The “Hands on!” workshop, held at the Agder Theatre Laboratory in Norway from July 28 to August 11, 2024, was dedicated to hands and manual practices. The workshop was led by Professor Pauliina Hulkko and is part of her ongoing artistic research at Tampere University.
“We invited artists from various fields to explore together the ways and meanings hands offer: How do we use them, connect through them, interact with them, create through them – and how do hands use us? We examined hands and handiwork in relation to artistic, everyday, and communal practices, asking how we use our hands in both artistic and daily life. How might we, through artistic practice, enhance the beauty and joy hidden in the sensory experiences of hands and touch?”
The workshop wasn’t merely about technical handiwork; it also offered a profound opportunity to reflect on the significance of hands in relation to broader societal and cultural phenomena. Pauliina Hulkko guided participants in exploring how hands connect us to the material world.
“Over the two weeks, we investigated different aspects of handedness in relation to the participants’ artistic work. Additionally, we explored and learned manual skills, such as embroidery, which is historically significant in the Arendal area,” Hulkko summarizes. Her workshop highlighted how handiwork can be both an art form and a way to understand the world and ourselves more deeply.
Agder Theatre Laboratory hosts an annual two-week thematic workshop where Nordic artists from various fields gather to explore artistic work. The 2024 workshop was led by Pauliina Hulkko, whose proposal to focus on the exploration of hands in manual practices became the chosen theme. The laboratory serves as an important platform for collective work, emphasizing communal learning and interaction.
Agder Nye Teater (ANT), based in Arendal, is a collective for experimental performing arts. The collective creates new, bold, and open performances based on fresh dramatic texts that reach a broad audience. Led by Magnus Sparsaas and Sebastian Biong, ANT’s work is characterized by cross-disciplinary and multicultural collaboration with visiting artists. This collaboration stems from a need to share experiences and create collective performances.