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We have moved!

Published at July 6, 2007 in House building and Life. 0 Comments

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

Published at June 25, 2007 in Art, Dance, Festivals, House building, Life and Random. 0 Comments

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

Extremes

Published at June 10, 2007 in Art, Dance, Festivals, House building, Life, Random and Travelling. 0 Comments

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.
Exhausted now.
Johanna

Crushed tomatoes

Published at April 30, 2007 in Art, House building, Life and Random. 0 Comments

Another day of work at the Blue House. Treating the panels was kind of meditative today; was focusing on my breath and the movement, tried not to strain my back too much. There was a beautiful, peaceful and silent moment when the children were inside drawing and playing and I was working on the back yard with Pekka. There wasn’t anything else, no visions of the future, no memories from the past, just us working in silence together. The weather forecast promised rain showers for today but it didn’t rain in the end. A few snowflakes were falling from the sky every now and then but they didn’t bother us.

I just put a dinner into the oven. I realised that it’s three days in a row that I’ve used crushed tomatoes in the dinner. This is not the first time I pay attention to this but every now and then I get really irritated by this. As you probably know, tomatoes are ‘plants of darkness’ and one should not eat any of them. According to macrobiotics anyway. I’m not macrobiotic but I used to be into all those things much more than I’m now. So the day before yesterday, my son hoped for a pasta with shrimps in tomato sauce and as he had been ill, I fulfilled his wish. Yesterday I made a kind of soy crush for the kids to go with rice. Today I’m doing this eggplant, potato (another ‘plants of darkness’!), zucchini and goat cheese dish baked in the oven, with a little bit of tomato sauce in between the vegies. Well, there might be worst things in life, I don’t know.

I thought about my new works today a lot. Maybe I do the performances in a gallery, so that the video/photographic material from the solo work could be shown as an installation and the group piece still could be performed in the same space. I could maybe get the space for a week or so. The number or audiences that can fit into the space is very limited, which I don’t mind, but I will need to think about that a little more.

Maybe it all starts to fall into its place.

I’m back to listening music, I realize. Fun, inspiring.

Johanna

It’s going just bloody great

Published at April 29, 2007 in Art, Dance, Design, House building and Life. 0 Comments

I’ve spent a lot of time with budgets and schedules for my new works. On Thursday I was so fed up as I had spent almost the whole night figuring out the budget or my new group piece. I have some production support from the Arts Council of Finland and the Regional dance centre Kuopio, but as I once again learned, it’s nowhere near the level of a proper budget with proper fees etc. I had kind of decided I will hold an audition for the performers but it feels impossible to ask people to work for me for at least two months and say that I’m able to pay you 1 500 €. How can I expect a full time commitment and dedication from anyone? I didn’t get support from the regional foundation of SKR, which really upset me. So again, after having done this I don’t know with 15 works, I’m in a situation where I just have to count cents; who can be paid less, who can work for me for free, what can the work do without? Without any publicity? Without documentation? Without sound? Light? Any technical equipment? Space?
Sometimes it seems the most creativity is deeded in organizing the whole production.
I’ve asked Maija to work with me on the producing side of matters and I hope that will somehow be possible. I just need help.
So at the moment I’m not sure about the audition. Maybe you can see why.
I’ve tried to take a few days off all the work and I’ve spent some time at the Blue House straining my back. On Friday I ordered the staircase for the house from Helsinki as well as the front door and the door to where all the technical stuff of the house is situated. We’ll get them in 3-4 weeks. We couldn’t agree about the fireplace yet, so that’s still waiting. On Friday Jenny Alfthan from Sisustus Picaso visited the house as I have asked her advice on some materials, colours and furniture we need to get to the house. It was really nice. First time I went to Sisustus Picaso after Jenny and her husband had bought it, and I met Juho and Jenny, I felt they were the nicest people that I had ever met in Kuopio. I just wanted to invite them for a dinner straight away! Well, I didn’t, mainly because we live in this horrible rented apartment at the moment, but I sure will once we live in the Blue House.
Yesterday we started to treat the wooden panel that will cover the house. We use ‘rautavihtrilli’, I’m not sure what you call it in English (iron sulphate or something) which makes the wood turn grey in a couple of years. So the panel is not going to painted after this treatment. We have almost 7 kilometres of that panel on our front yard so I can see it’s a hell of a job to treat all of that with the rautavihtrilli. I’ve done it for two days now and maybe one tenth of that panel is ready…. Well, today the weather wasn’t very good and I had to stop as it was dribbling. But yes, there’s so much work to do at the house before we can move in that it’s just too scary to think about.
Day after tomorrow is the first of May, Vappu, the Labour Day. Have to get some sparkling wine tomorrow but most of the day we’ll spend at the Blue House, working.
Busy week coming after the Vappu. I’ll have a yoga course and I have to prepare myself for the performances in Helsinki by for example getting new clothes to replace the ones that were stolen. What a fucking pain… Not the performances or rehearsals, just the stolen clothes.
Hope you all well.
Johanna

Performance in Joensuu on Wednesday

Published at March 26, 2007 in Art, Dance, House building, Life and Random. 0 Comments

I’m off to Joensuu to perform Mulla ei oo mitään päälle pantavaa with Jaana and Jaap on Wednesday. We’ll perform in Taidekeskus Ahjo, Koksi-sali at 7 pm, in case you want to see the work.
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Photographs by Pekka Mäkinen.

