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20170115

The moment when you ponder, is claiming a Google account in your childs name intrusive or a rite of passage which should not be interfeared by the parents.

If life is about money, businessmen are the best leaders. #ॐ

Donald Trump is a politician of the attention economy age. He is an attention politician much like Putin, Berlusconi and Stubb. Such politicians work to convert national stereotypes into political dogma. They are nouveau-nationalist. Putin uses stereotypes associated with street thugs in drafting Russian foreign policy, Berlusconi used Machiavellian macho-culture to keep Italy in the focus of EU and Stubb went for sports to pave way for fund cuts on education and universities (conducted by the Sipilä administration).

Every Finnish media outlet is packed with news about Trumps presidential journey. USAs political efforts of becoming the centre of the world are working out well. Everytime Trump is mentioned our attention to local politics, the politics we could imagine to affect are hindered. Our imaginations are captivated with contemporary North-American mythology. He is a tool selling the American dream.

Democracy is being blinded by nouveau-grand-narratives (best illustrated in the the MacGyver reboot). Every sentence spend on Trump is a sentence lost from the critique of the Sipilä administrations neo-liberal shenanigans.

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20161112

“Don’t work for the job you have. Work for the job you want”. (2016) Pietari Kylmälä. #ॐ

Joined “Amen 2” launch gig at Konepajan Bruno by Anthonys invitation. The album is the second instalment of Mikko Joensuus Amen trilogy which is published by Svart Records. Amen 1 concert at the St. John’s Church left a good expression. A sample on soundcloud offers a glimpse to the massive sounds. 

Guitars glimmering and people crying. A group of young men were talking about the moment they felt the touch of god for the first time (at home while watching TV). The gig felt more produced than the first concert and unfortunately the flow of individual songs came off as repetitive. The tones were made to shed tears. Anthony was playing Prophet 6 and singing.

There was a special guy in the audience. People shot video of the events highlights (visuals were a bit dull). Suddenly this guy lifted his hands and posed in a gesture as if he had a phone between his hands. He kept his empty hands in the pose trough a song and made a mental recording. This made very one shooting video look ridiculous. 

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20161026

Joined the “Paikan tuntu –  Kohtaamisia unohdetuissa tiloissa” book lauch at the Orion movie theatre. Antti Möller who edited the near 200 page book hosted the event. He invited artists and people who had partisipated in various events of the three year long “Paikan tuntu” project on stage. The project and the event are organized by the Union for Rural Culture and Education and the book published be their sister organization Maanhenki. Möller interviewed myself and Hanna Johansson newly appointed Professor of Contemporary Art Research of the from the University of the Arts about how the role of artists has changed. Johansson has written a short text on the matter for the book. Her text is a cry for more serious strategies for cultural organisations and more challenging artworks (But it’s disguised as a celebration of the “Paikan tuntu” project).

Möller invited Marjo Priha on stage in behalf of the Helsinki Zoo organisation and asked her how had the artworks (made at the zoo over the course of the three year project by some 150 artists) had effected the site. She replied that she had come to understand that: “The skill of looking at things you don’t understand is skill which is best trough artworks” #ॐ.  After the talks we watched video documentations of the project on the theatres big screen. My short about Päivi Allonen looked good and the audio worked too. It was zoomed to 4:3 size but served well. This was the first time I got to see my Panasonic GH3 footage I had shot on a big screen! With proper color grading it would serve even better.

Bought 100% cotton jeans and I have to learn how to stretch them.

Interesting text about the political-body-building in dance “Expressed in Fits” by Rachel Elizabeth Jones: “[…] the everyday traumas of racism, classism, and sexism live, at least in part, in the body; and the physical release of that trauma through dance is redemptive”.

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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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20161004

Grey Cube Gallery documentations are completed! Fixed the Italian-to-Finnish translations with Viivi yesterday and send my final invoice to the Union for Rural Culture and Education. My favorite artist presentations was by Päivi Allonen and I also enjoyed taking with the Helsinki Zoo staff. During the summer Honkasalo-Niemi-Virtanen collectives residency documentations were cancelled but I’m overall satisfied with the project.

A lot of interesting ideas concerning the relations of animals and public institutions came up during the Zoo staff interviews but these complex talks didn’t make the final cut. I’ve written some down under the tag “Animals in the City“. The idea that the sites primarily goal is to build awareness of animals as individuals was build up through director Sanna Hellström interview. The Bear Castles that hosted the art exhibitions and events are now left unused and if someone is interested in presenting stuff there they should contact Katri Houtbeckers from the Zoo.

Artist presentations:

Helsinki Zoo staff and festival documentations:

I’ll meet up with the Union for Rural Culture and Education on the 26th for the “Paikan tuntu” book launch at the movie theater Orion. I was interviewed for the book by Antti Möller.

Visited “Suburbia – Lähiöperformansseja” exhibition by Antti Ahonen and Katri Kainulainen over the weekend. Came too late for Siiri Nevalaises after party piece but got to hear KOELSE drone noises. Many of the exhibition pieces were faux performance documentations and there was a tad too much repetition (Some photos from the exhibition available online). The photos mimicked street fashion looks and presented a hardcore-nostalgic view to the suburbs. Katri and her friend posed semi-nude in rough concrete surroundings. Unfortunately the contemporary fashion industry produces heaps of similar (and even more disturbing) imagery and styles present in the exhibition came off as rip-off’s of Vice magazine covers.

The fashion industry has appropriated the visual cues of performance art! The disturbing documentations such as Carolee Schneemann’s “Interior Scroll” (1975) has been normalized trough Vice magazines commercial interests in the niche and the perv’s. The best way to rebel against these processes is to produce documentations which look boring!

Had an interesting chat concerning photography workflow with Antti. His archive on flickr is packed with performance art, street art etc. event documentations and artworks. The huge cultural heritage collection he has build has been made intuitively. He does not “waste time” with color correction (he’s colorblind) and he trusts the camera’s/computers automatic sensory. This approach alleviates stress and enables him to take on performance documentation gigs rapidly.

Sometimes the winning move is to renouce the fight. #ॐ