Category Archives: Art

TOU WORKS 12th – 14th June 2008 Stavanger Norway

A series of international site specific art works along the street of Pedersgata.

The project is supported and in collaboration with Stavanger2008 European Capital of Culture. 9 projects and 16 artists comments the route that starts at Nytorget, Pedersgata ending up at Tou Scene. We hope this focus will question and explore the specific environment and highlight the route as an extraordinary experience/walk in itself. The work is made in dialogue with architects and city planners and will explore the crossing points between the emotional and physical manifestations of art / architecture / everyday life and the city.

Overview:

Programme in Pedersgata:

THU12th JUN / 1 – 10PM

FRI13th JUN / 5 – 10PM

SAT14th JUN/ 10AM – 3PM

Programme at Tou Scene:

FRI13th JUN / 9 PM Lecture with Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth Stephens Tickets

SAT14th JUN / 8 PM The Grand Finale! Tou Works Dinner Tickets

Please note that tickets for the Lecture and the Dinner has to be booked in advance.

Dowenload the full program as PDF

(For best view open with Adobe Acrobat or a similar program)

Artists

Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth Stephens (USA), Christian Gauss and Moritz Groba (Germany), Elaine Kordys (UK), Kjetil RÃ¸ed (Norway), Mariela Limerutti (Argentina), Simona Ferrari (Italy) Trond Kasper Mikkelsen and Sigrun Vik Olsen (Norway), Helge Olav Ã˜ksendal (Norway) and Ingouf Vincent (France), Mona Orstad Hansen and Torunn Larsen (Norway), Nils-Thomas Ã˜kland and Rune Aase (Norway)

Curators: Anne-Marte Eidseth Rygh and Johanna Tuukkanen Producer: Geir Lindahl

For inquiries please contact Geir Lindahl E-mail geir@touscene.com or Phone +47 48191787

INFORMASJON FINNES OGSÃ… PÃ… NORSK

Iceland…

was great. I absolutely loved it. Here are some images of the trip.

Gullfoss:

The Geysir area was quite magical. I have never seen a hot spring that shoots up the sky every couple of minutes. The images of this are quite ridiculous of course, it was quite amazing to experience this.

Thingvellir; Iceland is situated on the boarder of the tectonic plates of America and Europe which are slowly drifting apart. This was another absolutely magical site:

Blue Lagoon:

and a few more from Reykjavik:

I went to see this great performance called mammamamma in which my frend Thorey was acting. I loved the performance, not only because of the pink. It really made me cry.

It was an intense week, meeting a lot of artists and organizers, seeing work as much as I could. The only downfall of the trip was a 13 hour flight delay on the way home which caused maybe a little too much stress caused by lack of sleep and getting home almost 24 hours later than planned.

Johanna

Finnish visibility

Finnish brands I have so far spotted in Reykjavik: Marimekko, Iittala, Ruskovilla, Tonfisk Design and Fazer. The only Finnish artists that have come across are Tea MÃ¤kipÃ¤Ã¤ and Alvar Aalto.

Update: also spotted Ivana Helsinki, Secco and Golla.

Johanna

Strange morning

… I woke up 5.20 am local time and just couldnâ€™t sleep. So I decided to go for a jog by the seaside. It was quite windy but beautiful and although I havenâ€™t been able to exercise for more than two weeks because of my flu, it felt ok. Somehow the seaside, its plants and the views remind me of Azores.
Yesterday was a full day. I met one actress, Thorey, and she has set up some meetings for me with local artists. I also went to two galleries, walked a lot around the city and went to Kringlan, a huge shopping mall outside city centre. Kringlan was a big disappointment to me, I guess I wasnâ€™t at all into shopping at Topshop, Adidas or Puma stores, Next, Warehouse etc.! From there I continued to Laugardalslaug, one of the citys many geothermal pools. That was relaxing but a bit strange, too.
I ate a delicious vegetarian meal at the One Woman Restaurant and went to bed.

Today Iâ€™m up for a couple of meetings and in the evening a get together at Thoreyâ€™s place with local artists. Great!

Johanna

On the way

At Stockholm Arlanda airport, on my way to Reykjavik, Iceland. Although itâ€™s just afternoon, Iâ€™ve been traveling now for 9 hours and have a slight headache. I donâ€™t know if itâ€™s because of the short sleep or lack of coffee. And of course, I forgot my paracetamol at home.
Iâ€™m going to see some performances, exhibitions and have arranged meetings with people. Iâ€™m really looking forward to all that, and experiencing some of Iceland of course, but more importantly, Iâ€™m hoping this trip would somehow enlighten me in terms of my new work that Iâ€™m working on. As always, there isnâ€™t enough money to do what I have set myself to do and Iâ€™m struggling where to cut. Drop one of the performers? The dramaturg? All the videos? I have already made a cut down budget but I somehow donâ€™t know where to cut any more without changing the work completely.
So, I need to get a revelation concerning this matter and Iâ€™m hoping the time in Iceland would help me. I have of course packed my cameras and Iâ€™m open to get inspiration for my ongoing interest in the body/landscape.

