Author Archives: Johanna

About Johanna

artist and curator

Restrictions

It’s funny to observe one’s behaviour and thoughts when something is restricted. At the moment I’m not allowed to sit and it’s been interesting to realize when, how and in which situations my mind wants me to sit and how this simple restriction actually changes my patterns of thought and action. And how much it has eased my back pain! Well, of course I’ve also been resting as ordered by my doctor and taking some medicines but still. I actually find it much better to work by my laptop standing rather than sitting in a bad posture by the desk. The kitchen worktop is on a perfect height for me (90cm) when standing. And as my ‘office’ is not yet finished anyway, this suits me very well.
I got a pile of magazines from Maija yesterday and it’s been such a luxury to lie in bed and read. I love magazines. I have to be really careful not become such a magazine junkie again as this addiction is showing it’s nature again… Yes, I still order a couple (only a few!) design magazines but last spring I quit ordering most of them. I’m very proud of this and in general I prefer recycling them so anyone who wants to recycle their magazines with me is most welcome! I talked on the phone with my son the other day and I told him I was lying in bed recovering from my back injury. He then said: “Let me guess, you have a pile of magazines next to the bed!”
In the process of facing the truth of our financial situation, I made an Excel of all our living costs from January 2007 onwards. In this bigger picture, my magazine addiction is not that worrying, really. And the daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat is included in the Excel! But the statistics might look a little better as I quit most of the magazine orders last spring but still, it never was that bad. It’s just my partner who doesn’t have this addiction and who therefore cannot understand the bliss of it either.
Now that we’ve moved out of the centre, I have to face the costs of travelling to work and school. Well, of course this was known beforehand but still, it’s over all quite expensive here in Kuopio. As far as I know, Kuopion Liikenne, which runs the busses of the city, is the most expensive in the whole country. Public transport is definitely not cheap here but more so I hate that on our street most families have more than two cars. For me it’s either my bike or the bus.
The last couple of days have been really hot and since we still don’t have curtains, it’s been unbearably hot in the house, upstairs especially. Impossible to do any hard work in the house! Fortunately, we now have a shower, which helps the life in general, a lot. But there’s a lot of work remaining undone.
I have been working on my next productions a lot and worrying about the future of the ANTI-Festival. Some serious actions need to be done.

Johanna

…back

My back was finally scanned this week and it turned out that my back pain is actually caused by something other than my imagination. But I have to deal with it now and that means some changes in the schedules. But it’s going to be okay.
I’ve called my dancers and notified them about the new schedules. I think we’ll be able to do the piece very well with the delayed schedule. This doesn’t effect my solo work at all but I have a few things to work out like the Stavanger-project with Anne-Marte.

The evenings are turning colder and darker; although it was very warm during the day, today I wondered where did I pack the candles. I think I know.

Johanna

ANTI stress, dirt, learning to bike, Stavanger

It’s been a bloody hot day and in the afternoon I just had to lie down because I was feeling so dizzy and wobbly. I was treating the wooden panel of our house with the iron sulphite in the back yard which the sun warms up all day. I was doing the same work in April or May or something but only maybe a third of the house has been panelled as we have had to concentrate to the work inside the house. Well, the treated panel finished yesterday, so I just had to get to it although my back is not in the best shape to do that kind of work. Actually, I’m surprised how much I’ve been able to do.
In the morning I had a Skype session with Anne-Marte about the project in Stavanger and I got very excited about it again. I’ll spend 10 days over there in August and I have to do quite a lot of preparations for the meeting/working session.
Today we got a pile of loose soil to our back yard. Pekka has been working in the garden enthusiastically every now and then and it seems to be finding its shape slowly. Our daughter is very into it as well. She actually helps and does a lot of work at the house, wants to participate in everything we do. It’s great.multaa
Pekka’s sister has brought some plants and flowers to the garden so I guess we’ll get to plant them soon.
Our plumber put the shower thermostats to the bathroom today and I keep my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to take a shower at home tomorrow! How can there be so much work in a small bathroom? It was impossible to imagine beforehand.
I got an email today about a problem with one work of the next ANTI Festival. During all my so called summer holiday there probably hasn’t been a day without an email, phone call or a Skype conference concerning some issue or problem related to the festival. Today I just felt that I was too tired to deal with it. So I didn’t reply to the email or make any phone calls which I should have done.
But something beautiful happened today, as my daughter learned how to bike without the extra wheels. She could have learned that much earlier, I’m sure, but we just haven’t had the time to teach her and to hang out to do something like that. So she learned it really quickly and easily and was so excited about it. How lovely.
I worked out the rehearsal schedule for the group piece and emailed the performers yesterday, but they haven’t yet replied if the schedule fits them at all. I hope so as my autumn feels so packed and tight already now. I’m almost scared about it all.
Pekka and his brother are still working outside. raksalla

Although the day has been tiring and hot, there has been great moments.raksaa1

Johanna

The latest column

 …in Finnish:

