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.
After a six and a half hour drive we arrive at the summer house in Louhioja in Northern Karelia. The journey went surprisingly quick with myself and Anna catching up on life and a Hess burger along the way. The Puhakka family house has two wooden homes and we are staying in the smaller abode. The house is filled with family ephemera, photographs and pictures are displayed on the walls. I am sleeping in the bedroom near the wooden fire which meant that I was warm and toasty last night. Anna’s sister was in labour during the night and we celebrated the coming of her niece with a few extra ciders. After a late night we woke up early and after breakfast I went for a run through the forest. The soft ground felt good beneath my feet a contrast from the concrete city streets. There is no shower or bath here so I had a quick dip in the lake. We foraged in the forest for mushrooms and although it looks like we gathered many, a lot were thrown away as they were poisonous. Right now I feel super relaxed and looking forward to a sauna this evening. The weather here is warm and I feel relieved of my daily home routine. My days here will not be routine less as later in the evenings the fire will have to be lit, water drawn from the well and the sauna prepared. Anna and myself agreed to just relax into our residency. Although Anna really wants to get started on her grant application for her solo show. At this moment in time I have no idea what to make. What has catched my eye is the old school speaker in the living room which makes the little bits of paper on top dance to the base of the music.
When we go to the forest I will not have regular access to the internet so I will be using the old fashioned method, pen and paper. As I have mentioned before in my previous Chongqing, China blog there’s something about airports and travelling that frees my mind from my worries and anxieties. I feel like I am open to making new work and would like to make a piece which doesn’t end in the usual anti-climax. What if I could really take the audience somewhere else, like the trusty calming voice of a pilot preparing passengers for take off. It’s crazy busy at Heathrow this morning and I am waiting for my gate to open. I just saw two air hostesses from Thai airlines glide through the departure lounge in their eye catching fuchsia uniforms. I would love to wear one of those outfits. This is the first time I have taken an existing work, The Evente and replicating the same performance. I have no idea how the humour will go down in Helsinki, or if I will even get a laugh. At the end of the performance I lead a group countdown which I would like to do in Finnish. I am terrified of speaking a different language as I feel I sound like a right ‘Del Boy’. Ironic really as it may be perceived that I am from a foreign country and assumptions could be made that I speak another language. We leave for the forest in the morning and I am not sure when my next post will be.
As the brilliant white clouds ended
My view was filled by the open sea