It seems I have a million things to do before that and somehow the work is not getting any less by working… And then there are yearly nightmares like the tax papers and grant applications for the arts council of Finland to be sent in by the end of the month. And just to make sure I’m very busy, right after I come back from Joensuu on Thursday afternoon, Gregg arrives in Kuopio at 6 pm. I’m really looking forward to this all, but I don’t understand why everything needs to always happen at the same time? The week is going to be extremely busy so you might not hear more of me this week.
I spent some time today at the Blue House meeting our electrician and plumber. I also ordered the outside wood panel for the house as well as some birch veneer plywood to the ceiling and one wall upstairs.
The weather has been incredibly sunny, warm and beautiful. The snow has melted away really fast and we are very optimistic to get to work on the outside panelling of the Blue House in April or May.

Hope to see you Joensuu on Wednesday. I’m off to bed now.
Johanna

Busy day at the office + acupuncture hangover

Published at March 23, 2007 in Art, House building, Life and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Lot’s to think about. Have been in touch with the ministry of foreign affairs about inviting some foreign guests to ANTI –festival and got for a change quite excited about the possibilities. It would be so great if we could invite a couple of international editors and a few directors and curators to the next festival and highlight the international position of ANTI. I had a Skype session with Gregg and as usual, it felt really good to go through things with him. His visiting Kuopio next week and I’m so much looking forward to planning the festival and going through the applications with him. The association behind the festival has its annual meeting next week and today two new members joined our association, hurray!
Last night I was totally wiped out by the acupuncture treatment. I had to go to bed at something like 7.30 pm and I woke up when Pekka came home from work after 9 pm. The treatment was really good; it’s pretty amazing how you can feel your meridians running down the spine, across the back, from the neck down to the arm etc. Jori did also some cupping to me and the marks on my back are pretty intense… I’ve felt much better with my shoulder and neck today but I ended up doing too much cleaning and household stuff tonight. And that was because it turned out that my daughter has pinworms! Disgusting. They have had them in her day care but I have never ever had them in my family before. So I had to buy the medicine for all of us and wash all bed linen, towels, toys, bathroom…well, I might be overreacting a bit but I truly find it horrifying. Pinworms are very common, apparently, but I’m definitely shocked and upset.
I’m planning to work at the Blue House tomorrow, there are a few things that need to be sorted out and decided soon. Some work needs to be done as well but I’m not going to sit by the computer all day.

Hope you are well.

Johanna

Too much work

Published at February 28, 2007 in Art, Design, Festivals, House building and Life. 0 Comments

The last weeks have been a bit too busy. With the ANTI –festival, our call for proposals is finishing today and you might be able to imagine the amount of inquiries and proposals that has been coming in. It’s exciting, yes, but sure keeps me busy!
I also haven’t had any free days as I was rehearsing with Jaana for the whole weekend. I’ve been writing grant applications, planning the TALKS and DEEDS programme for April with Gregg and dealing with ANTI’s call for proposals plus all legal stuff that has to do with running an association.

I don’t have anything to wear –performance brochure went to print last night and I’m pretty pleased with it. It’s going to be out next week.

Silja from the Domus kitchens sent me a few images of our kitchen today. So you have to imagine this

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tuukkanen-keittio.jpgtuukkanen-keittio-2.jpg
tuukkanen-keittio-1.jpg

To this space.

upstairs1_pos1.jpg
I must say I really look forward to cooking in this kitchen. I don’t know about you, but for me it’s as close as can be to the idea of a simple, yet strong and characteristic kitchen that fits to the Blue House.So in the middle of the busy day it was so refreshing to get a few pics from our future kitchen.
Recently, I have tried to get rid of at least some of my addictions. So I have quit ordering the Avotakka design magazine and Meidän Talo magazine. I don’t yet quite know how I’m going to fill up the emptiness that’ll leave into my life but I might survive.

Looking forward to your comments,
Johanna

Bright, cold days

Published at February 21, 2007 in Art, Ashtanga Yoga, Design, House building and Life. 0 Comments

The sun reflects from the snow so brightly, that it is time to look for sunglasses. I was a bit fed up to go to the rehearsal studio today but the walk on the ice in the bright sunlight made it all right. Even the brisk icy wind on the cheeks didn’t bother too much. Time in the studio was nice and mellow, I did my asana practice which I haven’t done for far too long. So it is was a bit sticky, achy and not very flowing but it was still good to do and be in and with my body. And alone in the space, just with my body and my thoughts. Bliss.

