The Royal Standard, Liverpool, 17 July 2015, 14:30 — 17:30
Jaakko Pallasvuo

Once you had a hobby. Hobbies are affordable therapy. Hobbies make survival fun. Hobbies mitigate boredom. Art was a hobby that you enjoyed. Art became a profession, by definition less joyful. Perhaps art became a source of anxiety for you. In Pallasvuo’s workshop participants will handle clay while viewing a video. There will be a discussion about the themes introduced in the  video while the clay gets worked. We can think about what’s fun, what’s unprofessional and what’s worth doing. The unfired clay objects will remain in the space (unless you want to take them somewhere else) and will be destroyed at the end of the show. This will give the participants a chance to practice anonymity and letting-go. All feels welcome.

The project comes as part residency, part research, and part public programme, bringing in international artists to form “emotional alliances and collective strategies” to counter the compromising social and economic pressures of the modern art world and create a shared space for exchange and support.

Pallasvuo will be hosting a workshop teaching participants to handle clay while viewing a video, accompanied by a discussion about art, about hobbies, and about “what’s fun, what’s unprofessional and what’s worth doing”. Joining him to participate in the project are a handful of other artists, including Erica Scourti and Marleen Boschen.