Right-wing politicians in Helsinki are planning to build a new museum. They want to give it to a USA foundation which is planning to use the space to present artworks a millionaire called Peggy collected during her travels. They also want to show pieces which USA millionaires have brought to for taxation benefits. There is also plan to present “local-art”, which sounds like a new genre in the making. They want to call the space Guggenheim Helsinki. It’s a Guantanamo for art. Artworks (and dead artists) will be tortured as evidence of the west supremacy over aesthetics and styles. It is made to block Mental-Iskander Missiles and to serve as a Pokemon Go stop.
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Visited “my shapes, your words, their grey” by Philipp Gehmacher for Baltic Circle festival. He danced and talked. The movements were inspirational, he worked to convert stutter and hesitation into dance – But the movements were not introverted as some gestures echoed poses that are familiar from street protests. The lecture he gave while dancing was an uninspiring illustration of the theory of performativity and new materialism. He was plowing space for the agency of objects and working to present himself as a material being. His claim was that when objects and humans meet in the realm of art, they lose their contrast and become “grey”. He tried to align himself with the materials but the process felt forceful – The objects were only supporting his storyline. The piece came off as a ballad for the agency the artist has lost.
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Wooden Rulers (2016) Helmut Smits.
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’Decolonization is not a Metaphor’: Artists space steps out of analysis and into action. by Angela Brown. The article links gentrification, colonisation and specific modes of artistic creativity. Stuart Hall claimed that corporations present modern art in their public lobbies and office spaces as evidence that they have conquested the mind. Corporations see modern art as a quantization of the subconscious and human creativity. Brown’s text shows that artists benefitting from the production and exchange of corporation-pleasing-aesthetics are also guilty! She also discusses artworks as tools (they don’t represent, they are yielded), which is a familiar approach.
How To / Why Make Internet Art educational series by Nick Briz. Mostly familiar stuff but made in a upbeat tempo and fun to watch.
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My text for Esitys mag. is out: Uusmaterialistista yhdyntää (2016). The online version of the mag also features an insightful text from Pilvi: Jumalattaria vai sarjamurhaajia?, which looks at how masturbation has been represented on stages.
Masha Gessen details how to survive autocracy in the USA. The same logic applies to today’s politics in Finland under the “True Finns” thumb.
- Believe the autocrat [If he says that he’s gonna – He will].
- Do not be taken in by small signs of normality [If things look like they are staying the same it doesn’t mean they are].
- Institutions will not save you [There are no neutral public institutions. They are managed by the government].
- Be outraged [If you stop resisting they will silence you).
- Don’t make compromises [If you negotiate you legitimise their reign].
- Remember the future [The outcome of events can be affected].
“… when Marx wondered about what would happen if commodities could speak, he might as well have asked slaves, or the Haitian revolutionaries.” writes María Iñigo Clavo in Modernity vs. Epistemodiversity on e-flux (as recommended by Jussi). The arrival of the text is well timed as we just finished a grant proposal together with Eleonora Lundell. We are seeking funds for a talk-shop, where people who have settled to Helsinki would talk about objects they hold dear.