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20161018

Learning about choreographer Jérôme Bel after Pilvi’s recommendation (The Kettlebell Choreography I guided for her at NPTurku entitled me to call myself a choreographer, so I have to learn the ropes). “Step-by-step guide to dance: JB” on the Guardian gives an overview of his practice and in a lecture “About ‘The Last Performance’ (1998) 1-4” the artist discusses the development of his “The Last Performance” piece from 1998 in detail. The themes of sampling and recycling as a basis of artistic production (or un-production) are appealing and I comply with his thinking. In an other short video were he talks about his practice “Rehearsal Matters interview with JB” he comes off as a rigid and flamboyant artist persona. I don’t agree with his definition of improvisation being “an attempt to free oneself”. I’ve always seen improvisation as a tool to illustrate the confinements we forced to comply with: Improvisation is about articulating confinements and vocalising the ideological positions sites/situations encapsulate us into. Trough improvisation we can see the boundaries of the working body. His rigid view on improvisation is in alignment with conservative and craft orientated mindsets of orthodox-artist, who search for a canonised and mystical order trough styles and beats (I’ve come to understand that Hip-Hop is a conservative cultural movement. Sampling is a form of prayer).

Copying what others have done can be the most effective way to make something new. #ॐ

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20161016

Visited the Yayoi Kusamas “In Infinity” exhibition at the HAM museum yesterday. I was invited on site by Anna-Sofia Tuominen from TeaK whom I got to know during the “Horse and Performance” course this Autumn. A student group from TeaK presented short stories based on Kusamas life and mimicked some of her famous performances and fashion looks from the 60ties. They worked in every corner of the exhibition space, used spoken word, worked physically and engaged with the audience. The acts entertained kids which was usefull as I got to examine some works in detail. 

I liked her gouache paintings and there was an oil painting “Pacific Ocean” from 1960 which I fell in love with. It felt like a perfect example of an artwork which mixes Japanese illustration techniques and conceptual approaches. The exhibition didn’t analyse her career, artistic motivations or thinking that’s gone into making the artworks. As a retrospective it glorified Kusamas career and brilliance. A lot of focus was drawn to her mental healt issues and the artist “fragile mind” was underlined to certify her artistic qualities. Mental health issues seem to be popular branding tools. Some works felt very gimmicky and her later works were highly commercialised. 

The installations were joyful and fun to engage with together with a seven year old kid. There were mirrors, bright colours and unearthly shapes. I took particular pride in making the phallic and vulvic symbols understandable. Elderly exhibition guests blushed while I was educating my kid how to read the imagery.

Bought a OnePlus 3 phone. 

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20161014

Videos of Antti Salminen investigating how art is going to change as we run out of oil, Eeva Anttila presenting dance as the ultimate post-fossil artform (she’s arguing in a modern fashion) and Jesse Sipola living the dream.

Learning “The Theory of Affordances” by James J. Gibson (The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, 1979) in an effort to understand how animals change the way we perceive our surroundings. As we learn to work with the animal we are granted new “affordances” to the environment and collaboration between horses and humans build habits which benefit both species. Jussi Parikka cites  J.J Gibson in his “Mutating Media Ecologies” (2015) article. The controversial concept of Niche Construction also offers interesting routes for investigation!

When investigating affordances I found a funny fitness project by Anne-Marie Skriver Hansen “Bringing Performance Art into Everyday Life Situations“.