Yesterday I was at the Blue House and noticed a few mistakes in the electrician’s work. I called him and he came over and promised to fix them today. I don’t know if he’s been there or not but I found out that also plumbers hadn’t measured the pipes for the upstairs’ toilet properly… It’s really annoying to fix other people’s mistakes especially after you have paid them and then they haven’t done their job properly. And it’s not their house, so they don’t really care.

Yesterday we also decided that it is going to be Domus. Our kitchen, I mean. I signed a contract including the cupboards, sink and worktops. Not cheap! I hardly could sleep last night as I was worrying about the future bankruptcy… But it is going to be beautiful and stunning – but that is of course just my opinion. Now I’m concerned about the kitchen appliances as that is the next huge investment.

I’ll post some images of the kitchen if I’m allowed by the Silja from Domus.
Now I have to dash to the daycare to pick up my daughter.

Johanna

Longing, house, clothes, worries and www

Published at February 15, 2007 in Art, Dance, Festivals, House building, Life, Live Art and Travelling. 0 Comments

Busy days since coming back from Glasgow. I’ve been a bit blue, missing Rebecca and Andrew, the presence of so many wonderful artists and general passion for live art. Nikki and Colin had once again created a fantastic festival with about 80 artists from around the world. At the moment I feel that the most important works for me to see and experience were by artists Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Rosie Dennis and also Nic Green who is a very young artist based in Glasgow. But I’ve found a touching naivety and sincerity in her works and a kind of romantic enthusiasm. I’ve seen two of her works and also her performing in Grace Surman’s piece in Bristol last year. There is something about Nic that I really like but at the same time something troubling, which is a nice feeling. There were lots of other interesting things and strong works, too many to list here. But one more has to be mentioned! The first time I saw Curious live with their new work (be)longing. It was very good to see and I found it really beautiful in its simplicity but it was kind of long. But I also saw it in the late evening having already watched works for about ten hours…so maybe it wasn’t the best time. But I really enjoyed it. Also some video works I’ve seen by them have been great. And of course Marcia Farquhar! She was just amazing and it was just amazing to see her work with an archive of her clothes.
I had very inspiring meetings and conversations with Daniel and Lois from the Live Art Development Agency. They were also very pleased with our decision to choose Gregg Whelan to be my co-artistic director which, acknowledging their experience on the field, I highly value. We also hope to work with them in the future.
It was also really great to meet with other live art festival producers from the UK, Belgium and France and I sense a great passion to promote live art and artists. Let’s see if we can be part of a live art focused EU-project in the future. It would be fantastic and I really hope we can find a way with ANTI to work it out.
It was fantastic to have Andrew and Rebecca over in Glasgow as well, although they didn’t present work in the programme. Last year they were artists in residence along with Richard Dedominici (who also has shown work at ANTI) and I must say I missed the kind of presence they brought to the NRLA last year. And there were so many other people I so much enjoyed seeing like Jennie Klein, Steven Hodge, Dominic Johnson, Manuel Vason, Deen, Eleine Kordys, Andrew from LADA etc….

When I flew to Glasgow, my luggage was lost for two days. What a nightmare! I had all my new great clothes with me that I didn’t get to wear because for the first two days I just had to wear the same clothes. Actually, I had to by lots of new toiletries (cleansing milk, tonic water, shampoo, toothpaste, deo etc.) and some new undies to survive. It’s a pain with the new hand baggage regulations. Well, luggage arrived finally and I got to wear my new boots, jacket and Ponten skirt which never goes unnoticed. And Andrew and Rebecca got their Nordic Walking sticks…

I’ll have a rehearsal period with Jaana next week and I’ve been booking some studios space for us and also just for me individually. Today I was supposed to send material to our graphic designer but I didn’t manage. I didn’t get our exact performance dates in Helsinki from Jaana yet, Pekka is still working on some photos and I decided to go and do some at the Blue House today. It was so great. At 1 pm the light in the house is so beautiful at the moment that I just had to take a few photos.

upstairs1

upstairs2

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yogaview

downstairs

Mladen, who has been and is working on my website, emailed me today and it’s all moving on at least a little bit now. There has been all kinds of obstacles on the way and Mladen has now moved to Sweden, but I hope you’ll have patience as we sure do our best to set it up.

I still don’t know about the artist grant for this year from the regional arts council and it’s really depressing. I know I didn’t get anything from the Finnish Cultural Foundation and that also put me down. Sometimes I feel I’m too old for this kind of uncertainty. By this time, at 33, and having worked as an artist professionally for 10 years, after receiving a State Prize for the Arts among others, I should have a little longer time phrase than 9 months in which to develop work. Don’t you think I deserve it?

Johanna

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