The art hall is filled with people posing as cats

Minigolfia in an art museum with “cats”?

Yes, of course. Such an exhibition has hardly ever been seen before at the Helsinki Art Gallery. For four days, almost the entire exhibition space will be transformed into one huge green mini golf course with different courses.

There are also “cats” that move around the edges of the tracks all the time. These are not real animals, but dancers who move in a manner typical of cats, and who might whisper poems into the ears of the visitors to the exhibition.

Swedish Pontus Pettersson’s (s. 1983) theos Pancor Poetic combines movement, poetry and installation in his own way. Pettersson is a Swedish artist living in Stockholm who has completed two master’s degrees, one in choreography and the other in visual arts.

It is cats that have interested Pettersson a lot in recent years. He is especially known for the Cat practice he did in Stockholm in 2012, where the inner cat of a person is studied and the cat’s essence is sought through movement.

Also The “cat people” involved in the art gallery installation have participated in a workshop organized by Pettersson in Helsinki. There, the dancers practice being cats, the logic of a cat, its ways of moving and behaving and joining its environment.

Participant in the workshop and performing at Taidehall Sofia Charifi says that the experience was liberating for him.

“But it was also difficult to settle into the animal world and leave the human norm,” says Charifi.

According to him, a cat is an animal that can entertain itself as long as it wants. But it can also leave something unfinished if it is no longer interesting.

“It feels like people have an obligation to finish things. The feeling of freedom comes from not having to stay interested.”

According to Pettersson, the aim of his workshops is to find and explore one’s inner cat. Charifi says he found it momentarily.

“In this context, it is perhaps relevant to say that it is not about imitating a cat, but about cutting cat-likeness into parts.”

Everyone chooses for themselves what, for example, the cat’s physical being or mind is like.

“At the end of the day, it’s always about my own interpretation. The human interpretation and filter is always present in it, even if you always find a cat”, Charifi.

Pettersson says that for him cat training is a great tool to be present in the moment. Charifi also talks about the same experience.

“The choices I make happen here, and I don’t have to think about what will happen next,” says Charifi.

”

Pettersson thought about what really interested him. Poetry and cats came up.

“I’m thinking about this [kissaharjoittelun] challenging the norm of humanity, which in this world prevails in its simplicity.”

Pettersson says that cats came into his art somewhat subconsciously, when he stopped more than ten years ago to think about what kind of art he had done before and what really interested him.

He noticed that poetry and cats came up.

“It was a time when cats were all over the internet. Cat videos became a phenomenon. That was perhaps one of the reasons,” says Pettersson.

“The cat is also a mystical animal. It is close to humans, but not completely tamed, so it is well suited for projection and a complete mystery.”

Pettersson’s cat experiments have nothing to do with the therian phenomenon popular among young people. Therian means a person who identifies as an animal.

“They have some similarities, but I wouldn’t say they are the same. For me, this is about artistic work.”

Pettersson hopes that the audience coming to Art Hall would also dare to surrender to the process and play. According to Pettersson, following the cat-like movements of the performers is surrendering to a different logic of movement.

“People can sit down and chat with their friends. When you give a little of yourself to this process and play, you will see what happens. It’s about spending time together,” explains Pettersson.

Pontus Pettersson: Pancor Poetics, Helsinki Art Gallery November 7–10. The work is part of the joint program of the Art Hall and Liikkielle nouvusssa festival.