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20201020

Listened to James Bridle New Ways Of Seeing (2019) which “reimagines John Berger’s Ways of Seeing”. Felt like an throwback to the past glory days of media-art. Some interesting new stuff too, like terra0 the cybernetic forest (by Paul Seidler, Paul Kolling & Max Hampshire). Their modular, open-source framework is available on Github. The project is affiliated with Moneylab, which is fun as I just helped to stream an event related to it at Oodi. Bridle’s presentation is stuck on gaze. He repeats numerously (and in numerous ways) that seeing is knowing: That by gaining a view to the inner-working of a system, we could overcome its effect on us. I don’t share this optimism. Knowing is not power: Power is power, and the power to employ is the Power.

I’ve visited the Kurängen spring (60.288403,25.214754) area twice after the first visit. We found a wooden-frame which has been build to protect the spring opening (mentioned here). I cleaned the foundation of the spring by removing plant life from the bottom and leaves from the top. Found gray clay in the bottom soil. Could it be used for pottery? While cleaning, the clay tainted the spring-pond, which revealed the exact location where water is gushing out. An incredible site. It’s mentioned on the Helsinki city database of natural resources.

Preparing the Encountering Taste performance with Tea Andreoletti. Preparations are fun and have progressed steadily. Interviewed Sirpa Vuori a Kuopio resident who was witnessed the decay of city springs from 1988 onwards. Spotted her from an interview on Savon Sanomat (Kuopion kaupunki mylläsi lähteensä, 03.03.2014). During our interview I got a detailed witness account of the destruction of the Linnanpelto spring and a thorough mapping of past spring usage by city residents. A small detail:  Her neighbor had a sealed document granting her the right to use the Linnanpelto spring as a supply. The neighbor had received this document when resettling to Kuopio from the north (as a refugee). Suvi from Anti festival got her hands on a great document Lähteet Kuopiossa (2011) Teppo Tossavainen which offer a technical view to the springs. She visited many of the sites mentioned in the survey and it appears that the Poukama Spring is the only one left.

Digging Filament 1 (2007) Sachiko M and planning to modify my Arturia Keystep following Toms Jensens Janko Project 00 guide (also on Thingiverse). Sourced parts for a diy Norns build (the PCB is from Pusherman) but I don’t have time to commit to the build.

Got a temporary teaching gig at Aalto and bought Cobra Biker Hook Jac-Dingo boots from a Finnish manufacture Boot Factory run by Pekka Lahti.

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20191013

Saw Television by Niko Hallikainen at Mad House Helsinki. He appeared confident and included various stage tech maintenance maneuvers into the performance (toggling lights and the space heating). Seeing the performer crossing the stage, just to turn the heating off before starting their monologue made me feel I was in good hands. He shared an eventful and touching love story but I think an underlying motive of the piece was to explore how virtual spaces can be formed using spoken word. In the beginning Hallikainen confessed the performance was an attempt to build a a temple for a departed lover and described various interiors they had been in: A bar, his home, their home, a strangers home. The hints we were offered to visualize the spaces were subtle. He described things in them (DVD covers, coffee machines), mapped their relations spatially and prompted us to “use our imaginations” if we wanted to sort out how the spaces were configured. His words felt like projections. A magical portal, the TV or screen (emphasized by blue lights on stage) which links all interiors together, was identified using words and a dance. The mood of the performance and the tone of his voice reminded me of the Neuromancer 1994 audiobook.

Visited a Synthetic Youth -event at Cactus. Particularly liked Kanyon2000000 and 8 bits High was super, got me dancing too. They are having a tour in libraries (9.11 Ylöjärvi and Tampere) which is very fitting for music made with keyboards. Kanyon2000000 has a picture online where they are posing in front of the Oodi modular.

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20190602

I hope the Oodi laser cutter is fixed cause I want to make a eurorack case for travel. Also interested in building a passive VCA/LPG (see szabomate on Muffwiggler) or a DIY vactrol poor man’s LPG or a Shoosh (for eurorack). Bought rails for the 1u row of my case. I should continue working on the mineral water electronic monitor (I need to make a strong amplifier to hear water better). After this I’ll experiment with running signals trough water using different capacitors. To make lower frequencies audible, I’ll have to play with the cap values of my Elektrosluch. Learning about water adjustment too.

AirPods Are a Tragedy (2019) Caroline Haskins. A pretty plain text. It’s a part of a interesting “Future Relics” column series. The concept reminds me of Archeology of the Future, which we coined with Jesse back in the days as an attempt to criticize present day consumerism by imagining ourselves as archeologist in the future.

Learning how to change bike wheel spokes. Saving money is hard work. #ॐ

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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.