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Minä, Marxilainen taiteilija [Me, a Marxist Artists] (2021) by Jyrki Siukonen is an elegant book, its written like a journal and assumes the reader to be well informed. The book reveals an absence of Marxist or Communist theories on aesthetics and depicts intricate political debates where Finnish artists and cultural workers of the 70ties attempted piece together a plan for a leftists artistic program. Marx was bad at art and their theories on production/commodities do not apply to cultural production. Similarly a Marxist depiction of historical progress fails in understanding the intricacies of style (that it does not “progress” but fluctuates). Siukonen reveals that artistic research in Finland is rooted on efforts to make sense of art production, by evaluating an artists responsibilities for society and the particularities of their praxis. Siukonen offers a striking analysis on the utopian function of socialist realism: In actuality communism in the Soviet Union existed only in art. I enjoy the banality which they depict the terrors of great purge… Nearly every artists or cultural theorist from the Soviet Union they cite, is revealed in the footnotes to be have imprisoned or executed by Stalin. By depicting an array of failed creative efforts to align artistry with Marx/communism, the book grinds an opening for imagining contemporary approaches to the question. Being a Marxist Artist is depicted as a learning process, which outcome we should not predict (just like communism!).

I got asked for a comment in a Hyperallergic article on Criticism in Finland Over Country’s Selection Process for the Venice Biennale (2023) Avedis Hadjian. The bit where I shyly hope for institutional change “Perhaps it [the curatorial process] also succeeds in having a lasting impact on the institutions involved in the process.” was cut in the editorial process.

Keho vaatii tunnetta [Body calls for emotion] (2023) Tiia From & Onni Oja. A nice to read, solid review of Crimes of the Future (2022) David Cronenberg. This text was written as an assignment for a course in Kankaanpää Art School and the authors very kindly credit me as a teacher! I also wrote shortly about the film.

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Participated in the SKP triennial party assembly in Kotka two weeks ago. The meeting was important because the party manifesto has been rewritten (and was approved by the assembly). In meetings organized by the Helsinki district organization during the spring I criticized early drafts for their tone regarding international relations and EU matters. The manifesto was built on an anti-globalization agenda and utilized binary rhetorics, which reflected mindsets of the late 1990s. In my opinion these tools didn’t offer a route forward. For example for establishing EU-wide collaborations between leftists (and others) working multilaterally for peace etc. Some changes regarding this were made, which I’m happy about. But there is more work to be done.

Most importantly for me, I successfully criticized the general humanistic agenda of the previous manifesto. The past manifesto presented general humanistic values as the end goal of communist progress. In my critique I emphasized that the humanistic values which the party is striving for were idealistic norms, drafted by a class of privileged folk with very utilitarian views of nature and others. I think Marx is a great companion for environmentalist thinking but their premises build on a distinction of human intellect from other natural processes. The way their thinking was used in the previous manifesto, portrayed humans surviving in nature but not necessarily collaborating with the intellects of materials and animals.

To better engage with current ecological development (which I see as a social crisis or a lack of imagination) I attempted to introduce a posthumanist undertone to the text. I think it would for example, enable the party to establish solidarian ties with kin of the other kind. To my delight some steps towards removing the generalist humanistic agenda were made. For now these changes remain rhetoric and I will need to introduce posthumanist solidarity work for the party to set a trajectory for the next three years. Eventually SKP could incorporate posthumanist and de-colonial critique to its agenda.

Thanks to the involvement of the Kommunistinuoret youth organization, the party is well aligned with the Extinction Rebellion movement and strong statements on environmental matters were published by the assembly. Unfortunately these statements hinge on an anthropocenic critique of current affairs. Posthumanist and decolonial (necropolitical) approaches could help to ground this analysis to other rationalities (rationalities which have been suppressed and which are emerging), which are not idealized like the western scientific mythos that the concept of the anthropocene manifests.

It seems I’m still exploring the potentiality of deep time marxism.

My interest in natural springs and the resources they afford, is leading me towards working with the politics of geology. But not from the perspective of human intent. I’d like to investigate how geology informs and guides political agencies. Some terrains afford the emergence of particular thought, which (if we escape universalism and past humanistic ideals) is hyper-local. A particular form of socialism might emerge from a particular landscape.

I submerged the clay cup made from Kurängen spring clay to the Kurängen spring and it made an interesting high pitch squeal, a song of sorts. It appears to me as a non-waste-object. The only waste in that object is my engagement with its materials. I am the waste in the object. It is one of the most energy dense art-objects I’ve been involved with. Making it has required three car trips, heated storage facilities, internet access (for learning to build a kiln etc.) and the firing was very unefficient. The process of firing the clay felt like a celebration of surplus energy.

