Working title: Luonnonmuistomerkki / Nature Memorial -installation

I will do an Nature Memorial installation. One part of the work is going to concentrate on nature in laboratory. Another part is going to be done with help of the youth in Suvela youth center. I will ask  the teenagers about their relationship with nature. Do they think that they are part of the nature, do they feel they are above the nature? I will inquire this with a box where they can give answers anonymously. The youth can also be part of the installation by taking pictures of their own Natural Monuments and they can upload the images to the Nature memories (Luontomuistoja) flickr-page. I will do a Nature Memorial label that can be as a sign for the Natural Monument.

The piece is to comment on the relationship between man and nature. I want to question the need of reminding the nature with a memorial.

Questions

Is nature just a memory in the future? How nature could be remembered? Do we exist without nature? Is humans separate from nature? Can a 160-year old oak tell us something about us? Are rare species such as the purohyrrä, seittivahakas and turvetorvijäkälä important forms of life? Does it matter if they become extinct?

Will nature grow in the laboratory in the future?

In the Nature Laboratory -time-lapse image, I will do experiments with Common Soapwort seeds, birch branches. I will breed seeds in test tubes. I will prepare the breeding ground from agar powder and a multivitamin. I mix different substrates in six different nutritional supplements, namely: iron tablet, birthcontrol pill, apple cider vinegar + chrome -product, antihistamine tablets, Panacod pain reliever pill and evening primrose + E dietary supplement product. I will follow the growth of seeds by taking pictures regularly. I will post the events in a Nature Memorial-blog and a flickr site, these are going to be written in Finnish.

By Johanna Rotko

We're all humans - 22.3.2013

Waking up drowsy this saturday morning I began to skim through the pictures I had taken in yesterday's Media Intervention in the City meet. There weren't too many that I was happy with but I still picked a few and rated them so I could filter them out and delete the rest. Then I accidentally deleted every single one of them, even the rated pictures.

So no pictures today but I'll try to explain briefly what my thought process was during the day. I photographed the possible locations for my photo wall installation. I took the photos with a focal length of 50mm since it's rather close to the focal length of the human eye. This way it's a bit easier to figure out where to put the wall so that the perspective matches.

I still have two unresolved problems. The first one being that the areas that I'd like to capture are heavy in pedestrian traffic and I would really like to get the pictures without anyone walking or standing in them. The other problem is that placing a relatively big flimsy wall outside is prone to get vandalized immediately so the only option is to create the installation inside. That's why I'm leaning towards putting the wall inside the Entresse library premises. Time will tell if that's possible.


Have an excellent weekend,
- Kaarlo Kajalainen

Sound Art Concert at Espoo Kunsthalle a.k.a Global Cafe!

This Saturday 23 March we're organising a Sound Art Concert as the first public event by Espoo Kunsthalle (see http://www.facebook.com/EspooKunsthalle). Artists performing are Chi-Hsia Lai, Jukka Hautamäki, Alejandro Olarte, & Younghusband a.k.a Joonas Siren. Doors open at 18.30 with performances kicking off at 19.00. All welcome!

Chi-Hsia Lai - "WanderOnStage - Untitled #1.3"

Photo by Ruby Lin.

Jukka Hautamäki. Photo by Avatar Center, Quebec.

The intervention continues - 15.3.2013

It was another sunny day so it was apt that we were given quite a bit of free time to explore the magical world of Espoo center.

Entresse library. Our day started with a tour of the extremely colorful Entresse library (though I was unable to join due to an extreme case of sleeping in).

Camouflage. The white park benches were clever to hide under the snow.

Beheaded dancer. Headless characters are littered around Espoo center.

Navigation. To avoid getting lost, one must stop and look around from time to time.

Riverside sauna. We ran across a beautifully placed old sauna into which these two gentlemen peered with great interest.

Straw bunny. The local fauna has adapted to human occupation.

"Good everyday life". A bread line was basking in the sunlight.

Take the stairs day. We found a few of these out of order elevators near the railway station.

Mystery picture of the week! What may this beeeeeee (in an eerie voice)?

Lords of the city. We got as high as we could in Espoo, on top of a two storey parking lot.

Flags. Yes, flags.

Beer stop. Before...

... and after.

It's all fun and games. The look on this man's face was rather disheartening as he was playing on a casino machine.

Explanations galore. We described our aspirations about our prospective installations to which Andy answered...

... with a smile. Especially to the one where one would place projectors next to the railways' power lines.

Curious architecture. I found it funny that one would create a crumbling looking wall from the get go.

About as ancient as it gets (in Finland). This lovely church was the final destination of the day.

Details, details. Very lovely ones, at that.

Stained glass panel window. Every church has to have one.

A freelancing organist Sanna Mansikkaniemi. Well she does other stuff, too. Like art and such.

An inside view of the church organ. This was simply something extraordinary. The complexity of the organ surprised everyone.

Incredible craftmanship.

Have a go. We were actually allowed to play ourselves, which was awesome. Unfortunately none of us was really a pro with keyboards so we had to settle for an excerpt from the Super Mario Brothers (which was quite enjoyable, might I add).

Taming the beast. Mansikkaniemi showed us how it's done and played some traditional and contemporary tunes with the massive instrument.

Could this be it? I'm considering building a small wall into the heart of Espoo and this might be a sweet spot for such an endeavour.

Stay vigilant,

- Kaarlo Kajalainen

Espoon keskus tour 8.3.2013

The course kicked off with a little tour around our our prospective installation space: Espoon keskus (harshly translated as Espoo center).

 We met at an abandoned café called Global. The surrounding area and the space itself reminded me of the Soviet Union with lots of concrete and bland colors (perhaps with a smidgen of exaggeration).

Andy introduced us to the day's schedule and atmosphere. The briefing was short and resourceful.

The contrast between new and old buildings is striking. This can be easily noticed in the vicinity of the railway station area.

The locals are mostly musicians.

We were invited to the Espoo Council Hall. Which was nice.

 Mikko Kivinen, the project manager for Espoo center, gave us a presentation about the future of Espoo. The presentation was extremely interesting and funny.

We went to a youth activity center or something like that. The place was filled to the brim with awesome. Everyone was envious of the kids spending their day there.

The activity center representative gave us a tour around the premises. Again, my name memory has failed me.

A random architecture picture. Nothing to see here.

Thank you for your attention,

- Kaarlo Kajalainen

Welcome to M1CE 2013!

Welcome to this year's Media Intervention in the City course. we're working in and around Espoon Keskus (the centre of Espoo...). Above you see a very untypical image of the area - the 500 years old Cathedral and its bell tower. Espoon Keskus is more commonly known for its 1970's era City Hall buildings and depressing housing blocks.