Johanna

Down with the flu

I was looking forward to a useful weekend but on Thursday I got a sore throat and Iâ€™ve been feeling really ill and bad all weekend. Great. I donâ€™t know how Iâ€™m going to manage all the work I have to do next week as at this point I donâ€™t even know if I can go to work tomorrow. Thatâ€™s the biggest challenge when you work on your own; if you cannot do the job, no-one else will.
Anyway, Iâ€™ve been just resting, cooking and eating healthy food and trying to get better. We have TALKS & DEEDS coming up next Friday, Gregg will be in Kuopio, along with Davida Hewlett, Pilvi Porkola and Hanna Pajala-Assefa.
There would be so much to do and look forward to. Hope Iâ€™m better tomorrow.

See you all at T&D!

Johanna

Hot days

We have been blessed â€“ or cursed- by unusually warm and hot days. The children have had 4 days off and they have fully enjoyed the summer like weather including shorts, sandals, t-shirts and the like. Weâ€™ve also had exciting days watching the back yard slowly starting to turn from brown to green and some kind of green perennials pushing from he dirt, growing every day. Last autumn I planted some perennials, donâ€™t really remember what they were. There were some tulips though and they are vigorously growing. Itâ€™s kind of amazing. Iâ€™ve never had a garden before and I donâ€™t come from a family of gardening enthusiasts so this is all new and strange. But the kids are excited. Itâ€™s been almost too hot to work. Weâ€™ve done some work on the house though and I worked today setting up a place for the rhododendrons.

Yesterday I felt really irritated and headed to the gym. It felt a bit ridiculous to work out in the gym when the weather was so great but I really needed it. This morning I went for a jog and ended up training for one and half hour. My calves are a bit achy now but otherwise I felt good and energetic. This was the first time I ran to Haapaniemi from our place via the Saaristokatu. And it was quite stunning. The road is not officially open yet but you actually can get all the way to town by it. The views are just beautiful and as the day was sunny, it was very idyllic. Saaristokatu will be such an incredible improvement for us and others who live in the neighbourhood. Iâ€™m already now looking forward to cycling and walking to the city centre. Itâ€™s also great for walking and jogging.
As I was a kind of super mom today, doing my exercise routine, cooking two delicious meals and being at home with the family, I was feeling guilty of not getting to do some work I wanted and needed to do. Well, I guess Iâ€™ll be more focused on that tomorrow but itâ€™s so hard for me to relax when I know I have work waiting that could be doing now. This is silly, I know, but I cannot help it.
Luckily, in rained in the evening and now it seems a storm is approaching. The shower was needed and very welcome. And after it, an enormous rainbow. The image by Pekka.

Last week I found out I didnâ€™t get more production funding for my new group piece so I have to see how I manage to produce the work with the existing funding. Not easy. If at all possible. Will have to see.

Hope you are well,
Johanna

Invitation

Iâ€™m talking about ANTI Festivalâ€™s experiences of being involved in an international EU-project application in a seminar on Thursday the 24th of April organized by CIMO and the regional arts council of North Savo. You are warmly welcome! See the whole programme (in Finnish) here kutsu_kuopio240408.pdf and note that you should register today if you are intending to participate. The seminar is free.

Johanna

Sleepy days

I performed with Jaana & Jaap I donâ€™t have anything to wear on Friday in Helsinki. Since then, Iâ€™ve been somehow really tired. I donâ€™t know why Iâ€™m never able to estimate the amount of work and exhaustion caused by traveling, warming up a performance and working it out in another language, staying in some B&B or cheap hotel and in the end, performing? Yesterday I was determined to go to the gym after grocery shopping. But while I was in the supermarket trying to get my head together about what to buy and cook, I realised I was so tired that it didnâ€™t make sense to force myself to exercise. And this really wasnâ€™t about feeling lazy, just for once understanding that I actually was exhausted. But today I hit the gym, enjoyed my work out and although I feel good, Iâ€™m nowhere near recovered.
The performance went well although it was the first time we performed it in English and that caused some mixed feelings. But we got some very positive feedback so I guess we managed ok in the end. It would be just really important to perform the work more in English and of course, just to perform it more in general. We actually will perform in about a week again here in Kuopio, so thatâ€™s really good. As the work somehow deals with the pressures of looking good and success as well as the ridiculousness of it all, and as we constantly talk in it about good fats, body balance, styling, the appearance, trying to find something comfortable to wear etc., the work can easily pull you to the world of never feeling satisfied about yourself and the mundane reality of living with the imperfect aging bodyâ€¦
Next week seems really busy, lots of work to do and most of it is exciting. Iâ€™m planning to hold an audition for my new performance in the end of May or early June. At the moment Iâ€™m waiting to hear about one more grant as the budget of the work of course determines the amount of performers, length of rehearsals etc. in the end. So letâ€™s see what happens with that.
Although my days in Helsinki were extremely busy, I ate with Jaana everyday in Silvoplee. It was just amazing to eat really good reasonably priced vegeterian food everyday. And what a variety of beautiful dishes they have! That, amongst others, is something I miss in Kuopio. But I made today a delicious salad with tofu, avocado and sesame seeds.

Johanna

TouWorks 1 starting today!

TW1 project is kicking off today in Stavanger, Norway. Our artists from Argentina, UK, Norway and Germany will be working for 10 days along Pedersgata to develope work that will be shown in June. We are having a dinner together every night and today Iâ€™m making the dinner with Anne-Marte for everyone. Weâ€™ll hope itâ€™s going to be nice! We also have a little wine tasting tonight so that should be quite nice, too.

Itâ€™s beautifully snowy and sunny in Stavanger today and Iâ€™m so excited about finally seeing all the artists and getting to work with them.

Johanna