{"id":9053,"date":"2020-02-03T16:36:17","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T14:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eero.storijapan.net\/docfolio\/?post_type=jetpack-portfolio&p=9053"},"modified":"2024-03-27T12:13:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T10:13:34","slug":"waterworks-2020","status":"publish","type":"jetpack-portfolio","link":"https:\/\/eero.storijapan.net\/docfolio\/portfolio\/waterworks-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Waterworks (2020\u2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2018 I was invited to join the Various Stages of Ruins<\/a> initiative, led by the Alkovi organization. The project investigates knowledge\u00a0 \u2013its formation and distribution tactics\u2013 and the notion of a \u2018ruin\u2019. Our group, led by Miina Hujala<\/strong> & Arttu Merimaa<\/strong> embarked on expeditions to Russia where we met with various artists and organizers and explored Finnish-Russian relations in the framework of contemporary art. We also visited villages in the Karelia, searching for natural springs in \u041a\u0443\u0440\u043a\u0438\u0435\u043a\u0438 and \u0419\u043e\u0301\u0445\u0430\u043d\u043d\u0435\u0441 \/ \u0421\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0442\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439. Informed by these excursions I prepared performances for ASI space in Fabrika, Moscow and Zarya, Vladivostok. The performances explored the effects waters from specific sites have on our sense of an environment and its past.<\/p>\n

Various Stages of Ruins coincided with the Performing the Fringe initiative led by curators Inga L\u0101ce<\/strong> and Jussi Koitela<\/strong>, who invited a group of artists for long treks in the suburbs of Stockholm, Pori and Vilnius. Participants prepared artworks based on discussions with local activists, researchers and encounters with the sites. In Stockholm I prepared a performance for a family which lived close to our host organization Konsthall C<\/a> and manufactured them mineral water using stones their house was built from as an ingredient. Documentations of this encounter were presented in Konsthall C and later in Pori Art museum<\/a>, where we also prepared a public artwork p3rm46r4ff171<\/a> with Jesse Sipola<\/strong>. In 2020 I was invited to New Performance Turku, where I organized an expedition to a remote natural spring in Kukonm\u00e4ki.<\/p>\n

I was introduced to performance artist Tea Andreoletti<\/strong> who also has an interest in spring waters and has trained as a water sommelier. Together with Tea we prepared a performance for the Anti Contemporary Art Festival 2020 in Kuopio. We discovered that the majority of natural springs in the city had been destroyed by urban planners but that there was a surviving spring far from the center near the Puijo natural reserve. We gained insight into the city’s water affairs from a local water activist Sirpa Vuori<\/strong> and organized hikes through the forest which lead to the Poukama spring. We collected water, discussed the geological processes that characterize its taste and the expeditions highlighted in a water tasting session where Tea introduced how to identify subtle taste differences in a selection of waters we provided. We also hosted a Water Bar in an evening event, which served a variety of waters from different sites around the city and artificial mineral waters such as Moon Mist, which was based on the mineral composition of the Moon.<\/p>\n

In 2021 we made a video \u201cTasting is the process of comparing two or more ingredients to each other\u201d for Protection Spells (MoCa \/ Shift Key<\/a>) curated by Native Art Department International<\/a>. The video guides viewers how to prepare buildings for drinking and to prepare bodies tasting. The video was accompanied by a booklet titled Tasting Book<\/a>, with illustrations by Thomas Berra<\/strong>. Coinciding with this I began working with the Kur\u00e4ngen Spring in Sipoonkorpi and I also had the opportunity to perform at the Kiila by k\u00e4lla at the Kiila Sound Days festival. Eventually the Kur\u00e4ngen Spring initiative developed into community initiative for developing local environmental awareness<\/a> produced for the Mad House Helsinki Nomad house program 2022.<\/p>\n

In 2023 a portable water purification plant was exhibited at the Lappeenranta Art Museum’s The Surface Holds Depths<\/a> -exhibition curated by Hujala & Merimaa. The plant included a kombucha-cellulose oil-filter prepared under the suprvision of artist Alexey Buldakov<\/strong>. For the summer Tea and I were commissioned<\/a> by the Instytut Kultury Miejskiej<\/a> in Gda\u0144sk by curator Anna Mitus<\/strong> and prepared a custom mineral water \u201cWypij Morze!\u201d (Drink Sea!). It’s ingredients mimicked the composition of the Baltic Sea and was drafted in collaboration with Institute of Oceanology PAN scientists. The drink was launched as a part of a \u201cBar (S\u0142ono)Wodny\u201d (Sea Water Bar) installation. In the same autumn the project was exhibited as a part of Drifts -festival curated by Soko Hwang<\/strong> & Giovanna Esposito Yussif<\/strong> at old water purification plant of Helsinki. In 2024 we published texts<\/a> on tasting in the “Aquatic Encounters – a glossary of hydrofeminisms” edited by Elina Suoyrj\u00f6<\/strong> & Anastasia A Khodyreva<\/strong>.<\/p>\n