Found some text concerning on spiritualism and electricity. “The Spiritual Telegraph and the relation between body and electricity in Spiritualism” is an overview on how science of electricity was used foundations of a new spiritualistic movement. “Spiritualism and Electromagnetism” offers a detailed look on how scientific concepts and terminology was used by some spiritualistic practitioners.
Visited KOM-theaters “Sound Night” (Ääni-ilta) at Vuotalo. The event lasted for over 90 minutes and was structured around contributions by local art/culture actives and organizations. Some parts of the show felt superficial.
The Sound Night was build around interviews they’ve conducted through the year. It felt as if all of the informants they’ve talked to had portrayed Vuosaari in very emotional manner (both negative and positive). The theater crew had chosen the positive approach to investigate the sites history. The Sound Night was fixed on the idea of Vuosaari as a happy village which had been masked as an urban district. They tried to portray the sites mythological past and contemporary soul. The problem is that suburbs renounce the concept of a soul – Suburbs are about movement. The unifying character of suburbs like Vuosaari is that they are transitional and fluid areas. They are constantly being rebuild and populated by new groups – They are modern.
Towards the end we sung a Vuosaari song the crew had composed. The song feld similar to the horrible municipal songs nationalistic artists composed for their districts, around the time Finland gained its independence (Vuosaaren maakuntalaulu). The Helsinki-model cultural funding program is guiding the team’s focus specifically to the Vuosaari district. This is a very limiting frame for cultural production. I’m interested to learn how other Helsinki-model funded institutions have solved the issues.