Tomasz Szrama: Forward!
Saturday 4.9. 15:00
Moving performance outdoors
Starting point: Front of Radisson Blu Marina Palace, Läntinen rantakatu
Musicians: Antti Saarinen (drums) and Topi Laitinen (saxophone)
Open for everyone!
We highly recommend that the audience wears a mask in all our events.
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Forward!
This is my personal parade celebrating the experience of half a century.
The year 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of my arrival in Finland, which is exactly half my life.
All in all I have not lost hope. I believe that with my artistic output, I will survive any political system or natural disaster.
But I still aspire to much more.
Tomasz Szrama (b. 1970 in Poland) graduated in 1998 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland. Currently he lives in Helsinki, Finland. Szrama shifts between multiple disciplines, including photography, video and other time-based works. Regardless of the medium, a dominant thread, common in his work is the use of his own body and methods of performance art, which he has practiced since 1995. Characteristic features of his actions are the use of spectators and improvisation. Such a strategy embeds his presentations into the tradition of understanding performance art as a process art, where the very moment of creation is essential. His work touches on themes of travel, trust in interpersonal relationships, and the ever present potential for personal failure. Szrama has been regularly performing internationally in various events and festivals in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America.
Between 2008 and 2017 Szrama has worked as a producer, designer, technical manager and has been responsible for organising live art events at HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme. Further, over the past 15 years, he has been an active performance art event organiser. Currently he also gives lectures and offers workshops.
Szrama is a working grant recipient from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland for the year 2016 as well as the years 2018–2020 and from the Kone Foundation for 2017.