Pelekääkkö nää polliisia?, which opens on Friday 8th of May in the gallery of Photo North – Northern Photographic Centre, poses a rhetorical question with a strong undertone. The maintenance of order and the related resistance or obedience are deeply rooted in the city’s public and cultural spaces and in the collective memory of its residents. On Saturday 9th of May, curator Katie Lenanton and Photo North’s director Darja Zaitsev give a free guided tour to the exhibition starting at 3pm. Welcome!
Through archival images and the stories of photographers, journalists, youth workers and contemporary youth, and with the means of expanded photography, the members of the working group, who all come from outside of Oulu, seek a connection to the history and stories of Oulu. The youth riot that took place in Oulu in August 1990 is the starting point and the way in, the gateway, to the themes of the exhibition. Through the riot, it is possible to deal with disagreement, undermine authority and rebel against those institutional power structures that seek to control people’s movements, practices and thoughts while at the same time presenting themselves as defenders of common European values and promoters of the rule of law.
As the viewer walks through the exhibition, the working group members hope to think together about questions such as: What kind of behavior is tolerated in public space and what practices are acceptable in an art institution? In what ways is peacekeeping used as a justification for maintaining the status quo? Whose peace is actually being maintained? How do discourses related to liberation confuse peace and the maintenance of order?
The working group for the exhibition is Farbod Fakharzadeh, Katie Lenanton, Phan Nguyen, Yujie Zhou and Vinayak.
Read more about the exhibition HERE.