Gigantic advertisement screens feel offbeat in Helsinki. I just witnessed the giga-screen of Musiikkitalo blasting adds against the gray Kiasma walls. One cyclist passed their confrontation in the rain, leaving the remaining snow glimmering alone in neon colors. Amos Rex mega-screen illuminated the entire empty plaza.<\/p>\n
Below is an extract from an interview of Agnes Denes, conducted om the 5th of Oct. 2018 at the artists studio in Manhattan. I transcribed the 48m interview yesterday on the artists demand.<\/p>\n
Agnes Denes: My poetry became haikus. Because the language was a restriction, so the haiku was an.. Well, not easier mode of expression, because it had restrictions but I wrote many haikus and then I buried them. <\/i><\/p>\n
Johannes Held\u0117n: ..as a part of the Rice bur..<\/i><\/p>\n
A: I buried all the writings and I tried desperately to remember my haikus because they were beautiful but I kept no copies. I wanted to divest myself of something that I loved, to get something back from soil. <\/i><\/p>\n
J: That\u2019s very beautiful. <\/i><\/p>\n
A: I wanted to give it, to get. And there was one haiku I tried to remember.. And I can\u2019t.. But I can tell you what it was. I was sitting in a fog, next to water and the fog descended on top of the water. And a mosquito landed on my arm and the haiku was that, the mosquito knew it\u2019s platform but I lost mine.<\/i><\/p>\n
J: Oh, that\u2019s beautiful. I love it.<\/i><\/p>\n
A: Isn’t that gorgeous?<\/i><\/p>\n
J: It is!<\/i><\/p>\n
A: And I can\u2019t remember it, the haiku.<\/i><\/p>\n
J: To be honest, when you are describing it like this and there is also the idea of the haiku but we can\u2019t hear it, I think that makes it even more beautiful.<\/i><\/p>\n
A: The mosquito knew my skin was its platform but I lost mine, because the fog descended on the water.<\/i><\/p>\n
J: The haiku is lost, there is a beauty to that too<\/i><\/p>\n
Eero Yli-Vakkuri: I\u2019m now thinking about the Tree Mountain, there is this strong scent of death, somehow in this work. A feeling of getting lost, somehow. Am I interpreting it correctly, that there is like a sense of.. A sorrow of death?<\/i><\/p>\n
A: Of what?<\/i><\/p>\n
E: Of death.<\/i><\/p>\n
A: What\u2019s the word?<\/i><\/p>\n
E: Death.<\/i><\/p>\n
A: Death, like dead death, like as in died?<\/i><\/p>\n
E: Yes.<\/i><\/p>\n
A: So how does that come into this?<\/i><\/p>\n
E: I don\u2019t know it came to mind when you were talking about that haiku. Sort of these forgotten memories.<\/i><\/p>\n
A: Oh, the giving things up.<\/i><\/p>\n
E: Putting.. Stuff to the ground..<\/i><\/p>\n
A: Jeah. Ok. So, ask the question<\/i>.<\/p>\n
E: There is no question, perhaps. It was a short..<\/i><\/p>\n
A: There is no question but you want an answer?<\/i><\/p>\n
[Laughter]<\/i><\/p>\n
J: That\u2019s a good quote. That\u2019s a pretty good quote.<\/i><\/p>\n
E: That\u2019s my life.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gigantic advertisement screens feel offbeat in Helsinki. I just witnessed the giga-screen of Musiikkitalo blasting adds against the gray Kiasma walls. One cyclist passed their confrontation in the rain, leaving the remaining snow glimmering alone in neon colors. Amos Rex mega-screen illuminated the entire empty plaza. Below is an extract from an interview of Agnes … <\/p>\n