak of emotions of such inanimate things as the market
Seigworth and Melissa Gregg point to the watershed moment that came in 1995, with the publication of Eve Sedgwick and Adam Frank’s essay, “Shame in the Cybernetic Fold,” as well as Brian Massumi’s “The Autonomy of the Affect.”[6]. It is impossible to summarize all of the theoretical discussion influencing the so-called turn.[7]
Summary
I will present as a case study the collection exhibition shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in 2016.1 The starting point for the exhibition was the metaphor of touch. What was emotional and affective seems no longer to be private, but shared and public.[2] strong emotions seem to be a prerequisite for success, be it a matter of reality television or politics This is connected to the search for extreme emotions and experiences, an aspect we felt needed to be included in the exhibition—not the least because in museums' competition for audiences, the experience-laden works are often seen as an answer.[3]. My intention is to demonstrate with the selected artworks aspects that, from my curatorial perspective, are important for the thematics: how the spectator can be touched through multiple senses, which is especially reflected in the works that bring forth different senses and the embodied spectatorship, as well as address the traditional mind-body dualism, and lastly, how the theme is connected to the emotional surge that has taken over the public sphere to the point it becomes normal to speak of emotions of such inanimate things as the market. Prior to presenting the case studies, I will clarify some of the theoretical discussion that influenced the planning process
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