Human labor is a waste, materials remain what they are. #ॐ #☭

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There are were a few statues depicting Lenin in public spaces in Finland. I don’t care much for them, they look boring but I get a melancholic vibe in their presence. They feel like puzzles or glitches which echo desires from a past, in a language I don’t understand. They feel displaced and lonely.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, there has been an urgent push to remove all references to Lenin and our ties to Soviet Union from public spaces. Turku is having had their minuscule Lenin bust, situated at the corner of a silent street removed and Kotka is planning did the same. Helsinki has a park called Lenin’s park which might will be renamed. There might be others too.

Right-wing conservative politicians in Turku argue that their statue is was due to removal because it “depicts an undemocratic and tragic phase in history, which does not manifest the developing cities strategy or the humane values of contemporary Turku city” (A loose translation of a statement by Turku major Minna Arve). Their critique does not extend to statues depicting different Russian tsars or Swedish kings. They want Lenin removed because it reminds them of communism.

In a recent debate regarding the renaming of a miniscule Leninpuisto (Lenin Park) in Helsinki 25 city council politicians reiterated that the renaming is a necessity because of Lenin’s “monstrous deeds” and claim that their efforts to rename the park is a feminist project, aiming to designate more public sites after historically significant women. This lie over the motivation is a disgrace to Otto Meri, the National Coalition Party member behind the recent renaming initiative. I’m not motivated to campaign against their effort because there are real political concerns which demand attention.

Their argumentation manifest the spite which past right-wing generations felt over the achievements of organized labour movement.  I see present day right-wing conservatives rallying against communism engaging in hauntological work. Their traumatic project aims to claim and taint “lost futures” as defined by Mark Fisher (introduced in a short 2021 article by Nicholas Diaz). More pressingly, the project is an attempt to evade discussing present day political relations and ties with Russia. Debating the removal of a statue is a convenient way to evade guilt over the fact that we –as the west we were– enabled Putin’s regime to emerge.

This evasion is useful for the present day Finnish politicians, who have leaned on Putin’s Russia and benefited economically from its exploitative and corrupted regime. For example Turku Energy was invested in the Fennovoima/Rosatom nuclear initiative and remained onboard in the project despite the Russian invasion of Crimea. Similarly National Coalition Party politicians have been acceptive to Russian oligarch investments (and a lot Finnish companies still operate in Russia), past Social Democratic Party leaders have worked for Nord Stream II lobbies and Centre Party leaders have taken positions in Russian banks and institutions.

The manner which the statues of a past communist figurehead is discussed, portrays them as been erected by an invading force. They were not. We did it because wanted to. It felt like a good idea at the time. Similarly, we have not been coerced into working with Putin – We took him as an opportunity and this backfired. Our wilful ignorance regarding the concerns Russian human right organisations, opposition activists and citizen voiced through the years is a reason why Russia started its attack against Ukraine.

Removing a Lenin statue is much easier than removing the stench of failed business deals. The attention they are receiving is a symptom of diminishing political agency. People feel powerless, that they cannot change the current system. They are taking revenge on an image of past communist leader, because this is easier then figuring out why establishing liberal economical ties with the Russia state failed in developing a democratic society.  Lenin has a few theories as to why… #☭

Edit: I resigned from the army reserve because the manner in which politicians use the war as a device for revising the legacy of socially progressive movements demands a response. They are building a Finland which does not exist for me. I’m working to leave this barren plain with my space comrades and no longer maintain a fantasy that defending these borders with guns aims for democracy.

Populist claim that present day Russia and its attack against Ukraine is derived from socialism, communism and is practically a project of the Soviet Union. People who make these claims very dangerously ignore that the 1917 Russian revolution was organized against an expansive imperialist state. The revolution was fuelled by a desire to end the many wars which the Russian Empire was engaged in at the time and an attempt to designate class (not ethnicity) as a foundation for nations.

Not unlike today’s Russia, the Russian Empire grounded its expansive campaigns on an ideal of a national destiny (partially defined by the church) and ethnically characterized patriotism, set to dominate the cultural diversity of the continent. If we want to learn anything from the revolution and it’s failure, it is that any appeals for a historic destiny of a nation and ethnically defined nation state projects, should be constrained by open democratic processes, public debates and legislative robustness which defaults to protect the weaker.

Democracy is threatened because ruthless politicians use emerging crises for short term political gain, and are eager to maintain a constant state of exception. Finland, for example, joined NATO without any public debates or a vote. Officials in charge at the time, even declared that entering a public debate in the matter, would open our ranks to Russian influence: We are told to comply and differing opinions were demonized. A historic destiny narrative of Finns as “neighbours to the bear” is being used to issue conservative restraints on cultural development. The state is buying automated biblically named weapons systems from Israel to protect its borders, while pressing cuts to social support and culture. Without a democratic culture and commons to share, we don’t have anything to fight for. They are protecting borders and don’t care about the quality of the content inside.

