Build a 1u slew limiter following schematics from Synovatron Limited. Added a switch to toggle between 1uF and 100nF capacitors for adjusting the max slew time from 1s to over 5s (added it to modulargrid). Also build a 1u inverter following tips found on mw-forum. As suggested it is needed to make the Variable Slope VCF resonate, it produces umbfy-bass tones. Assembled a Foxfield Averter 1u kit to learn SMD (1206 size, went well) and acquired a Animodule TrAniModule PCB to complete a speaker module build I made a faceplate for in the autumn. I can also use it to boost the volume of some of my quiet modules. I think it is time to start designing a 7u 104hp case!
I’m drafting a five year project grant application for Taike and send out a spicy proposal for the controversial Kone Home Residency call. The tone of the open call is criticized heavily in Freelancer on poikkeustilan asiantuntija [Freelancer is a specialist of disaster] (2020) Maaria Ylikangas. Ylikangas explains that the Coronavirus should not be framed as an opportunity to develop as an artist, it is a tragedy and shows how unjust the precariats relationship to capitals is.
As capitalists learned that access to knowledge would make charismatic organizations redundant they attempted to limit access to it. This process presented skills and people who had skills as units which could be deployed and wielded like tools. What used to be content (such as a craft) became a quantifiable product which could be traded. Production of people as stuff and stuff led to exploitation & exploitative globalization, which led to an array of catastrophes. Some catastrophes move fast and others slow.
Governments use the volume of consumption as a measure of citizen performance. Calling for consumption as a remedy is like adding poison to poison. It has nothing to do with the problem. Our only option forwards is in focusing on quality instead of quantity. We don’t need more stuff or skills, we need to hone our craft: To make life. Adding poison to poison only makes the poison more potent. If nothing else this situation proofs that rich people are good for nothing. We can see —and should forever remember— that wealth does not trickle down. We don’t need wealth, we need taxation. #☭
This catastrophe has made domestic spaces into production facilities. There is no life in this mess. Stuff is poring in through all screens as kids are taught as products. At the same time parents work desperately to shove their services trough their screens. Every second discussion I have ends up with me announcing my availability for work or a straight up pled for it. Sometimes we are working in the same room with the kids, passing in the backround of each others streams like placeholders for persons.
Schools are closed and kids are taught trough the web. Domestic spaces are used for remote classes and parents are made into web-technicians (I use 4-5hours a day to help in school work). Turns out our society is operated by google and microsoft. All kids have been assigned email addresses and are expected to use the ms-office365 suite and different google services. This is a really sad and shameful turnout. There are open source alternatives to all of the services the kids need and nothing to stop schools from using them. ms and google stuff is just as complicated to use. Corporations are using this situation to unashamedly establish their services as the infrastructure of all social and work related interactions.
Also turns out schools are absolutely obsessed with quantifiable results. This situation is teaching kids to perform school as a series of questionnaires and online presence which does not involve interaction. They are essentially learning to fake working. Schools in Finland should back down on their desire to “keep the kids in schools” during these times. Schools, with big class sizes and mass curriculum’s don’t really work for online learning. Learning online happens best when a student is given the liberty to decide how they pace their work and allowed to set their own goals. The schools current strategy of maintaining daily presence trough online services (ms/google) is hindering learning possibilities. Technically savvy families get the “faking working” experience with virtual punched cards and online meetings which are organized for the sake of having meetings, while other families are dropped out.
How can I help in this situation? I’ve written feedback to the schools and the Ministry of Education and Culture about the situation and asked them to give families more liberties in pacing school work. I don’t think my critique of the situation has any impact. Unfortunately it seems that our modern, corporation reliant, mass-society is combating these challenges by evolving to an even more modern and more controlled organization. This is a really bad strategy: Mass culture has no future, evolving into a surveillance society (which focuses on quantifiable performances) should not be an option. I don’t think my critique will be heard because citizens are using mostly social medias as a platform for organizing and voicing their concerns. It really feels one has to be a member of a corporation (though fb/twitter) to be a part of society! Why is our society allowing this to happen?
