Welcome all to this exciting seminar on European collaboration organized by CIMO! I’ll be talking about UP TO NATURE and A SPACE FOR LIVE ART – amazing experiences and projects that I’ve had the privilege to have been part of.
Johanna
Author Archives: Johanna
Johanna Tuukkanen vierailevana kuraattorina Chicagossa ja panelistina CIMOn seminaarissa
Johanna Tuukkanen on kevään aikana mukana kahdessa tapahtumassa asiantuntijana ja ANTI-festivaalin taiteellisena johtajana. Tuukkasen vuosien kokemus aika- ja paikkasidonnaisen live art –taiteen integroimisesta osaksi kaupunkitilaa ja eri yhteisöjä on tunnustettua ympäri maailmaa. Hänet on kutsuttu vierailevaksi kuraattoriksi School of the Art Institute of Chicago:n (SAIC) esitystaiteen osastolle 26.-30.4. Osasto järjestää keskusteluja, joissa kuraattorit ja tuottajat USA:sta ja muualta maailmasta puhuvat taiteen kentästä, verkostoitumisesta ja nuorten taiteilijoiden työllistymismahdollisuuksista. Keskustelut ovat osa instituutista valmistuvien nuorten taiteilijoiden lopputöiden esittelyä.
Toukokuussa Johanna Tuukkanen puhuu CIMOn Kulttuurin yhteyspisteen ja Teatterin, Tanssin ja Sirkuksen tiedotuskeskusten järjestämässä seminaarissa â€Esityksiä, kohtaamisia ja uusia kokemuksia†– esittävät taiteet ja eurooppalainen yhteistyö, joka järjestetään Helsingissä 13.5. Tuukkanen kertoo EU:n komission rahoittamista monivuotisista hankkeista Up to Nature ja A Space for Live Art, joissa ANTI-festivaali on ollut partnerina. Up to Nature on vuosina 2011-2012 toteutettu hanke, jossa neljä eurooppalaista tuotantotahoa yhteistuotti kuusi teosta, jotka kiersivät neljässä maassa. Suomesta mukana oli taiteilija Antti Laitinen. Laaja A Space for Live Art –hanke toteutettiin kahdeksan partnerin kanssa vuosina 2008-2012.
Spaces, places and journeys
Insanely busy days filled with thinking and writing about place, space and urban planning (finally sent off the essay!), trying to finalize the ANTI 2013 programme, the CEO course, my upcoming new work, applying travel grants to be able to be on a seriously exciting panel at PSI#19 in Stanford, US in the summer and getting ready for my Iisalmi-Helsinki-Brussels-Chigaco-New York-Kuopio journey that starts tomorrow!
So it’s all about work, day and night, 7 days a week.
It’s about art, research, places and spaces.
Packing and unpacking.
I feel tired but inspired.
I don’t think I can ever travel anywhere without thinking of Doreen Massey and Panu Lehtovuori.
Is it too much to travel with four pairs of shoes and three handbags?
Johanna
IETM Dublin
So I’m in Dublin in my first ever IETM meeting. Actually, I’m not sure if that’s entirely true as I might have attended a session or two years ago in Helsinki, but this feels like my first IETM and is definitely one outside Finland. I’ve never been to Ireland before and it’s quite puzzling to come to a new city and country and to feel that one does not have any time to engage with the place. So to just walk from the hotel to a venue, and then to another venue and then to find a reasonable place to eat and then to go back to a venue you visited earlier. So my first superficial impressions of Dublin are that the stereotypes of Ireland are not just stereotypes… The pubs, the music, the dialect actually are very visible and strong part of the urban culture. Of course, I’m aware that I’ve been mostly walking around the area of Temple Bar with tons of bars, pubs and cafes but still. I wasn’t really expecting to be so surrounded by Irish music and Guinness!
So visiting a town for the first time and being busy with IETM session and the artistic programme, I really appreciate that the organizers have programmed quite a lot of site-specific activities. So far I haven’t attended any of them, but tomorrow morning at 8am I’m heading for a swim in the Irish sea Jen Coppinger. She’s taking a group of people for a swim by James Joyce’s Martello tower at Seapoint. It’s going to be early and probably terribly cold, but I want to sense the sea so this is a perfect opportunity.
Then tomorrow I’m also seeing two site-specific works. One is a walking piece and in the other one audiences are driven around in cabs. I’m really looking forward to those and to experience the city a bit more, a bit differently, as the local artists have wanted people to experience it.
Can hardly wait.
Johanna
Markedet for scenekunst
Greetings from Sandefjord in Norway! Jag har tittat på barn och ungdom teater för två dagar på norska och också lite på engelska på det här Markedet for scenekonst. Eftersom jag inte pratar norska, kan det vara lite svårt ibland att förstå skådespel. Men det har varit roligt ännu! Och jag har sett många mycket intressanta verk. Och jag har pratat lite svenska. Imorgon ska vi resa till Oslo för en dag och till hem för veckoslutet!
Har det bra!
Johanna
endless applications
Sometimes it really does feel like this vicious grant application & project proposal cycle never ends. And if you work as an artist, I guess it never does end. So I don’t really know why I’m writing and complaining about it. Maybe because all my neighbors and friends are visiting relatives, skiing somewhere, hiding away in cabins in the woods or taking a mini-break somewhere. And what am I doing? I’m at home, sitting in front of my computer 12 hours a day or more, writing applications, proposals and taxes. Well, I can look at the gorgeous landscape from my home office, I can see that the sun is shining and snow melting. How glorious.
