For this milestone episode I thought it was a good time to check in with myself, and try another round of interviewing myself - exactly one year since the first attempt. And when I talk to myself we never end, so this is a conceptual episode in several chapters. I did two long interviews with myself in my studio in Helsinki, one in the daytime and one in the middle of the night, and then I edited parts of these recordings together as one long conversation - it ended up so long that I had to divide it into several episodes, so here is the first part of a long talk between me, myself and I about our master's thesis project The Silence of Sea Tower, an ambient noise sound art project that I self-published on cassette tape this Spring.In this chapter I invite you into the magical realism of my studio, where I have been living and recording the sound of my surroundings the last year. I discuss the myth of neutral, objective field recording, the personality traits of kitchen appliances and the voices of tube lights, and reflect on my own role as performer in my everyday soundscape. I also explain how it feels to live in secrecy in my workspace, how I navigate the shared sounding space of the building, and how my way of listening to myself and my surroundings has changed during this project.For inquiries about purchasing The Silence of Sea Tower on cassette tape, send an email to [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I meet Laura Lowe in her studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, to look at her very large paintings of gloomy yet shiny, abstract landscapes. We discuss when a painting is dead or alive, the decay and resurrection of landscape painting in the era of climate change, and Laura tells how she went from self-taught artist to alchemist in the paint lab. She describes the technical process of working with structural colour (and what that even is), the difference to painting and sculpting a picture, and she tells about her long experimental process of creating iridescent paint and working with light-reflection. We talk about the practical aspects of scaling up and working from tiny samples to large canvases, and how the exhibition space affects the artwork. Laura also explains how to turn roadkill into taxidermy sculptures, and we talk a bit about coal.Laura's websiteLaura's InstagramAcademy of Fine Arts Helsinki's website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I meet Roberto Fusco in HAA Gallery, on the old military island Suomenlinna close to Helsinki, to talk about his and Emma Fält's multimedia installation in the group exhibition Sweet Water, Rough Water. Roberto explains how he has translated numeric data of waves in the ocean into computer animations, and then laser-engraved selected stills onto paper. We talk about the serenity of storms, the poetics of meteorology, and capturing a secret moment in time and making it last forever for everyone to see. We discuss how artists and scientists can work with the same material with each their objectives and procedures, how different premises affect the process, and what it means to take creative license when the raw data is insufficient. We also talk about remote collaboration, and how precious it can be to find yourself in a well-functioning artist duo.This episode contains samples of the original installation-sound by Roberto, which I have composed for the intro part of this episode.Roberto's websiteRoberto's InstagramEmma's websiteValmed ry's websiteHAA Gallery's websiteHAA Gallery's Facebook page Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this experimental participatory-audio-performance-turned-into-podcast episode, I talk to Fjolla Hoxha about her investigative theatre performance What is seen and what’s (left) behind the scene? in Studio Pasila in Helsinki. We learn about the history of Finnish theatre - the Helsinki City Theatre movement in particular - and talk about the invisible labour happening behind the stage. We discuss dramaturgy, the differences between theatre and performance art, the role of the director, and the relationships and dynamics between all the creative decision makers in an art production. Fjolla also tells about being Albanian during the war in Kosovo, how she learned about self-organised forms of resistance and collective perseverance while studying in illegal, underground schools, and how she has later developed creative writing methods to work with her memories and trauma.This episode contains clips from the original audio piece from the performance, with sound design and editing by Timo Viialainen (re-edited by me for this podcast), and ambient recordings from the performance, recorded by me. The original performance-audio contains archival material, and reenacted interviews with present-day theatre workers.Fjolla's InstagramFjolla's research(sound designer) Timo's websiteWhat is seen and what's (left) behind the scene?Helsinki City Theatre's websiteStudio Pasila's websiteHodja from Pjort on IMDB Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I visit Yun-Chen Chang's performance/exhibition Relax on a Shaky Ground, in the White Studio in the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki. We talk about inviting other artists into multidisciplinary collaborations, how to dance with tables, what it takes for an item to change from functional object to art piece or inanimate performer, how many sounds you can produce with one table - and how to avoid being labeled as a furniture-artist. We also discuss the concept of an ongoing, evolving sculpture installation and soundscape, what it means to respond to existing architecture, and how to morph a space without changing its aesthetic characteristics. Yun-Chen reflects on the artist's bodily presence in a performance, and explains how a choreographed structure created safety for improvisation in this project. We also talk about earthquakes, how the feeling of being (away from) home can manifest itself in your dreams, turning embodied memories into spatial experiences, and whether we live several lives when we are asleep.This episode contains ambient sound from one of Yun-Chen's performances recorded by me, with original sound design by Jouni Ilari Tapio and music performance by Teemu Mustonen. This episode also contains selected dreams from Yun-Chen's dream diary, recorded by the artist for the exhibition.Yun-Chen's InstagramYun-Chen's Facebook pageJouni's InstagramLAPS' websiteLAPS' Facebook pageWhite Studio's website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natalie Hamada talks us through her solo exhibition of serigraphy prints, Tell all the truth but tell it slant, in