News

We’re pleased to introduce Catalysti’s new board members, who were elected in May’s Annual Meeting for the coming term. The board works in dialogue with the Co-Artistic Directors to support, dream, and strategise about Catalysti’s future activities. Feel free to reach out to board members and cc- if you sense synergies in thinking, or if ideas for collaborations are sparking. 

Meet the board members:

Οlga Spyropoulou (Chair)

https://ospyropo.wixsite.com/portfolio

IG: olga_spyropoulou

Performance artist and writer

Οlga Spyropoulou (she/her) is a performance artist and writer who works to advocate for long-term, sustainable, and ethical artistic collaborations and labour practices in the Finnish Live Art scene. She’s been a Catalysti board member since 2021. Commitment, trust, and accountability are crucial elements in her performances, which also take into consideration vulnerability, and the indeterminacy of collective processes. Her ongoing research examines how legal contracts operate as a commitment that originates from distrust, and a form to bring people together both in private and institutional contexts. She holds an MA in Theatre Studies and has studied the MA in Live Art and Performance Studies program at UniArts Helsinki.

Olga says, “I am really excited with the new shape that Catalysti is taking with the addition of our new artistic directors, and looking forward to the platform’s future”.

Chih-Tung Lin (Vice-Chair) 

https://www.chihtunglin.com/

IG: wendylasts

Curator and artist

Chih-Tung Lin (she/they) is a curator and artist, and Co-Artistic Director of Catalysti (2022-23).  Chih-Tung graduated from the Praxis Exhibition Studies MA at University of the Arts Helsinki in 2021. They curate, do performance art, and make illustrations, but mostly their practice lies between these mediums. They often deal with social relations, roles, and play in their works. In joining the board, they wish to share their learnings and reflections on the previous years’ Co-Artistic Director work, and contribute to the long-term development of the organisation. 

Aman Askarizad (Treasurer)

https://amanaskarizad.space

IG: aman.askarizad

Visual artist, photographer, and producer

Aman Askarizad (he/him) is a visual artist, photographer, and producer based in Vantaa. As a multidisciplinary artist, he is interested in using different media to create works, situations, and conversations that unravel power dynamics and highlight the ethics of encountering others. His research focuses on the politics of representation in art and music. He is motivated to explore the possibilities within art circles to promote inclusivity and collaborative efforts. As a new board member, he’s driven to promote inclusivity and tackle challenges posed by power dynamics and hierarchies through open dialogue and collective problem-solving.

Dahlia El Broul (Vice-Member)

www.dahliabroul.com

IG: dee.fishes

Visual artist and curator

Dahlia El Broul (she/her) is a visual artist working at the intersection of curating, education, production, and illustration. She’s pursuing doctoral studies at HFBK (the Fine Art University of Hamburg), and has been a Catalysti board member since 2019, and the Chair from 2020-2023. Before completing her MA in Curating, Mediating, and Managing Art at Aalto University, Dahlia worked in New York City for more than eight years as a children’s book illustrator, independent curator, and educator. She’s worked for the educational department in Documenta 14 in Kassel, and as a Programmes Officer for Frame Contemporary Art Finland. She has experience managing and facilitating creative teams in exhibition, publication, and event production contexts in institutions such as EMMA and HIAP. 

Yunjia Liu (Vice-Member)

http://yunjialiuguitarist.com

IG: j.hermit.yunjia.liu.guitarist

Guitarist, composer, singer, and producer

Yunjia Liu (she/her) uses the stage name J. Hermit, and is a guitarist, composer, singer, and producer with a deep love and strong passion for many styles of music. Her work is influenced by philosophical ideas related to minimalism, Taoism, and yin-yang, and her compositions draw inspiration from nature. She also works on multidisciplinary projects in the fields of theatre, dance, painting, and poetry. She has a BA of Music (Classical Guitar) from the University of Melbourne, and an MA of Music (Guitar Soloist and Composition) at University of Music Detmold. As a new board member, she’s interested in multidisciplinary collaborations, and pursuing music-scene opportunities for the association. 

Nadja Pärssinen (Vice-Member)

https://npflowwow.com

IG: flowwowproductions

Choreographer and dancer

Nadja Pärssinen (she/her) is a choreographer, dancer and movement teacher based in Southern Finland. Her works often involve dialogue between movement and music, interdisciplinary art forms, and linguistics. Her choreographic thinking is inspired by contact and compositional thinking, task and process orientations, lightness, playfulness and stepping towards the edge of the unknown. She is an initiator of the FlowWowProductions platform, and has been a Catalysti board member since 2019, and the Treasurer from 2022-2023.