Freelancerin kesäloma

Kevään viimeisten esitysten jälkeen kesäkuun lopussa ajattelin, että nyt vihdoin pääsen työasioista irti ja lomalle. Tuleva ’loma’ ei silti ollut ihan rentouttavimmasta päästä, sillä vuoden kestänyt rakennusprojekti oli huipentumassa muuttoon, mutta työ rakennuksella ei millään näyttänyt vähenevän. Kaikki mahdollinen ’loma’ kului siis rakennustyömaalla esimerkiksi kattoa vaneroidessa ja portaita kasatessa. Yöt istuin netin ääressä vessanpönttöjä ynnä muita hankintoja vertaillen. Samaan aikaan mieltä painoi, kun en saanut mistään raosta irrotettua aikaa lupautumaani blogikeskusteluun, josta myöhemmin syksyllä julkaistaan artikkeli. Muuton jälkeen makasin selkä tuhannen sohjona, lähes liikuntakyvyttömänä aivastustakin peläten, kunnes menin lääkärin ja sain semmoiset kipulääkkeet, että pystyin istumaan ja osallistumaan blogikeskusteluun. Sitten alkoikin lappaa talossamme kaikenlaista ohikulkijaa, jotka enemmän ja vähemmän kauhistelivat työmaan keskeneräisyyttä. Hyötyäkin heistä toki oli; heidän avullaan on mm. saatu kannettua yläkertaan kylmiö, kivitasot ja takkasydän. Aikataulujen vuoksi olin joutunut sopimaan seuraavan projektini kuvauspäivät muuttoa seuraavalle viikolle, keskelle ’kesälomaani’, ja kipulääkkeiden voimalla saapastelin korkokengissä pitkin lähimetsiä uutta teosta kuvaten. Kun kuvaustiimi pakkasi kamansa, pihaan kurvasi mieheni sisko perheineen. He lohduttivat, että heidän tuttavat ovat asuneet talossaan vuoden ilman  muuttotarkastusta. He katsoivat siis viisaammaksi jatkaa matkaansa kuin jäädä työmaallemme majailemaan.
Jos en ole pystynyt osallistumaan jonkun työn tekemiseen, niin olen kestinnyt työläisiä ja muita vieraita. Välillä olen tuskaillut kahden kirjoittamattoman kolumnin kanssa, palaveerannut tuottajani kanssa, oikolukenut seuraavan ANTI-festivaalin käsiohjelmaa ja pitänyt Skype-konferensseja festivaaliin liittyen. Eilen juttelin puhelimessa äitini kanssa, joka kysyi: ”Niin, onko sulla nyt loma?” Ja minä vastasin: ”Joo, on. Tavallaan.”
Kesäkuussa tapasin erästä kulttuurialan konsulttia organisoidakseni työasioitani kenties hieman järkevämmin. Ensimmäinen asia, mitä hän korosti, oli etukäteen päättää minkä ajan vuodesta pystyy käyttämään aktiivisesti projektien toteuttamiseen ja minkä jättää koskemattomaksi, jotta luovaa taiteellista työtä jaksaa tehdä muullakin kuin nuoruuden innolla. Näyttää, ettei yksi konsultaatio riitä minulle.

Johanna Tuukkanen

Freelancer’s holiday

It’s been more than busy and chaotic since we moved. There’s still a lot of work to do in the house and every moment one can or has energy (or one is not in too severe back pain) is used in working in some part of the house. I had a video shoot with Maija last week, we’ve had visitors checking out the house who have been more or less terrified how unfinished it all is but we have also had great nights with friends sitting in the living room enjoying lovely dinners and sipping wine until the early hours. And many by passers and visitors have also helped us with some work; with the help of Hannu we managed to carry the fridge and one of the stone work tops upstairs, Jukka helped with the veneering of one wall in the living room and with Juha we got the large stone work top into its place and carried the heart of our fire place upstairs. And Lea brought all kinds of plants from her garden for us to plant into ours. So thank you all very much!
I’ve also promised to write a few columns and participate in one blog discussion which will be published later in the autumn in one magazine. It’s been difficult to find time to write in piece with all the work in the house as well as the visitors but last night was great as Pekka went fishing with Hannu (what a great dinner we ate with fish and mushrooms today!), Justiina was outside playing with other kids and Zulani left to visit his grandparents and I managed to write one of the columns in peace. It’s a bit tricky to promise to write columns and participate in all kinds of discussion and have production meetings and video shoots on your so called ‘freelancer’s summer holiday’. A consultant I met with in June, said that I should very precisely define each year when I work and when I absolutely don’t do any performances, work on any projects but totally take time off. I guess I need more than one session with him to sort out my schedules! Hopefully my producer will be able to help me with that as well in the near future.

Hope you are all well and rested,
Johanna

ps. It’s Johanna’s name day in Finland today!

Anniina Aunola, Mirva Mattila and Sanna Valkeapää

…will be the performers of my new work. I hadn’t imagined the selection process to be this difficult and indeed, I was surprised with all the issues I was faced with during the selection process.
But the group feels already now solid but diverse and I’m very much looking forward to working with all of them from August on.