Pietari made a strong critique of the tone of a recent Kone foundation grant procedure. I agree with him: This crisis should not be made into a creative project and this crisis does not bring about an opportunity for change. Change happens after a crisis, when people feel secure enough to voice their fears and desires. Crisis only teaches people how to survive a crisis (or how to suffer) but it does not change people. Change requires resources, time and research. Rushing it causes people to retreat to established models. Which is why a call to use a crisis as an force to drive personal development feels like a hostile act. Why isn’t anyone offering their support for arts unconditionally? This would be a really good time for such a gesture.
Performing the Fringe exhibition at Konsthall C was rewarding to setup. Most of the artists in our group came to Stockholm, where we were warmly welcomed by Erik Annerborn & staff. On site we had the pleasure to work with Kaisa Sööt who had designed the exhibition architecture. She had build wavy-benches based on a park seating design spotted in Hökarängen. A localized furniture architecture development effort (reminded me of NCD-C swingers club designs).
I arrived a day before my performance to extract samples from stone architecture using kitchenware from Ikea. A meat-hammer served as a mallet and a regular table knife as a chisel. I pulverized the rocks using a Ikea stone mortar & pestle. The powder was gray and dissolved (seemingly) well into the water (0,3 mg per liter). Polukord noted that granite ore contains metals which caused some concerns (I wonder if it’s possible to separate metals from ore using a magnet?).
My portable CO2 regulator worked well and produced ~5,5 bars of pressure inside standard 1,5 liter plastic bottles, which I used for water-to-gas agitation and serving. The gas was from a local shop which stocks consumer grade 475g CO2 tanks (CGA320 treads). Interestingly the plastic bottles stretched when I added pressure and when shaked the plastics retraction would add to the pressure, causing the content to retreat back towards the regulator. In my first rehearsals this counter pressure caused the valves to come loose.
The next day I performed for a private family which lives in the district. The family connection was facilitated by Annerborn, who introduced me to them in person before the show. I executed my performance in the family’s kitchen. I had some trouble with my sound system, the shape of the space caused a feedback loop, which was hard to resolve. I attempted to do the talk bits in Swedish (my Swedish language skills are fringy, which works well with the project theme) but turned to English midway and the kids lost interest soon after. My statuesque warm-up dance moves were constantly commented by kids, which made pacing difficult. The performance was a delightful mess.
The family was very concentrated on the presentation. I had some minor problems maintaining cohesion, the event challenged the artistic integrity of the piece in a good way. A beneficial learning opportunity and I think the family enjoyed the chamber performance too. We chatted a bit after the performance and they showed their backyard. I was donated a piece of rock from their garden and prompted to make mineral water from it.
The coronavirus didn’t change the performance much. At the time there was no social distancing etiquette guidelines in place in Stockholm (a week an a half ago). We did maintain a little more distance then normally and I executed extra caution in the water preparation. If the family would have wanted I could have made the performance outdoors, in which case it would have been a typical lecture-performance.
Our exhibition opening was cancelled, even so there were some 10 visitors at the space for the opening. This was just enough for setting the mood and actually made the social situation more dense than normal openings. The fewer people there are the more focus they demand. Performances for big audiences are more relaxed because the crowd behavior is more easy to react to than individual gazes. I prepared different waters for the guests and people were exited to drink them (particularly the gravestone water). When walking back to the hotel we shared a pleasant chat with Alexey.
Katarina Frifarare had a parallel opening in the Konsthall C Centrifug space. The Centrifug can be booked for exhibitions by anyone and the dates of the show are set randomly. We should have something like this in Helsinki too, in the Taidehalli space? Frifarare’ exhibition was a leftist analysis of women’s textile work and made a good match with our exhibition.
“Our Great Culinary Survival” (2020). Photo: Johan Österholm
“Our Great Culinary Survival” (2020). Photo: Johan Österholm
