Last week on a windy Helsinki Friday a group of Finnish mediators participated in “Queer+Crip” workshop and discussion at the Finnish Museum of Photography. Queer+Creep workshop is run and facilitated by art educators Jemina Lindholm and Kaura Raudaskoski who are particularly interested in phenomena related to queer feminism and critical disability studies. The discussion took place in the context of Festival of Political Photography 2021: Bird’s-Eye View which reflects on the capacity of humans to imagine the perspective of birds and to understand the world in an alternate way through that lens.
Wandering the exhibition hall and discussing the images, the team of mediators was invited to challenge the normative perceptions of the world and society. What is posthumanism? Why should we decentralize us as humans and rethink the agency? How posthumanism thinking is related to queer feminism? Do physical and mental abilities define who falls within the category of human? What parallels exist between the relations of the so-called “normal” people to nature and discrimination of people based on their abilities (ableism), or gender identity? Why should we be mindful of the different gazes we all have? These are just some of the questions that were raised and discussed during the workshop.
Central for the mini-vocabulary prepared for the workshop by the art educators is a concept of expert by experience which is also a central for MeM project.
Apart from the meaningful and though-provoking discussion, Jemina and Kaura also shared some valuable tips related to mediating. Here are some of the participants’ feedback:
💬 «Queer+Crip was one of the best mediation experiences in my life. Surprisingly, the exhibition itself did not occupy the central role as it is often the case when visiting galleries, museums and exhibitions. It served a different purpose: it guided us, was a key to our discussion and own contemplation of ethically complex, difficult, and controversial topics. Mediation encouraged and supported me in understanding my own ethical values and principles. Can we ever get rid of the concept of lesser evil when while given a choice between the two evils, we will magically choose good?»
💬 «I tried to translate the name of the exhibition into Russian and realized that the language does not allow me to say that the photographs, which have given the name to the exhibition, were taken not from a bird’s eye view by a human, but by birds. The agents here are the birds. Such new forms of conversation as a gallery talk make it possible to locate constraining structures where it was difficult to suspect them. This is a fascinating process, as it is liberating, but as a result you realize what a tremendous amount of work we have to do.»
💬 «How to talk about queer and people with disabilities on exhibition about birds? After this workshop it seems pretty obvious and simple. The discussion has showed me larger perspective on various topics such as posthumanism, decentralization, normativity – honestly, I would probably never think that deep about the exhibition if I would be there just to visit by myself. It was also a pleasure to see the work of two facilitators, that was so smooth and organic – I realized how important it is to have not one but actually two mediators in the same group for more open and safer space for everyone.»
💬 «At the workshop, complex and important topics were raised that we do not often discuss in everyday life.Moreover, the modern society still has strong requirements for the prevailing “norms”. But that is precisely why it is very cool that such topics are brought up for open discussion, although these discussions are not always easy. However, the trusting atmosphere of the workshop and the museum space itself helped to make this event as comfortable as possible, definitely changing understanding and leading to further reflections.»
💬 «I was impressed and inspired by our trip to Kaapelitehdas and workshop with Jemina Lindholm and Kaura Raudaskoski. It gave me some food for thoughts and reflectioning our everyday life. Also it was very rare and pleasant experience in coronavirus time, that gave me some vision on what mediation looks like.»
This event is a part of the educational program.