Kalle Hamm & Dzamil Kamanger 28.11. - 20.12.2009
There was a label hanging around Paddington Bear’s neck bearing the words:”Please Look After This Bear. Thank You.” Mr and Mrs Brown found the bear at the Paddington railway station and took him home. This scene speaks of an encounter with the unknown as well as empathy. Is this sort of kindness nowadays only encountered in stories or can it be found in everyday metropolitan life? The Empathy Barometer exposes passers-by to art and to an opportunity to empathy.
Empathy Barometer is an intervention produced in urban surroundings by Kalle Hamm and Dzamil Kamanger, who made 50 statuettes for it and placed these statuettes in different locations around Helsinki during summer 2009. Each statuette had a stamped postcard hanging around their neck, which encouraged the founder of the statuette to take it home with them and send the card to the artists.
Kalle Hamm and Dzamil Kamanger made follow-up visits to the statuettes during one week. If the statuette was not picked up during that time, they took the statuette and placed it as a part of the documentation of the intervention. This documentation consists of photos taken from the follow-up visits, observation forms, unfound statuettes and other material they came across during their visits to the statuettes. 39 of the 50 statuettes placed around the city were found by someone. 27 of these statuette-founders send the card to the artists. Six of them also send an email and five out of the six attached a picture of the statuette in its new location.
The exhibition also presents a new series of drawings by Kalle Hamm. The drawings are based on the statuettes of the intervention.
Artists Kalle Hamm (b. 1969) and Iranian born Dzamil Kamanger (b.1948) have worked together for almost ten years producing community-based art projects and exhibitions related to them. This year their work has been on show in the recently closed 80th Anniversary exhibition of Kunsthalle Helsinki named Borders and Beyond and in Kiasma’s group exhibition (Un)naturally. Kalle Hamm has studied visual arts in The Lahti Art Institute and got his MA from the University of Industrial Arts in 2002. Dzamil Kamanger, who is originally a ceramist, has studied art in his native country Iran.
Empathy Barometer, 2009 |
Empathy Barometer, 2009 |
|
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 3, 2009 |
|
|
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 6, 2009 |
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 13, 2009 |
|
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 16, 2009 |
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 18, 2009 |
|
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 19, 2009 |
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 22, 2009 |
|
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 24, 2009 |
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 27, 2009 |
|
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 29, 2009 |
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 34, 2009 |
|
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 35, 2009 |
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 36, 2009 |
|
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 37, 2009 |
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 38, 2009 |
|
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 41, 2009 |
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 48, 2009 |
|
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 49, 2009 |
Empathy Barometer, Statuette no 50, 2009 |
|
Figure 9 from series Empathy Barometer, 2009 |
Figure 10 from series Empathy Barometer, 2009 |
|
Figure 19 from series Empathy Barometer, 2009 |
Figure 20 from series Empathy Barometer, 2009 |
|
Figure 42 from series Empathy Barometer, 2009 |
Figure 49 from series Empathy Barometer, 2009 |
|
Figure 9 from series Empathy Barometer, 2009 |
Figure 9 from series Empathy Barometer, 2009
|
