First International Festival of Manuports

Kohta, a privately initiated kunsthalle in Finland’s capital Helsinki, invites artists from all over the world to submit artworks for an experimental international group exhibition scheduled to open on August 17, 2021.

First International Festival of Manuports wants to address, at the same time, an abruptly changed planetary reality (life under pandemic conditions, the suspension of foreign travel) and a longer-term need to rethink the international art circuit (especially the continued growth of curated mega-events). Already before last winter there was widespread unease with the unsustainable ways of the globalized art world, with many of its actors wishing for a “back to basics” approach that wouldn’t make the incoming twenties boring—because they should be roaring.

“Manuport” is the archaeological and anthropological term for “a natural object, especially a stone, that has been carried and deposited somewhere by humans but has not been artificially shaped.” The oldest such object known to us is the so-called Makapansgat pebble, a piece of jasperite measuring 8.3 centimeters across and weighing 260 grams. It was found, together with remains of the oldest relatives of humankind, in the Makapansgat cave in South Africa in 1925.

What makes the pebble so interesting (apart from its clear resemblance to a face and the doubt as to whether its shape has been enhanced) is that the cave is four kilometers away from the nearest natural source of jasperite and that the bones of the Australopithecus africanus are three million years old. This and other prehistoric manuports, usually invoking animals or human body parts, are interpreted as indications that even these early ancestors were capable of non-utilitarian cognition, aesthetic appreciation and possibly language.

The ancient “readymade” moved from its place of origin through humanoid agency constitutes proof (of a kind) that image-thinking is almost unimaginably old. How can we, meeting today’s challenges, use this insight to push for a new understanding of art? Kohta proposes a collective exercise in “futuring” the most ancient of artistic genres, older than the cave paintings. We want to see how artists all over the world reimagine the format of the hand-held three-dimensional image-object.

We also want to revive the artistic internationalism of some four or five or six decades ago. Back then artists didn’t travel so widely—either because they didn’t have the means or because they were living under systems restricting their free movement and speech. Yet there were international festivals (such as the pan-African FESTAC in Dakar in 1966 and Lagos in 1977) and solidarity actions (such as the International Art Exhibition for Palestine in 1978). And there was the mail art movement: artist-initiated, boundary-crossing by its very nature, with important contributions from both “centers” and “peripheries.”

Artists in all countries, send us your manuports in the mail! We promise to exhibit all works received, and to name their authors in our communication about and documentation of the exhibition, provided your manuports meet these basic requirements: They mustn’t be bigger or heavier than the Makapansgat pebble. They mustn’t have features that violate Finnish laws against hate speech and discrimination. The postage must be paid by the sender. Your package must have arrived in Helsinki no later than July 15, 2021.

By setting such minimal rules, we leave everything else to those who wish to participate. We will provide an attractive and intriguing setting for the submitted manuports, with murals and other works by the artists Oscar Chan Yik Long (Hong Kong/France, 1988) and Pavel Mikushev (Republic of Komi, Russian Federation, 1962). “We” are Kohta’s two employees, Director Anders Kreuger (Sweden, 1965) and Gallery Manager Mia Dillemuth (Finland, 1979), assisted in this project by the contributing curator Sona Stepanyan (Armenia, 1987).

One more thing. We hope to receive many submissions, so that First International Festival of Manuports, in addition to proving that a new, back-to-basics artistic internationalism is possible will also demonstrate the value of inclusive open-ended curatorial methods, in this case the open call. Therefore we can’t promise to return the submitted works, unless their authors have made special provisions for us to do so.

Logistical information:
Shipping address: Kunsthalle Kohta, Työpajankatu 2 B, Building 7, 3rd Floor, 00580 Helsinki, Finland
Contact: sona.stepanyan [​at​] kohta.fi