PS2 Exhibition Documentation

A selection of images from Materialities of History in PS2

The exhibition Materialities of History was on display at PS2, Belfast 11- 26 August 2017. It particularly questioned the representation of history and the role of materiality in this process. In the installation combining different mediums, Ferm addressed these issues by examining the digital archive. In the past two decades, films have been digitised to allow better storage and easier viewing. For the exhibition Ferm created a 16mm film from the digitised footage, reversing the process by reattributing the film back to its original material. Alongside the 16mm film projector, the edited snippets were displayed in a synchronised four channel projection on the gallery’s walls. The exhibition also included a TV screen on which a non-edited selection of films was shown. The projections were accompanied by a limited-edition selection of eight postcards, which revealed the manual cut and tape editing techniques used in the past.   

Ulrika Ferm's artistic practice is based on in-depth research that tackles historical and socio-political topics. She mostly works in photography, installation and in collaborations sometimes containing performance elements. She is also part of the artist collective Platform in Vaasa Finland presenting performance art and producing site and situation specific projects. Apart from founding Platform Ferm also has a broad curatorial and organisational work experience. She has received considerable grants, prices and nominations. In 2002 she won the Young Finnish artist of the year award. Ulrika Ferm has an MA from PALLAS, University of Art and Design Helsinki (1998) and also graduated from Hochschule der Künste, Berlin (2001). Currently (since 2013) she holds a position as Professor of Site and Situation Specific Art at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki. 

Mirjami Schuppert is a Finnish curator based in Belfast. She successfully completed a practice-based PhD in curating in 2016 at Ulster University, Belfast. Her research explored the critical potential of artistic interventions into photographic archives and the curator’s role in this process. The focus of her curatorial practice is commissioning new context and site-specific works. Schuppert is currently a curator in residence at PS² and has curated internationally, including exhibitions ‘World’s End’ (OKK|Raum29, Berlin, 2013), ‘Glimpses of the Unattainable’ (Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, 2014, ‘How to Show?’ exhibition and residency project (Berlin, 2014), Archive Play (Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, 2014) and ‘Anticipated fictions; monumental configurations’ (PS², Belfast, 2017). She has co-edited as well as contributed to art publications. She is a member of Ulster Research Salon, and co-founder of EGFK, European Society for Art and Research.