It is the artist’s job to look at what is ahead.
Radical empathy and functional philosophy in participatory art.
Multidiscplinary artist Meiju Niskala lives and works in Finland. She is known for her talks, literature and participatorial art pieces built in public spaces. Over the 20 years career her artpieces has been participated over 150 000 people.
Selma Vilhunen, Oscar–nominated movie director:
Meiju Niskala is completely exceptional in her multidisciplinary nature and thinking. Her works come to life in contact with her audience, when the viewer or experiencer, almost unnoticed, has begun to think about environment or his/her own life from a new perspective. In this way, the experiencer has become a factor. The work has given rise to a dialogue between the community that is revolutionizing and renewing the world of each of its members. Works have a strengthening effect on democracy and equality
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Participatory
Niskala’s philosophy and practice is built on a dialogue of courage, inclusion and play. The works are characterized by reaching a wide range of people through many different means, such as performances, books and radio programs. She is known for large-scale and collective interventions and happenings in public space with thousands of participants. All together, there has been over 150 000 participants on her works.
Teaching and talking
Niskala has been lecturing and teaching live art, site spesific art and participatory art from the year 1999 in all main art departments in Finnish Colleges and Universities. She is also a well-know radio- and tv -person and inspiring key note speaker.
Literature
Meiju Niskala has published 9 books.
In her work books are not containers for sentences, but objects that spread out also as performances and interactive websites.
Niskala’s books have won several prizes, like The Most Beautiful Book Of The Year -prize, Kodiksamia-prize, Mondo-prize and has been nominated for the Runeberg-prize.
Niskala leads a network organization called Meiju Niskala & People. Collaborators include renowned artists and visionaries of various disciplines. Artistic work vary from encounters, interactions and from the large-scale to working with small groups.
Public space
Niskala’s practice raise up from locations infecting and redirecting not only the space, but also people using that space. They provides conversation about human mind, species, cognitive behavior and cognitive neurology. Using space and objects, including people and they habits at the space, she gently re-organazes them in order to suggest new things to see, experience and negotiate.
Multidiscplinary
In her work she combines equally text, performing and visual art. She is known for large-scale and collective interventions and happenings in public space with thousands of participants. She uses art to investigate human minds and cognitive experience of world.
Empathy
Niskala’s ability is to touch all kinds of people from different backrounds. She calls her practice as Radical Emphaty. She is a storyteller and activist who uses social language in order to investigate community resistance and trauma and poverty.
Contact us.
If you are interested in the work of Meiju Niskala, please let us know. Niskala is well know for scaling her works in different environments.
Management & Production
Outi Järvinen, CEO
Arts Management Helsinki
outi@artsmanagement.fi
artsmanagement.fi
Ideas & Feedback
Literatury Rights
WSOY / Bonnier Rights