ARS HAME 09, Riihimaki, Finland

Yesterday i performed my line drawing for the first time. I was anxious about this because it is usually quite a private activity in the studio, that only those who have a deep understanding of my practice have witnessed.

At 6pm a sizable crowd gathered and i was due to start. Should i say something first? Should i round everyone together? They all seemed quite happy chatting – so i decided just to start without making a scene. The noise was penetrating as the sharp graphite nib of the pencil scored along the canvas, and it soon caught everyone’s attention. Some people sat in a semi circle around me on the floor, near the tv monitor (Liam set up a video camera on the drawing and hooked it up to a live feed on a tv monitor, so the audience could see the detail of the drawing). Although i had my back to everyone because i was drawing, i was aware of movement and activity behind me – i could recognise people out of the corner of my eye, and they were taking photos and films on their small digital cameras. To my surprise, a man came up very close to me, and took quick photos with a huge camera and big flash, it was clear that he was from the press. The performance was generating more of a reaction that i had expected.

I drew for an hour and became more relaxed in my rhythm, and so did the audience – they all seemed very calm around me. Despite me thinking that they would get bored of this repetitive activity, most of them stayed for the full hour.

My arm ached, i could feel blisters developing on my palm, my body swayed from side to side as i drew the full length of the line, and i got a stitch. It hurt when i sharpened the pencils, and their nibs kept breaking. So much dust was produced. I had forgotten what a physical activity this drawing was, i became bored, but very determined and tired. Sometimes i would draw slowly and then i got fed up, so went really quickly for a short amount of time, until the nib broke again. The pencil made a sharp scraping sound on the fabric and perspex, a different sound each way, left to right, or right to left.

I found myself deep in thought as drew, thoughts about what the drawing meant and represented came into my head, and i wish i could had written them down for the seminar. I could also hear people in the background talking about the drawing, and what it meant for them, or what it looked like.

At 7pm, the performance ended and i took down the ruler and fabric. Everyone crowded round the remaining drawing on the wall with curiosity and took photos, and the room was filled with conversation and energy.

I was exhausted, but very pleased the audience had responded so well.

“Good Morning, we’re in the press!” I wish i could understand Finnish – my first press appearance, and i don’t understand it! (we’ll ask Markku to translate later).

Today is effectively a studio day before my first Performance tomorrow evening, not only my first performance here, but my first performance ever. I need to think carefully about how to conduct myself – what do i wear? do i speak to the visitors? what happens if people look bored? etc etc. We are hoping to set a video camera up to film my drawing, and link it to a live feed on a laptop or tv. The reason for this is to capture the detail of my drawing, which the audience won’t be able to see. Even if we cannot arrange the live feed in time, i will atleast have a video. (this should please Victoria, who has been encouraging me to do a video piece since my Plaza work last August).

We didn’t make it down to the shop unit today, but we sourced some materials and Edwina found me some huge sheets of perspex in her garage – i will attach these to the wall, work on them with paint and polyfiller and then score my line on top of these additional surfaces. Im not sure how to arrange the perspex sheets yet, but they will be sympathetic to the traces in the space.

At 3.30pm the students who are joining us for the week arrived, they are from Glasgow School of Art and will be taking part in Lisa Torell’s Urban Spaces workshop with us. We quickly made our way over to the power station where the Art Week was opening. I was called to the front with the other Artists, and again was oblivious to what was being said. The event was very social, and we spoke to a lot of people, the Art community here is very close.

At 6pm we then went to the Art Museum in Riihimaki where a national exhibition of recycled art was opening, the theme ties into the Art Week well. I have noticed that Finnish exhibition openings have very long speeches, by several people – but apparently this is normal, and the formal thing to do. I spoke to Lloyd, who is Satu’s husband – he teaches English here. We compared the differences between the Finnish and British art systems… in Finland, even quite established Artists have to pay for an exhibition space (1500/2000 euros), Lloyd was surprised to hear that in Britain, Artists get paid a fee to exhibit in a show, and when they are installing, making work or doing workshops, there is a standard fee that they can expect to be paid. Im finding it very interesting to learn about these differences… we have little reason to complain in Britain really.