Myymälä2 gallery in Helsinki, and meanwhile she tells us about her life in Syria, the war, and how she moved to Finland to study her master's in the art academy right when the country shut down for the first lockdown. We learn about her collage-style silk screen-printing technique, working with many layers and strong colours on different paper materials, and she explains how she mixes old family photographs with found images, working somewhere between memory and imagination, to create a new kind of photo album of familiar characters. We talk about the loneliness of moving to a new country on your own, studying and creating art in pandemic isolation, and how to integrate and establish a life after graduation. This episode contains the stark contrast between Natalie's delicate, colourful prints, and the heavy, dark experiences of living in an active war zone, and I am very grateful that she shared her stories with me and allowed me to share them with you.Natalie's websiteNatalie's InstagramMyymälä2's websiteMyymälä2's Facebook page Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is a triptych experiment wherein I visit Madeleine Andersson three times in Helsinki Cable Factory, during her three month artist residency in HIAP. We have an ongoing conversation about her artistic research on - among other things - speculative theory, radical stupidity, petrosexuality and toilet-science, and her first stay in Finland. She talks us through her ideas, challenges and decisions along the way, and as I follow the progress of her work, we simultaneously form a new friendship off record. We talk about different work methods and -motivations, how this form of self-employment affects your personal life and mental state, and we get to follow the expansion of Madeleine's mind map on the wall in her studio as her projects evolve. This is a fragmented, intimate insight into the (slightly chaotic) process of developing an artistic project, from pitch to final shape, and a discussion of the academic aspects of art, and how it can overlap with science and philosophy. We branch out and touch on many different topics, and reflect on some of the premises and opportunities that go along with an artist career, such as the concept of artist residencies. And we laugh, quite a lot!Madeleine's websiteHIAP's websiteHIAP's Facebook pageCable Factory's websiteCable Factory's Facebook page Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jenni Haili takes me on a historical photography tour through the eyes of her great-great-aunt Fanny and her great-aunt Signe, two women from each side of her family tree and each side of Finland, who both left their home at a young age in the beginning of the 20th century and moved to America. Jenni has researched their relocations and travelled in their footsteps, visualising their lives in an installation of overlapping places and time: a suggestive reconstruction of lost memories. For her solo exhibition Voyage Out in Forum Box gallery in Helsinki, she has made a vast collection of new ambrotypes, mixing historical, current and imagined landscapes and cityscapes, using the distinct photo technique as an aesthetic glue for her collage. Jenni guides us through the two timelines chronologically, while we get to know about the history and chemistry of the delicate, old school process of working with wet plate collodion photography. We also talk about creative compromises and ongoing projects, and getting to know your own family through historical and artistic research.Jenni's websiteJenni's InstagramForum Box's websiteForum Box's Facebook page Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I visit [of sound] sonic arts exhibition by Äänen Lumo in Oksasenkatu 11 gallery in Helsinki, for an all-round chat with one of the artists, Marloes van Son, and one of the curators, Minerva Juolahti. From each their perspective, they tell me about the enduring process from open call through pre-production to installation, and finally observing the audience's meeting with the works. We talk about curation as an art form, the practicalities of being one piece out of many in the puzzle of a group show, and we get some technical insight into the electronics and programming of Marloes' interactive installation of sounding chairs. We also talk more generally about the sound art-scene in Helsinki, and how they and other artists are experimenting with the genre and creating opportunities for it to expand. And, last but not least, we take a walk through the gallery so you can hear the different artworks and how they affect each other in the space.Minerva's websiteMinerva's InstagramMarloes' websiteMarloes' InstagramÄänen Lumo's websiteÄänen Lumo's Facebook pageOksasenkatu 11's websiteOksasenkatu 11's Facebook pageOksasenkatu 11's Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I talk with Eetu Vekki and Corinne Mustonen about the interdisciplinary exhibition and performance collaboration Ex Machina in The Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki's gallery Kuva/Tila. We sit in the middle of Eetu's sculptural light installation of AI-produced images engraved into paper, and we are immersed in a soundscape by Murrettumeri. In a series of dance performances, Corinne interpreted Eetu's work with her body and activated the installation, based on a translation process where the graphical images were interpreted as a dance score, choreographed by Eetu and performed by Corinne. We talk about collaborative strategies and collective production methods, Eetu explains how he has experimented with Midjourney AI to produce a new form of musical notes, and Corinne tells about how the outside eye of a choreographer can give her the freedom of intuitive expression when dancing, and how she considers her body to be an archive of movement. We also touch on the question of authorship when people and AI co-create, and reflect on the similarities and differences between machines working with prompts and the human body interpreting other media into dance. Eetu and Corinne talk about how the group has been translating between different creatives languages and materials, transforming text to images into music and dance, reading every variation as music- or dance scores.This episode contains sound clips recorded by me, from the Ex Machina performance by Eetu Vekki & co. Original sound design by Murrettumeri, costume design by Raisa Raudas, and violin by Meriheini Luoto.Eetu's websiteEetu's InstagramCorinne's websiteCorinne's InstagramMurrettumeri's InstagramMurrettumeri on SoundcloudRaisa's InstagramEx Machina on FacebookKuva/Tila's website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.