BETWEEN HAPPINESS & DESPAIR

Denmark and Finland are both home to a strange paradox. For several years, both countries have been named "the happiest countries in the world" by the UN's annual World Happiness Report. At the same time, both countries have a high percentage of citizens suffering from depression and anxiety compared to the EU average.

Both countries therefore belong in the rare category; "the happiest, most depressed countries in the world".

Between happiness & despair a project sponsored by Erasmus+ that seeks to explore how artists and the arts can help support happiness and mental well-being among people in Denmark and Finland.

This is a program for the artist, who wants to learn about working with happiness and mental well-being in their artistic practice.

Kunsthal NORD and Art House Turku invites 8 artists, 4 from Denmark and 4 from Finland, to become part of a 5-day long refuge. Here they will be taught and instructed by established artists, participate in creative workshops, exchange experiences with the end goal being development of their own artistic approach to the topics of happiness and mental well-being.

As part of the project, the artists will also be asked to create a participatory art event where they engage an audience in the topic of happiness and mental well-being. In Denmark, this is in collaboration with Centre for Mental Health in Aalborg Municipality.

Finally, the documentation of the process and the 8 art events, will be exhibited in both Denmark (Kunsthal NORD) and Finland (Art House Turku).

 

THE LECTURERS ARE:

Marit Benthe Norheim - Visual artist

Pia Skogberg - Visual artist

Inga Gerner Nielsen - Performance artist

 

THE PARTICIPATING ARTISTS ARE:

DENMARK:

Nina Rose Markvardsen - Multidisciplinary artist

Birgitte Lundtoft - Dancer and choreographer

Ric Raphael Nitsch - Sound artist

Mia-Maija Kauppinen - Multimedia artist

 

FINLAND:

Nina Rantala - Visual artist and sculptor

Eka Teriina Vea Kosonen - Visual artist and community artist

Marja Kangas - Author and theatre/writing teacher

Matilda Palmu - Visual artist and designer

 

Project manager is Lasse Fischer: lasse.fischer@aalborg.dk

 

Documentation, evaluation and research articles will be produced in collaboration with Julia Zhukova Klausen, Ph.D. and Associate Professor at Department of Culture and Learning, The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Aalborg University.