The artist collective Mechanics of Conformity-MOC is a group of four women, representing diverse backgrounds; Rosamaría Bolom, Edwina Goldstone, Sepideh Raaha & Arlene Tucker. Since 2017, MOC has been using hair as a starting point for open discussion events around how we, as humans, conform or do not conform to social norms. Speaking from deeply personal experiences we strive to create a safer and non-judgemental space to investigate concepts of human relationships, perceptions, identity, liberation, representation and otherness. Our working languages are Persian, Spanish, Mandarin, English and Finnish.
Rosamaría Bolom (1977, Mexico). Psychologist, artist and cultural promoter living in Helsinki. Since 2009 she has been working with culture & art projects. In psychology she is interested in the otherness, subjectivity, human relations and symbolic language. As an artist Rosamaría is convinced that the universal language comes from the soul and is the best weapon to combat misunderstanding, prejudices, racism, ignorance, fear and other contemporary ills. From 2013 she have involved at Third Space Collective as co-founder, and member. This year Rosamaría is part of “La Colectiva”, project that addresses the transfiguration of Latin american identity through experimental poetry and also, she is working an exhibition for children, youths and adults about children rights "Art for children and the Society". Read more here.
Edwina Goldstone (1962. England) is a visual artist working across multiple disciplines, based in Finland since 1994. Through her work she explores the relationships between identity, memory and the geographical imagination, often starting with an archetypal image or object, to explore ideas bound up with memory and cultural recognition. The questions of how we live and particularly how we observe our living are consistent preoccupations. In this it is perhaps in the small gestures of living, in the 'everyday' and in what too easily goes unobserved in the haste of living. Goldstone is interested in creating something sincere and emotionally resonant – even though the artwork might be largely based on the second-hand experience of cultural phenomena. The works involve layering of alternate realities, made up from ‘the imagined’ (the handmade), ‘the real’, and ‘the historical’. Goldstone’s work is known for the use of found objects in her work that are imbued with personal histories and cultural significance.. Read more here.
Sepideh Rahaa (1981, Iran) is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher based in Helsinki. Through her practice she questions social norms and conventions while focusing on womanhood and resistance, migration, body and representation. She aims to initiate methods within contemporary art to bridge from individual perception to the social perception by creating spaces for dialogue. Body and its performative presence through time and space are significant elements of her works where she combines memory, sense of belonging and personal narrations of everyday life together. Currently she pursues her doctoral studies in Contemporary Art at Aalto University investigating concept of identity and its transformation and hybridity with a critical and analytic view on representation and image production. She holds a BA in painting and visual arts, MA in art and research from Shahed University in Tehran and a second MA in Fine Arts and contemporary art at Aalto University. Her works including her videos have been exhibited and screened in Europe, Asia and West Asia (so-called Middle East); Iran, Taiwan, UK, Spain, France, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Germany (Berlin) and Finland. Read more here.
Arlene Tucker (1980, Taiwan) is a visual artist and educator interested in adding play elements to daily life through her art. Inspired by translation studies, animals and nature, she finds ways to connect and make meaning in our shared environments. Often process-based, her artistic work creates spaces and situations for exchange, dialogue, and transformations to occur and surprise all players and participants. In particular, capturing ways to tell what one has not said is a current topic of exploration. Tucker has a BFA from the Savannah College of Art & Design in USA and a MA in Semiotics from Tartu University in Estonia. Her chapter, Translation is Dialogue: Language in Transit was published in Translating across Sensory and Linguistic Borders: Intersemiotic Journeys between Media (Editors: Campbell, Madeleine, Vidal, Ricarda, 2019). While her works have traveled to numerous parts of Europe, North America, and Asia, she has been living in Helsinki, Finland since 2011. Read more here.
Edwina Goldstone (1962. England) is a visual artist working across multiple disciplines, based in Finland since 1994. Through her work she explores the relationships between identity, memory and the geographical imagination, often starting with an archetypal image or object, to explore ideas bound up with memory and cultural recognition. The questions of how we live and particularly how we observe our living are consistent preoccupations. In this it is perhaps in the small gestures of living, in the 'everyday' and in what too easily goes unobserved in the haste of living. Goldstone is interested in creating something sincere and emotionally resonant – even though the artwork might be largely based on the second-hand experience of cultural phenomena. The works involve layering of alternate realities, made up from ‘the imagined’ (the handmade), ‘the real’, and ‘the historical’. Goldstone’s work is known for the use of found objects in her work that are imbued with personal histories and cultural significance.. Read more here.
Sepideh Rahaa (1981, Iran) is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher based in Helsinki. Through her practice she questions social norms and conventions while focusing on womanhood and resistance, migration, body and representation. She aims to initiate methods within contemporary art to bridge from individual perception to the social perception by creating spaces for dialogue. Body and its performative presence through time and space are significant elements of her works where she combines memory, sense of belonging and personal narrations of everyday life together. Currently she pursues her doctoral studies in Contemporary Art at Aalto University investigating concept of identity and its transformation and hybridity with a critical and analytic view on representation and image production. She holds a BA in painting and visual arts, MA in art and research from Shahed University in Tehran and a second MA in Fine Arts and contemporary art at Aalto University. Her works including her videos have been exhibited and screened in Europe, Asia and West Asia (so-called Middle East); Iran, Taiwan, UK, Spain, France, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Germany (Berlin) and Finland. Read more here.
Arlene Tucker (1980, Taiwan) is a visual artist and educator interested in adding play elements to daily life through her art. Inspired by translation studies, animals and nature, she finds ways to connect and make meaning in our shared environments. Often process-based, her artistic work creates spaces and situations for exchange, dialogue, and transformations to occur and surprise all players and participants. In particular, capturing ways to tell what one has not said is a current topic of exploration. Tucker has a BFA from the Savannah College of Art & Design in USA and a MA in Semiotics from Tartu University in Estonia. Her chapter, Translation is Dialogue: Language in Transit was published in Translating across Sensory and Linguistic Borders: Intersemiotic Journeys between Media (Editors: Campbell, Madeleine, Vidal, Ricarda, 2019). While her works have traveled to numerous parts of Europe, North America, and Asia, she has been living in Helsinki, Finland since 2011. Read more here.
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