Tomorrow i need to install my perspex pieces, paint surfaces, and set up the video camera, and ofcourse… perform my drawing! (wow!)

We had a press meeting at 10am in the old power station which is acting as the center for the Art Week. Most of the meeting was in Finnish, so i didn’t understand much, but was too busy being in awe of this huge space. I was introduced to the group and met Sirpa and Satu, and then said a few words about what i was hoping to do here, bearing in mind that i had been in Finland for less that 12 hours at this point. Afterwards a lady came up to speak to me, she was really enthusiastic about my line drawing and performance, which was touching, afterwards Edwina told me that she was from the press, and somehow i found that even more touching.

At 2.30pm we got the key to the space where i will be working. This was the first time that Edwina or myself had been into the space, and we explored the rooms with enthusiasm. There is one main space, with smaller rooms off of it, and some stairs that don’t lead anywhere. I said the space felt like a hospital because it was incredibly clean and subtle in its colour – mostly blues and grays, Edwina said that this is typical Finnish. I believe that that space used to be an insurance firm or something similar, there are marks on the floor where the desks used to be, and scratches on the floor from where someone used to sit on their swivel office chair. I liked these quiet traces of a previous use very much, my favorites were some dusty, grubby marks on the wall where some pictures or certificates had previously hung. These traces are very much what my graphite line drawings are inspired by; the subtle traces that humans leave on architecture as the result of repetitive activity.

At 5pm we went to a flea market / 2nd hand shop / junk yard. I dont know how i had previously survived as an Artist without it – everything i ever needed was here, and everything that i didn’t was too; doors, sinks, window frames, glass, sewing machines, bits of metal, mirrors, shoelaces, sledges, skis, crockery, spinning wheels… Im pretty sure that i will be visiting again.

We rounded the day off by going to a private view in the next town, at Hyvinkaan Taidemuseo where there was a retrospective of Jani Leinonen’s drawings, paintings and interventions (although he is only 31). It felt very much like Pop Art and was concerned with consumer culture – i liked his interventions the most, for example his Art Supermarket and a project where he painted over old pictures the public had found in their attics, making them into contemporary works of art and selling them on for a lot of euro’s.

I am in the right frame of mind to make my own work now – there is plenty to do, and have the Opening Party to look forward to tomorrow.

I am so over familiar with Stansted airport now, it is a frequented non-place for me – i even have a routine when i go there which involves a flit around the perfume shop, a visit to WH Smiths to buy Harpers Bazaar and a sit down at Pret with an over-hot cup of tea. I wrote down some thoughts on non places whilst i waited for my gate number to come up on the screen and observed people who worked in this non place every day, also going to Pret for an over-hot cup of tea during their breaks. Is it a non-place for them too?

After pretending that my hand luggage weighed less that 10kg (rather than 14kg), i found a window seat on the plane, and a couple sat next to me;

Man: “Are you from Finland?”

Sam: “No, im from England, Norwich…”

Man: “Oh, you are just very quiet – i thought you were Finnish”

The flight was about 2hrs 30 minutes and the sun set as the plane flew over the coast of Finland, whispers of thin cloud illuminated magenta and the ground below was in shadow, apart from a mass of amazing lakes and networks of wide rivers below which shone up at us like mirrors.

Edwina met me at the airport and i was fed jaffa cakes and chocolate on our way to Riihimaki. The journey took about 1 hour and we ended with a tour of Riihimaki by street light, the train station, shopping mall, roundabouts where some public sculptures have already been installed, the high street and the empty building where i will be working.

It is Thursday morning now and we are just leaving to head into town for a press meeting at 10am – i can’t wait to see Finland in daylight.

Packing:

sketchbook, pencil case (pencils, pens, scissors, pencil sharpeners), masking tape, big digital camera, small digital camera, holga camera, single use cameras, “Non Places” by Marc Auge, “Lines” by Tim Ingold, “Deleuze & Guattari for Architects” by Andrew Ballantyne, laptop.