Working against wars is presented as a weakness and the strength I have is needed for peace-work. Under these conditions everyone should resign from the army. It is only a requirement portal for NATO, which conscripts are set to serve for free. It took a lot to arrive at this conclusion because my time in the army was a very rewarding experience, which helped me to understand Finns better. I don’t regret it but we deserve better.

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The middle-class punishes the overachiever. #☭ Environmental anxiety was popularized at the same time as hygge became a thing. They are the same. Environmental anxiety is a form of class consciousness, its a simmering hunch of the costs of hygge.

Presented a performance at a Kritiikki näkyy [Visible Critique] seminar and was interviewed on stage by Aleksi Salusjärvi (before the event by Maaria Ylikangas). The seminar was nice and I enjoyed learning how different authors approach climate matters. Class was not referred during the panels and I ended up agitating the crowd towards a global eco-social revolution. In the heat of the moment I framed it as a responsibility shared by people living in the global north. This came off as an severe symptom of a white-saviour complex and spoiled my attempt to emerge as a recovering survivalist. But still, I think moving away from environmental anxiety towards joined political movement is needed. During the seminar I realized that environmental anxiety is a reactionary political expression and that it is inviting to ecofasism (discussed in a recent episode of  DEATH // SENTENCE).

Eco-socialistic strategies for organization (self-governed small organizations syndicating in an effort to establish a global constitution which would make all forms off oppression impossible) offer a different stance to previous saviour-complexes ridden attempts to address climate change.

A project I struggled with for the past two years Personal Decamerone was published as a essay in No-Niin Issue 10. Feels great and I’m honoured of the portrait Jani Ikonen drew of me. Elham worked hard to shape the text, so that it would better help expand the horizon of possible sexual expressions (in the cis male domain I occupy). Looking back the first drafts read like a hate-letter (to myself).

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Reconnected (2021) Paris Marx is an expose of core values at the heart of the internet. The text offers a useful listing of past alternatives too. This source led me to techwontsave.us podcast series by the author. Some episodes are light leftist rants (stating the obvious) but other episodes like How Race Was Central to Prop 22 w/ Veena Dubal are great for learning specifics on how workers in California have organized against the gig economy giants and what the historical framework of the gig economy is. #☭

Feeling restless and frustrated. Assembled a Pulses expander 1u for the Turing Machine (a no-brainer to have and relatively easy to assemble). Took it on as a meditative exercise. Repeating the resistor alignment 11 times, routing the same jumper-wires 11 times, powering the IC and reading the schematics like a holy book (tracing the signal paths over and over). Worked without a plan for the build but it turned out better then my previous expanders/1u thingamajiggies. Inspired by gnsk style approaches. This style for electronics is an acquired taste and I’m growing into it. I like the potential of errors and fear when plugging it in to the system. The mess which is not a mess.

Sent three Fairchild transistors to grm to be used in a RYO Paths build and was gifted two forestcaver / Benjolin PCBs and a voucher to their bandcamp in exchange. A nice realisation of the electronics as a social network approach and a sonic expansion for the initiative. Got in touch with the Benjolin PCB layout designer who consulted me on the VCA chip and acquired two Forrest Baer faceplates. Looking forwards to building a Rob Hordijk design and in preparation digging their text from 2009 The Blippoo Box: A Chaotic Electronic Music Instrument (The more I study the Benjolin, the closer it feels to SoftPop).

The digital heritage aspect of the Fairchild initiative led me to the inspiring compudanzas project: “explorations of computing at a human scale / explorando computación a escala humana”. I’m hoping to learn more about how computer logic could be performed as dance. This approach would work well for internalizing the transistor functions. Korsnäs wool coat patterns also look beautiful. Particularly live the weaving pattern which is performed in groups of three. Perhaps there is a base, collector, emitter logic at play there?

Preparing for a six week long gig at Kankaanpää Art School, I’ll be teaching first semester art-students “The Basics of Performance & Live Art”. Instead of infusing participants with texts, I’m trying to build their awareness of performance art praxis by using mostly other artworks as references. We’ll be analysing documented performances from the T.E.H.D.A.S ry D-Ark archive and the movement based exercises I’ve planned are linked artworks I’ve seen recently. The references and history of the art are introduced trough movement! The travel from Helsinki to Kankaanpää takes six hours. This is going to be an exhausting gig (leaving on Sundays, returning for Thursday nights and repeating the cycle for six weeks).