Normileikki

• Main Author: Huhmarniemi, Maria Eliisa
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Lapin yliopisto taiteiden tiedekunta 2018
• Subjects: /dk/atira/pure/person/fieldofscience2010/6/13/2; Visual arts and design; Arctic; Lapland
• Online Access: https://research.ulapland.fi/fi/publications/2680bb76-7c7c-496b-8f49-f5ed6af1f526

Normplay is a multifaceted theme involving, among other things, playing with communal and social norms. On the other hand, in informal Finnish language, the word norm means normal. This theme of normplay has led the artists to work with norms, but also with children and how they play. Some of the methods used are quite playful, too. Normplay is based on two courses given at the University of Lapland: ‘Advanced Arts Production in Art Education’ and ‘Advanced Arts Production in Arctic Art and Design’. The first is taught to final year students who are graduating as art teachers, and the second is an optional course in the Arctic Art and Design Masters programme. Both courses lasted the duration of the academic year, giving students the opportunity to deepen, expand and diversify their artistic expression. The participants have constructed their artists’ identity around being art teachers and designers. The courses focused on methods of producing contemporary art. Art intervention is one of the methods that the artists have been encouraged to try. An art intervention means an interaction with an existing structure or situation. Helena Sederholm defines intervention as follows: ‘Interventions are usually small gestures: a small sign somewhere, a piece of knitting, graffiti art or a tree planter put in a place where it would grow in everyone’s path. Intervention happens often coincidentally and are not always understood as art.’ This exhibition included art interventions involving children’s play, people’s encounters and gender roles. Many of the works have a humorous aspect. Arctic Art and Design students have carried out interventions in Northern communities as part of their studies. The artworks present the results of their projects and their experiences in Lapland. The artworks represent ‘sense of place’.