Finally the sun has made a come back and I get the video footage I want. It is a cloudy day although this has added to the mystery of what is behind the blind. The sun gently fades in and out creating an abstract image which on this occasion is not recognisable as leaves and branches. On full brightness the blind becomes smouldering embers or a burning piece of paper. Intermittently the movement is disrupted by the still image as the light fades. Sitting outside drinking my tea I hear the rustle of the leaves and life buzzing around me. I would like to record the sound of the forest and have this playing alongside the video of the domestic blind. I feel I am observing and recording life animations. This has come up in my work before the desire to use what is already in the world as material and a fascination with the way things move through space. The T.V and the domestic blind videos, are they a poetic, playful take on the way we consume images in our homes? It felt really good to have got the footage on DV tape which made me feel re-energized for the day ahead. I did some chores around the house such as washing up outside on the veranda, collecting wood, and drawing water from the well. I had a walk to the nearest shop which is around two miles up on the main road. It’s funny when you are not sure as to were you are going the journey seems longer. I eventually find the store and on the way back I make a wrong turn not recognising any familiar visual land marks. I turn back and realise were I went wrong. At a fork in the road my natural instinct was to veer left. However in Finland people drive on the right which eventually lead me back to the house.
Just received good news, my cardboard cut-out has arrived at Gallery Jangva!
Yesterday Anna did the washing up outside and left the plates on a long cotton cloth to dry. The cloth is fringed with red crocheted lace and embroidered with the initials T.V. It wasn’t until I put the plates away and hung the cloth out to dry that I made the association of T.V with television. I firstly photographed the hanging cloth and then straightened it to look more like a television, rectangular shape. I left a strip at the bottom revealing the grass behind. I recorded this on video using an upside down bucket as a tripod. I used Anna’s high res digital camera which is quite old although takes brilliant pictures that picks up the delicate detail of the textured white cotton. I would like to video the cloth again on a windier day and placed in different positions to make this simple piece more animated. However I like the minimal action in the video and how this parody’s the limited mental and physical action of watching TV. I wonder am I longing for T.V? Yet again my work is waiting on weather permitting with the day starting overcast and rainy. The weather is teaching me to wait and not force the work. When the time is right the work will come. As the rain falls outside I am warm and toasty inside the house with the fire crackling and burning away. I simply have to keep the fire going, adding logs one at a time. The stove quickly heats up the water which I used to have a wash in the sauna after my run. It’s amazing how little water is needed compared to the amount used by a shower. Anna’s cousin and partner arrive later today, they will be staying in the other house until Sunday. I still haven’t heard if my cardboard cut-out has arrived in Helsinki, I think I may have to chase this up as it has been a week since I sent it from the UK.
Not a very arty day today. I have been preparing for a telephone interview and could only really put my mind to this. The job is for a Visual Assistant at Debenhams and I did some research on their website. It was a bit odd having an interview in the forest. I think it went OK. I now have to wait 21 days for a response, if I am successful I will have another interview and possibly a practical test. All this for a £6.50 an hour job. The past two days here have been overcast and I am not feeling particularly creative. The obvious thing to do would be to make something in the forest but the world doesn’t need another Andy Goldsworthy. I’m not one for making work from rocks and leaves. I feel more drawn to my immediate surroundings such as the house I am staying in. I have taken some photographs and I particularly like the make shift veranda at the back of the other house. The slats are placed like a wooden pier offering a viewing platform. I slept last night surrounded by a mosquito net. I love the idea of this being placed unexpectedly in the forest. These images have something in common they are fragile, sometimes incomplete structures. A reflection of how I am feeling maybe? On a happier note I found this home made shoe cleaner. This image could be printed and placed on the floor making it functionless.
Woke up around eight this morning and got the camera set-up to video the orange blind. It was a bit overcast outside although I still waited patiently for the light to shine through the window. I waited an hour and then some faint ripple of action started to happen. This didn’t last long and five minutes into recording the light seemed to fade. I lay in bed watching and waiting, half an hour later nothing. I decided to leave the video recording until the end of the tape and fell back to sleep. Not a good day for filming so I will try again in the morning. After a disappointing start to my day we drove into town to grab a few things and on the way back to the house we came across a sign for an art exhibition. Anna seemed surprised and warned me not to build my hopes up regarding the quality of the work.
Galleria Kohina appears to be located in a wooden house which I later find out is also used as a theatre. The exhibition is a group show and I recognised one of the artists, Tero Nauha who will also be performing at Gallery Jangva, Helsinki at Night of the Arts. Tero’s work is displayed on a small DVD screen and he appears to be dancing with himself to a different tune. Each dance is cropped within a third of the frame. I was intrigued and repulsed by another performance to camera piece titled Korea-Finland by Hyun Joo Min (www.hyunjoomin.com). Her head and shoulders are in shot and she proceeds to eat foods associated with Finland and Korea. For example to be more Finnish she eats sausage and drinks cider, to be more Korean she eats whole raw chillies. The result is sexual and grotesque. The video was shown on a monitor and blacked out by tarpaulin. I liked the simple presentation of the work with the sheet pulled slightly back revealing a peek into the space. It was good to see work by other artists and I enjoyed the performance to camera pieces. Encouraging to see strong work being made and exhibited in unexpected places.
We have regular access to the internet woo hoo! This means that there is no excuse not to make regular posts. Yesterday we went to a near by town called Joensuu and visited a flea market. I purchased a set of colourful plastic egg cups for 5 euros. Then another trip to the supermarket. On the way back we hung out by a large lake and had a quick swim. It’s amazing how the day gets filled until dinner time followed by The Game of LIFE. In this round I was a rock star earning $100,000, a far cry from being an artist and working in a shop. Each player has a plastic car and tiny little figures are added as the game unfolds. I wonder if the little plastic pieces will jump to the base of the music on top of the speaker? I will try this out later today. Keep thinking about creating some mini bunting to hang across the top of the speaker to frame the micro event. My studio is a wooden table outside and I start the day writing my blog. No run this morning as I want to get on and think about what to make. In the bedroom there is a Rothko esq orange blind which acts as a screen for the dancing shadow of leaves. The warm orange glow is mesmerising and I used a video camera to record it. There is another blind in the living room that is white with less shadows. The structure of the window frames remind me of celluloid film. What if I could have a figure walking across each frame? Behind the window at the back of the house the ground is low with high foliage which would make this difficult to achieve, but not impossible. I can visualise the image of the dancing blind on a pop up screen in a gallery space. I have never really liked pop up stand screens although I think it would be perfect for showing this, still in the making video. I filmed the windows straight on and at a slight angle I want to experiment more with this.