Image details, from top left clockwise: Olga, Chih-Tung, Aman, Yunjia, Dahlia, and Nadja
Images courtesy of Veikko Kähkönen / Uniarts Helsinki; Noora Lehtovuori; Aman Askarizad; Helka Miettunen; Katrin Kawinkel; and Nadja Pärssinen.

We are pleased to announce our newly appointed Artistic Co-Director team, who will collaborate with members and key stakeholders until March 2024.

Katie Lenanton and Paola Nieto will share the responsibilities of overseeing Catalysti’s 2023 exhibition, workshops, operations, administrative tasks, and other programming for one year, as part of the developmental project Catalysti 2.0 (2022-2024), funded by Kone Foundation. The board of Catalysti wished for one of the directors to have experience working within the organisation, and for a partner director to bring a fresh take to the association’s activities.

Learn more about Katie and Paola:

Katie Lenanton (she/her) has an MA in Curating, Mediating, and Managing Art from Aalto University. Since 2008 she has worked within, outside of, and counter to institutions in Australia and Finland, aiming to understand, corrupt, and change their ways of working. She strives to practise curatorial responsibility, and improve curatorial ethics. She is a co-founder of Feminist Culture House, a non-profit association that works with and for underrepresented artists.

She was selected via an open-call application. The final decision was made by an independent jury of Catalysti members: David Flood, Jan Lütjohann, Jane Hughes, Tea Andreoletti and Yunjia Liu.

Paola Nieto (she/her) is a cultural manager and performing artist with an MA in Arts Management, Society, and Creative Entrepreneurship from the Sibelius Academy. She is experienced in artist management and event production in the music and performing arts fields, and has an interest in further studying decolonial practices in cultural management. Her artistic practice is in ethno-contemporary dance and is mostly carried out in collective settings. 

For a smoother transition to the directorship team, she was directly chosen by Catalysti’s current board given her experience as a cultural manager and board member. 

We are looking forward to working with the new co-directors and boosting Catalysti’s vision and reach in the coming year!

We are pleased to announce the appointment of our member, Elham Rahmati, as Curator for Catalysti’s annual exhibition which will be held in Helsinki Finland in October 2022. The exhibition showcasing the work of Catalysti’s artists and beyond will be held at Energiasali at the Tekniikan Museo this year. More info coming soon.

Elham Rahmati (b. 1989, Tehran) is a visual artist and curator based in Helsinki. Currently, she works as the co-founder and co-editor of NO NIIN, an independent online monthly magazine at the cusp of art, criticality and love. In 2019 and 2020, she worked as the curator and producer of the Academy of Moving People & Images (AMPI). Prior to that, she worked as a curator & coordinator at Third Space. Elham holds an MA in Visual Arts from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze and an MA in Visual Culture, Curating & Contemporary Art from Aalto University.

We’re looking forward to working with the new co-directors in boosting Catalysti’s vision and reach in the coming year!

Catalysti is pleased to announce its inaugural artistic director team. Chih Tung Lin and Farbod Fakharzadeh will be sharing the responsibilities for the oversight of Catalysti’s operations, administrative tasks, and the realisation and development of our programming for one year starting March 2022, under the developmental project Catalysti 2.0 (2022-2024). The board of Catalysti wanted one of the directors to have experience working within the organisation, and we also wanted the partner director to have a fresh take on the association’s activities.

Farbod Fakharzadeh is an artist, curator and researcher based in Helsinki. His work deals with concepts of ecology, memory-work and history-politics, and revolves around notions of collective construction and alternative ways of working and dreaming together. He holds a Master’s degree in Visual Culture, Curating, and Contemporary Art from Aalto University. He was directly chosen by Catalysti’s current board members because of his experience as a curator and a board member for a smoother transition to the directorship team. 

Chih-Tung Lin is an artist and curator, originally from Taiwan and based in Helsinki. Lin’s work combines curating, performance art, and illustration, and involves constant discussions of topics related to communication, social relations, and play. They earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Praxis Exhibition Studies program at the University of the Arts Helsinki. Lin was selected via an open call application. The final decision was made by an independent jury of Catalysti members; Roberto Fusco, Elena Howlader, Ali Akbar Mehta, Anna Ruth, and Shubhangi Singh.

“I am so excited to work with Chih Tung and Farbod, whose diverse practices are a welcomed addition to the Directorship! Catalysti’s work has always been about challenging habits and conventions through art. Throughout our tenure, we have worked both on a structural and symbolic level to prioritise and centre eager and skilled practitioners often undervalued by privileged institutions. Our choices for the artistic directorships align with our deepest concerns over a society that continually manufactures precarity.”

~Dahlia El Broul, 

Chair of the Board

The Catalysti 2.0 (2022-2024) developmental project is kindly funded by the Kone Foundation