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20210512

Had the pleasure to participate in Forest Dreams – A critical conversation around the work of artist Agnes Denes -event at Melbourne Design Week. The talk was initiated by Jock Gilbert and Sarah Hicks whose approaches to land art and land conservation, I learned trough their 2015 article Forest for Australia: Challenging Loyalties. Our talk was fast but I appreciated the event. I prepared a pre-recoded intro to my bit on the topic. Hoping to continue exploring ruins-as-beauty.

Helped in streaming/managing the Frame Knowing with(in) Limits -event. Had the pleasure to be introduced to Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen and her praxis.

Performed in the How To Do Things With Per­for­mance Grande Fi­nale. Got on stage right after Jamie MacDonald, so I inadvertently visited my first stand-up gig. MacDonald was great, well planned and smart. It was embarrassing to perform after him. I had planned a co-authoring performance in which the audience and I would have written an artistic review of the event for Mustekala (the performance was titled “This is the Great Review We Write for Mustekala”). But being inspired by Tan Lin earlier that week, I started off with a vote were I presented two options: The first option was framed as being a potentially stressful bit, which would have lead us towards a burnout (writing an article in an hour). The other option was described as ambient, boring and inverted (Titled “OISAC”, with an inhale). The audience voted for the latter so I ended up reading the Casio watch module qw2271 manual and followed the different choreographies it suggested for operating the compass, barometer and altimeter settings. Both options mirror some kind of post-covid-post-burnout mode of creativity but OISAC worked better in sparing joy in exhaustion.

Prepared two wooden benches for an installation which will be shown in the Helsinki Biennale. It was nice to visit Vallisaari. There were a lot of interesting folk at the local lunch bar. Heard a few murmurs about the miniature ecological catastrophe the biennale brings to the island.

Sourced a spare part for my Kaosspad 3 and managed to replace the broken fader. The fader reads b5kx2 and the part number is 510374524026 (Effects Level Fader). There is a service manual online too. Easy fix, not a lot of components to worry about. I could go for touchpad led mods with the unit. The other pots feel worn too. Not using it much for anything.

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20190228

Build my first module: “Tip/Ring Thing (Breakout)”. Its a 4hp unit which divides a 3.5mm TRS socket to two separate mono sockets. I can now transmit CVs (and audio) from-and-to my softPop with the module. It’s essentially a passive two channel splitter and/or mixer. It also works with my QuNexus, which sends CV trough a TRS connection. (Building the module costed me less then 5€ but four hours of time, because I wanted the panel from wood).

I’ve now compiled all of the modules I have planned. Feeling content but I want to deepen my understanding of sounds. I need some kind of drum-sound generator (re-discovered Kastle 1.5), a looping envelope, more VCAs (I’ll possibly build them using vactrol), a second LFO (for slow movements), a second attenuverter (for the second lfo) and a spring echo. Today I used the Turing Machine as an oscillator (by clocking using softPops square wave output), I patched the same clock signal to my clock divider (which serves as a square oscillator, when clock very fast). I then routed the sound of the Turing Machine to the softPops filter and used the QuNexus to trigger the Skis envelope/VCA to control the sound (of the filtered sound and the clock-div sub-osc). I wonder.. Would psychotherapy be more affordable?

My review titled Kun kirjasto lukee meitä (When the library reads us) on the The Library’s Other Intelligences art project is available on Mustekala.info.

Listening and studying Toshimaru Nakamura NO-INPUT MIXING BOARD (2000).

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20190223

Returning from my one month Kankaanpää Art School teaching gig with good vibes. I only had five students but they were committed. I’ll prepare a summary of the course in Finnish for next week.

Send an application to the Kone foundation community art triennial open call.

Met with Binna Choi by introduction of Frame. We had a fun chat about workshops (as art), metalwork, crafts and horses.

Preparing to swap my Zoom cdr70 to a QuNexus and build lid-locks and a handle to my eurorack case. It looks very cool. I still have a clock divider module in the works. I only bought a pcb for it and sourced the components.

I have untill Tuesday to finish my review of the Oodi Library’s Other Intelligences events (mentioned earlier) for Mustekala mag. in Finnish. Barely enough time for fact checking.. I’ll visit the library again on Monday.

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20180411

My article in Finnish: Ympäristötaiteen konservoinnin jäljillä (On the trail of Environmental Art Conservation) is available online. It’s packed with strong claims concerning public art and a rare view to Land Arts. The text features:

  • A detailed report of the conservation efforts of Spiral Jetty (1970)
  • A summary on what nonsites are (according to Robert Smithson) and how text build landscapes
  • A well grounded argument that land-art conservation efforts should be organised in séance-sessions
  • An argument that temporary events (performances, campaigns) can be used as monuments which serve neoliberal economics
  • An argument that The Tree Mountain 1996 by Agnes Denes does not help to protect nature (I don’t think it’s even intended to)
  • An argument that site-specific, land- environmental- and street art, seek to expand the dominance of institutional art thinking
  • An view (between the lines) that artists should consider what kind of infrastructure their artworks are depended on (more then the art they make)
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20180406

I support art price regulation. No artwork of mine should cost more then it costed produce. Labor costs are depend on national avarages (In Finland ~2800€/month). The resale price must be the same as the original. In response to Art + Taxes = The Dirty Truth by The Art Assignment and other similar raports.

Marvin Gaye sings I Heard it Through the Grapevine in an isolated vocal track.

We send an application for the Sculpture Expanded call organized by The Association of Finnish Sculptors with the Neighborizome crew. The proposal has a bodybuilding vibe to it.

The Finnish Performance Art Bank has announced a call for new artwork entries to their sales/promotion/archive site. They’ve joined forces with the Artsi museum: Artist who join the bank (or update their old entries) can also apply as performers for the Performance Days -event (7.6.) held in Artsi. The selected artist will receive a 600€ fee (the jury consists of museum staff and Muu ry members). I think it’s great that there is an open call for a exhibition opening performance (the exhibition will show works by Erkki Pirtola) but I think using the call to lure artists to join the bank is tacky.

My article for Mustekala.org concerning Environmental- / Land Art Conservation is being edited! I got the first edited draft for review on Thursday and promised to send them notes and fixes by Monday.