I’ll be working on the solo project this week when Maija Hirvanen comes over to Kuopio and we’ll do some video shooting. My back is better now but I’m still a bit worried about it. I saw a really good doctor yesterday and it’s so much better but obviously it takes time to get back to normal….what ever that is.

Hope your backs are better than mine…
Johanna

We have moved!

I have three days of moving behind me. It’s been more than exhausting this time. We’ve dragged all our belongings from the third floor apartment (no elevator) to the Blue House which pretty much still a building site. But we now have a toilet in use (hooray!), water coming to the kitchen, oven, induction cooker and fridge working!
I’ve strained my back quite badly and it’s almost impossible to walk at the moment, let alone sort out and carry all stuff around.
Tired now but it will be all fine. One day…

Johanna

I guess the Mid Summer passed

Reading the Finnish newspapers after the Mid Summer national holiday is always depressing. Many people have drowned, died in a car crash or choked in their own vomit. My concentration has been totally in my work and the so called spare time I’ve spent 100 % on building the Blue House that I haven’t been able to participate in any kind of activities like celebrating the Mid Summer or attending festivals or performances. The whole family is pretty exhausted at the moment and occationally I get panicked about moving next week and so many, and I mean MANY, things still needing to be done and fixed. It seems it’s impossible to do what we are supposed to do before next Monday. Especially now, that my partner got ill and is asleep in high fever! I have no idea how we are going to get through all this…

Performances last week during the Kuopio Dance Festival went really well and they were completely sold out. It was great to perform the piece again and there were some of my old friends and very important people in the audience which made me very happy. I’ve been talking with my producer Maija a lot about organising the producing and marketing side of my work better and today we had a good session with a consult about what it is that we really want to and how best achieve that. It was really good and inspiring. So thank you Jari and Maija. Maija also helped us yesterday at the house which was so nice.

I still haven’t decided about the performers for my new work. I didn’t quite imagine it being this hard. I have now three in mind that I could imagine to do the piece with but I have to make we can make all the schedules meet. I’ll have a film shooting session  next week for the solo piece with Maija Hirvanen. It’s interesting how the focus shifts from previous or current works into the new processes and they really start to have a life of their own. Let’s see what comes up with this one.

Hope all of you are well.

Johanna

Performances in the Gallery Carree

I don’t have anything to wear

I’m having two performances tomorrow as part of the Kuopio Dance Festival and Paikallisliike 07. I know they are pretty fully booked but you might be able to get in from the door but I can’t promise that.
We had a good rehearsal today with Jaana and Jaap and I’m looking forward to doing the show again. The gallery makes the performance very intimate which I really enjoy.
I also had a meeting with Maija and Pirjetta today. It was good to introduce Maija to Pirjetta and talk about managing my work and international networking etc. I’m very happy about the arrangement now but we definitely have to work hard to get it all working the way we plan.
Hope to see you all tomorrow.

Johanna

Extremes

Sorry. I know I haven’t been here for ages.
It has all been more than hectic with work and the personal life, i.e. the house. I don’t know where to begin actually as so many things have been going on and happened.
We had a great period of performances in Helsinki in the end of May with Jaana and Jaap and they all went very well. I had imagined that I would have time to do all kinds of things while I stayed in Helsinki but it turned out that the performances pretty much took all my energy.
Next week we’ll have two more performances in Kuopio in the Gallery Carree as part of the Kuopio Dance Festival. For booking go to www.paikallisliike.net or email aluekeskus@elisanet.fi. The gallery is quite small so I strongly advice you to make a reservation if you intend to see the work.
I held the audition and it was really good to see people working, i.e. moving and talking and doing little presentations. I haven’t decided yet who are the three people I want to work with but I really need to make up my mind soon.
In between everything, I also have visited Stavanger, Norway, again. Had two great days of meetings and spent time with Anne-Marte. Besides the inspiring workdays, I fell in love with the Rhododendrons of Stavanger. Amazing! Wonderful colours, everything blooming – just beautiful and inspiring.
With ANTI-Festival there are pretty busy times going on as well, as we are working on the catalogue. I’m so happy that Maija started working for us in June so that eases the workload for me. Gregg has also been just fantastic, so involved, so active, so supportive. We definitely have a great crew now.
The Blue House would require my work as much as possible at the moment as well. We will be moving in the end of the month so I tell you, there’s more work to do than anyone can imagine. I have kind of known this, but at the moment it’s just extreme… beyond the capacity of imagination. The hours we are working, what needs to be done before we are able to move in, it’s just crazy but the only thing that keeps me going is the thought of being able to move in three weeks.
Now the whole downstairs is cleared and cleaned out for the linoleum flooring to be installed. That starts tomorrow and it was so rewarding to clear out all the mess and tools etc. and to be able to just look at the space. It will be great, once we get to move in. Quality family cleaners Brisbane offer the best professional cleaning cervices, guess, I will decide on them.
Exhausted now.
Johanna