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Jasmin
Kuusinen

KEKRI : Ceremony of parting

Project details

Year
2021
Programme
define-art
Practices
autonomous-practice
Minor
Public & Private

Kekri is a ceremony created around craftsmanship. A 2-hour ceremony dedicated to craft created as a reaction to the society of mass-consumption and mass-production.

A general theme of Kekri is parting, as aging and change inevitably lead to loss. Mass-consumption has changed our relationship with the things we consume and given us more worries. Furthermore, it has created a numb mindset toward the items we use daily. By creating a different experience around consumption this cycle will be broken and a space of awareness and appreciation for material and craft is created. 

Mass-consumption and mass-production have caused a departure from craftsmanship and having a meaningful connection with the products you consume as well as the materials they are made of. In the Ceremony of Parting, Kekri, I address this problem. By connecting the things I create to my cultural background I create objects with a newfound value. This value of imperfect handcrafted goods should outweigh the mass-produced uniform goods we are used to. I see the ceremony as a form of craft and focus on the role of the host as the craftsman. I make this visible in the ceremony by preparing the dishes in front of the guests. Interactions between me and my guests and my guests and the handcrafted tools happen as a result of the actions of the ceremony. The exchange of meaningful recipes makes the guests rethink about their relationship with the meals they eat, how they eat them and the memories connected to them. The ceremony will help us rethink our consumption by consuming in a new way.

Components of the ceremony consist of the carpet it takes place on, a glass table the food is prepared on and the cups and tableware the food and drinks are consumed from.

KEKRI: Ceremony of Parting
Research Paper by Jasmin Kuusinen
download as pdf