26 Sep 2013

Erkka Nissinen honoured with the €15,000 Avek Award

ERKKA NISSINEN HONOURED WITH THE €15,000 AVEK AWARD

AVEK, the Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture, has awarded this year's AVEK Award to media artist Erkka Nissinen. The award for media arts, worth €15,000, was given in September at the season opening of AVEK in the Media Centre Lume. This is the tenth time the AVEK Award has been presented.

Erkka Nissinen (born 1975) is known for his performative media art. His pieces defy established genre definitions and share few points of comparison with the history of cinema or media art.

The jury noted that Nissinen's video pieces combine the rhythm of comedy with a narrative mastery of time in a wholly unique way. Nissinen has an unpredictable sense of humour that challenges the viewer's own preconceptions. Many of Nissinen's pieces purposefully walk a fine line between good and bad taste. Macabre situations, excess and an almost autistic repetitiveness challenge the viewer.

In Nissinen's piece Vantaa (2008), high and low culture collide as contemporary composer Arnold Schönberg describes himself as a 'complete moron' and longs for his daily yogurt. In Rigid Regime (2012), a nameless and armless protagonist arrives at a Chinese holiday resort to talk about freedom and 'business coach' the local community.

The justifications for the AVEK award emphasise the fact that in his pieces, Nissinen combines grotesque imagery with elements from educational films and children's programmes, such as endless repetition, singing, animation and purposefully clumsy, carnivalistic expression. The strange characters, often played by Nissinen himself, ultimately turn out to be ordinary people who are just acting in a particularly obsessive manner. 'Even though Nissinen's themes are often topical and political, he is in essence an anarchist, and as such politically incorrect. This is exactly what makes Nissinen a brave artist,' the jury noted.

In recent years, Erkka Nissinen's video pieces have begun to appear more and more often at international film and media festivals and exhibitions. His newest piece, the video and light installation Material Conditions of Inner Spaces, is currently on display at the Amos Anderson Art Museum in Helsinki as part of the Invisible Lady exhibition, which runs from 16 August to 21 October 2013. Erkka Nissinen's pieces are also on display at the Kerava Art Museum as part of the Vilkettä ja tajunnanvirtaa exhibition, which runs from 18 September to 13 October 2013.

Erkka Nissinen lives in Hong Kong and Helsinki. He graduated as a Master of Fine Arts from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts' department of Time and Space Arts in 2001. In addition to this, Nissinen has studied at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London and attended the Rijksakademie Residency in Amsterdam in 2007.

Members of the AVEK Award Jury: chairperson film director Mika Taanila, members: visual artist Veli Gränö, Kiasma Curator Marja Sakari and media artist and AVEK's Media Art Production Consultant Elena Näsänen. The AVEK Board of Directors chose the award winner based on the jury's statement.


PREVIOUS AVEK AWARD RECIPIENTS 2004-2012
Media artist Heidi Tikka (8 September 2004)
Media artist Hanna Haaslahti (6 September 2005)
Media artist Pekka Sassi (7 September 2006)
Artist Adel Abidin (6 September 2007)
Artist Pia Lindman (11 September 2008)
Artist-curator Juha Huuskonen (10 September 2009)
Visual artist Jani Ruscica (9 September 2010)
Visual artists Lea and Pekka Kantonen (8 September 2011)
Artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen (6 September 2012)

The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture (AVEK), which operates in connection with the Finnish copyright organisation Kopiosto, uses its share of copyright remuneration to promote audiovisual culture. The majority of the funds originate from private copying levies, e.g. from blank DVDs and digital video recorders. AVEK funds the cultural exportation and development of different kinds of film genres, the advanced training and further education of the employees and organisations in the audiovisual industry, in addition to festivals and events. AVEK also supports the production of short films and documentaries, animations, and media art. AVEK funds the development of cultural content and cultural entrepreneurship through the Ministry of Education and Culture's DigiDemo and CreaDemo grants.

For further information, please contact:
Juha Samola, General Secretary of AVEK, +358 (0)9 4315 2351, juha.samola(a)avek.kopiosto.fi
Erkka Nissinen, +358 (0)40-7027 559, erkkamies(a)gmail.com


AVEK Media Art Award 2013 / Jury's statement

This is the tenth time the AVEK Award has been awarded. In 2013, it is being awarded to Erkka Nissinen.

Erkka Nissinen's video pieces defy established genre definitions.
They share few points of comparison with the history of cinema or media art.

Nissinen's video pieces combine the rhythm of comedy with a narrative mastery of time in a wholly unique way. Nissinen has an unpredictable sense of humour that challenges the viewer's own preconceptions. Many of Nissinen's pieces purposefully walk a fine line between good and bad taste. Macabre situations, excess, and an almost autistic repetitiveness challenge the viewer. 'Do I really want to watch this?' If the answer is yes, the viewer is rewarded with a cathartic viewing experience. At a quick glance, one might label Nissinen's pieces as jokes due to their naivistic appearance.

High and low culture collide as contemporary composer Arnold Schönberg describes himself as a 'complete moron' and longs for his daily yogurt in Nissinen's piece Vantaa (2008). In Rigid Regime (2012), a nameless and armless protagonist arrives at a Chinese holiday resort to talk about freedom and 'business coach' the local community. The absurd developments and humiliating situations that the protagonists find themselves trapped in are reminiscent of Samuel Beckett's plays, Paul McCarthy's video pieces, and sometimes even the oppressive world of Kalervo Palsa.

In his pieces, Nissinen combines grotesque imagery with elements from educational films and children's programmes, such as endless repetition, singing, animation and purposefully clumsy, carnivalistic expression. The strange characters, often played by Nissinen himself, ultimately turn out to be so-called ordinary people, who are just acting in a particularly obsessive manner.

Even though Erkka Nissinen's themes are often topical and political, he is in essence an anarchist, and as such politically incorrect. This is exactly what makes Nissinen a brave artist.

In recent years, Erkka Nissinen's video pieces have begun to appear more and more often at international film and media festivals and exhibitions. His newest piece, the video and light installation Material Conditions of Inner Spaces, is currently on display at the Amos Anderson Art Museum in Helsinki, as part of the Invisible Lady exhibition, which runs from 16 August to 21 October 2013.