But I have taken some nice walks and yesterday I went for a short run on a snow and ice free pavement. Bliss!
Ok, enough fun for now. Back to work bunnies!
Johanna
Aurora Borealis
Winter at its best.
Photos by Pekka Mäkinen.
Johanna
Thoughts for the week
I will be working all week in Kuopio. I’m doing EU admin and stuff like that, so during the day time pretty much sitting in the office. Being in Kuopio allows a good exercise rhythm at the Element Studio (today indoor cycling and dynamic stretching) which is great. I will be doing some more indoor cycling this week, as well as cross training, Kinesis and kettle bell. I passed today the newly opened restaurant Urban and I think I have to go and have lunch there this week. It wasn’t open as I walked by early in the morning but it surely looked great. It’s definitely the only restaurant in Kuopio with Eames DSW chairs with wooden legs! Hey, it’s about time…
Lately I’ve been reading a lot about space, place, urban planning and cities (for example Massey and Lehtovuori). It’s so inspiring and exciting. I still have to complete a chapter of Massey’s For Space and then read some articles for my next essay. I recently received support from the Finnish Cultural Foundation for my upcoming work and all this reading is very important for that piece, too. I also need to get going with the process of the upcoming work but it’s always such a big step for me to start pinning down ideas… I rather leave things open and undecided as long as possible – but that’s not so great always.
The spring is approaching quickly and days are filled with more light and sun. The week before last I cycled to work a few times but now we again have more snow and it’s again colder. But I’m so much looking forward to the ice free roads, runs and cycling to work!
My spring looks very busy and challenging. Lots of work, several trips abroad and a lot to read and write. But I’m really looking forward to my trips to Oslo, Dublin, Brussels, Chicago and New York. Of course exercise is going to be a great challenge because of the traveling. For me it’s really difficult to maintain a balanced work out routine when I’m traveling and away for home a lot. I wonder if it’s ever going to get any easier… Probably just more difficult! But oh how much I’m looking forward to the Marcolini chocolates in Brussels! And what to do and get from New York? I’m so happy to be revisiting Chicago and New York – it’s almost embarrassing.
My adopted sister Maija is currently in Australia. Earlier this year I found out about the Chanel CC cream but unfortunately, it’s not available in Europe or North America – at least not yet. But Maija flew via Singapore and I asked her to check out if the CC cream would be available there… So yesterday she texted me saying that she’s got the CC cream for me! Isn’t it weird how excited one can get about make up and cosmetics..? I bought the Armani Maestro make up fluid from Berlin earlier this year (with Maija) but I haven’t been 100% happy with that product… Maybe the Chanel CC cream is the solution, especially for the summer…
Are you a fan of the HBO series Girls? I’m going to watch a few episodes now.
Happy belated international women’s day!
Johanna
gigs in Oulu were great
This is a long overdue post but I had such a great time in Oulu with the MAP OF SCARS team earlier in Feb that I just have to post a few lines about it.
Of course it was such a pleasure to hang out with my gorgeous performers and light designer Ainu but also the technical team at Valve was fantastic to work with. Everything went so smoothly, they did a great job, the space looked good and both shows were full. Here are a couple of photos of the space by Ainu:
Besides all this, I also really enjoyed spending a week in Oulu. My top things were the beautifully renovated swimming hall Raati, the numerous Indian, Sushi and Thai restaurants, Stockmann department store (with i.e. Armani make up), Nanso shop with Lumi Accessories handbags, Non Boutique selling Finnish designer clothes and for example Finsk shoes and of course Pikisaari, where I stayed. So in short, Oulu gave a really good impression! Well done.
Right now I’m on my way to Helsinki to give an interview but other than that, the last weeks have been filled by usual beginning of the year admin work for ANTI Festival, myself and Live Umbrella. But the spring and summer seem to be shaping up rather nicely – more later!
Johanna
MAP OF SCARS in Oulu this week!
I’m so much looking forward to the shows of MAP OF SCARS in Oulu this Friday and Saturday. I’m travelling there tomorrow and we are rehearsing on Wednesday with the dancers, then our light designer Ainu joins us on stage on Thursday and then we perform the piece on Friday and Saturday at 7pm at the cultural centre Valve.
Oh I’m so much looking forward to these three gorgeous ladies go crazy and silly with great self irony!
I’m also really looking forward to experience again some intimate, strong, sensual and physical duets.
And seeing some visually stunning images.
All photos @ Pekka Mäkinen.
Maybe some new scars? Who knows.
It will be just great to get together with Ainu, Pirjo, Sannamaria and Tuovi! And will be good to be in Oulu for a few days.
As I was browsing I found this blog post (in Finnish) about the performance which I hadn’t seen before: http://ledanseurterrible.blogspot.fi/2012/11/johanna-tuukkanen-map-of-scars.html.
Also there’s a post about the ICE HOT quality panel from which was held in Helsinki last December. It’s also in Finnish and you can find it here: http://www.liikekieli.com/archives/5510.
Anyway, book you tickets and come to see us this weekend!
http://www.kaleva.fi/menot/tapahtuma/map-of-scars/967412/?sdate=2013.02.01
Johanna