A series of conversations with artists and activists across Ireland, Finland and the UK; presented by artist, writer and pleasure activist Ama Josephine Budge
The Pleasurable Ecologies – Formations of Care podcast is a series of conversations with artists and activists across Ireland, Finland and the UK, presented by artist, writer and pleasure activist Ama Josephine Budge as part of her Frame Curatorial Research Fellowship with Frame Contemporary Art Finland and EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art.The four-episode podcast will explore topics of pleasure, care and rest at the intersections of art, activism and ecology. Within these transoceanic localities, the episodes are working to become in and of themselves sites for recuperation, reflection and possibly even healing. All four episodes will be released between autumn 2021 and summer 2022. In this second episode, Ama is joined by Irish journalist, commentator, Gaeilgeoir creator and broadcaster Ola Majekodunmi and Osaro, founder of Fried Plantains Collective a community development project which aims to organise LGBT, feminist and African related social events in Dublin. Together, the three explore the importance of play, pleasure and prioritising the self in Black artistic practice. Sharing experiences both joyful and catastrophic, Ola, Osaro and Ama challenge the bounds of what institutional care can look and feel like across the disciplines of performance, film, visual art and radio, working to build transformative, sustainable and intersectional Black futures in Ireland and beyond. “Because play is so important for me - because it’s just my favourite way of resting, apart from sleeping - it’s got to be a thing where not only the audience are being rested. I as the organiser have to chill the hell out.” – OsaroThe Frame Curatorial Research Fellowship is a four-year programme for contemporary art curators. The programme explores new forms of research that renew curatorial and institutional working habits. It also offers support to develop new curatorial research methods and enliven curatorial research practices embedded in organisational frameworks.The episode is edited by Koumbah Semega-Janneh.
In this first episode, Ama is joined by Cameroonian–Finnish choreographer and artistic director Sonya Lindfors and Helsinki-based art writer, curator of contemporary art, and doctoral researcher in interdisciplinary sustainability sciences Ki Nurmenniemi. Together the three work to build bridges towards rest, dreaming, healing, futuring whilst discussing the challenges, potentials and heartbreaks of being marginalised artists within the European worlds of visual art, academia, literature theatre and dance. “How could I dream from your perspective, understanding that it is not possible? But if we are dreaming, and it is speculative anyway, what if I dream of dreaming from your perspective? What would that future look like?” – Sonya LindforsLength of the episode is 81 minutes. Conversation is in English. Podcast edited and produced by Koumbah Semega-Janneh and Ama Josephine Budge.Ama Josephine Budge (she/her/hers) is a Speculative Writer, Artist, Curator and Pleasure Activist whose work navigates intimate explorations of race, art, ecology and feminism, working to activate movements that catalyse human rights, environmental evolutions and troublesomely queered identities. Ama is a PhD candidate in Psychosocial Studies with Dr Gail Lewis at Birkbeck, University of London. Her research takes a queer, decolonial approach to challenging climate colonialism with a particular focus on inherently environmentalist pleasure practices in Ghana and across the Black diaspora.Sonya Lindfors (she/her/hers) is a Cameroonian-Finnish choreographer and artistic director that also works with facilitating, community organizing and education. In 2013 she received a MA in choreography from the University of the Arts Helsinki. She is the founding member and Artistic Director of UrbanApa, an inter-disciplinary and counter hegemonic arts community that offers a platform for new discourses and feminist art practices.Ki Nurmenniemi (they/them/their) is a Helsinki-based curator of contemporary art, art writer, and doctoral researcher in interdisciplinary sustainability sciences. They have been working in Finland and internationally since 2010, curating transdisciplinary projects around contemporary art and its relations to ecological thinking and (un)sustainable practices. Ki’s field of specialisation is the 21st century ecological art with an emphasis on queer ecologies and posthumanist approaches. Their curatorial practice has been embedded in artist residencies, micro organisations, and multidisciplinary collectives.Frame Contemporary Art Finland’s Frame Curatorial Research Fellowship is a four-year programme for contemporary art curators. The programme explores new forms of research that renew curatorial and institutional working habits. The programme offers support to develop new curatorial research methods and enliven curatorial research practices embedded in organisational frameworks. Programme is supported by the Kone Foundation.
