Mika Elo
What thinking calls?
Galleria Huuto Jätkäsaari – Pikkujätkä
14.2.-2.3.2013
The starting point of the video “Mitä ajattelu kutsuu?” [What thinking calls?, 2014] is Martin Heidegger’s famous radio essay “Was heißt Denken?” [What is Called Thinking?] (1952), where the philosopher ponders the relation between the human being and thinking. The video mimicks, comments, deconstructs and challenges Heidegger’s essay. On the soundtrack one can hear extracts of the essay translated by Elo in Finnish. The visual language of the video, in turn, edges the pondering out of its focus by turning itself towards a series of questions deriving from the margins and lacunae of the essay. Such themes are for example the questions concerning the relation between the human being and the animal and the corporeality of thinking. In its own peculiar way, the video is a call for thinking – and an invitation to discussion. The duration of the video is 7 minutes.
On Sunday 16 February at 2-4pm Elo organizes in the gallery space a panel discussion entitled “Thinking in the midst of everything…”. His guests are philosopher Miika Luoto and perfomance artist Lauri Kontula from Other Spaces performance collective. The language of the event is Finnish.
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Mika Elo (b. 1966) is an artist-researcher currently working as researcher in visual culture at Aalto University, Helsinki. Both his artistic work and research focus on philosophical question related to photographic media and artistic research. He is participating in discussions in these areas in the capacity of curator, visual artist and researcher, most recently as a member of the curatorial team of the Finnish exhibition Falling Trees at the Biennale Arte 2013 in Venice.
