november 25, 2015 - Kiasma

School of Disobedience begins in Kiasma

“The most terrible things in history, genocide, slavery and war, have happened because of obedience.” #janileinonen quotes Howard Zinn.
School of Disobedience in Kiasma is not only a real school, but a metaphor for the entire exhibition, which is also a retro-spective of Jani Leinonen’s work to date. Leinonen has invited famous Finnish opinion leaders and activists to lecture in the school such as Li Andersson, Karri “Paleface” Miettinen, Riku Rantala & Tunna Milonoff, Marjaana Toiviainen and street artist Sampsa.
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Jani Leinonen has used brand characters in many of his works to draw attention to the operative and production methods of global companies and to their marketing strategies. In his imagery brand mascots are teachers, switching over from being marionettes of marketing to activists teaching critical media literacy and civil disobedience.
“There are products for every ideology (...) Products and their brands play an incredibly big part in our lives, that is why they are so interesting to use in art, to appropriate them for art and use them to tell stories that the companies are not telling.” says Leinonen.
Throughout his career, #janileinonen has employed alternative ways of operating as an artist alongside traditional techniques. He organises situations and events that might be described as performative installations, to which he invites people to participate as co-authors and participants.
Kiasma Collections include six works of #janileinonen that are also shown in the exhibition.
Exhibition media partner is Image.
Further information:
Arja Miller, Curator +358 (0)50 336 1980, arja.miller@kiasma.fi
Kiasma Communication:
Piia Laita, Communication Manager, +358 (0)40 590 8805, piia.laita@kiasma.fi Päivi Oja, Press Officer, +358 (0)40 575 1486, paivi.oja@kiasma.fi
Museum of #contemporaryart Kiasma is part of the Finnish National Gallery together with Ateneum Art Museum and Sinebrychoff Art Museum.