Category Archives: Life

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!

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

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

Crushed tomatoes

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

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 costumes and clothes stolen

This is no joke.

The clothes and costumes of my latest work titled I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO WEAR have been stolen in Helsinki yesterday.

I mean…what the hell?

Johanna

Lot’s of stuff and all the rest

It feels I haven’t been here for ages. There seems to be so much to do all the time and I sometimes feel I’m drowning into my work load as the work is not getting any less no matter how much I work. There’s always more to do, something to be done better, and better. And better. And if I don’t have any more work to do, there’s always more yoga to be practiced.
Last days have been mad as my computer crashed a week ago. So the Easter holidays I spent in panic and having nightmares about not surviving this busy week as all my ‘stuff’ is the computer. But not only the stuff, but all the emails, the appointments, my calendar… But luckily, Andrei from Humac was able to bring my MacBook back to alive which really saved me from further nightmare. Now my computer not only works but is also better with more RAM! Great.
Seppo from the Arts Council of Finland called me today saying that I cannot apply an artist grant directly from the Arts Council, which I had done. My work often falls into the category of ‘the rest’ and I thought I can apply from them like I do with project funding applications. Well, it doesn’t work that way. One has to apply from a certain council that are visual arts, film, music, literature, dance, design, theatre, architecture and photography. So which box to tick? That’s a question. Only the critics apply directly from the Arts Council of Finland. But what about us, the rest?
I have decided to keep an audition for my group piece in May. I’ve had difficulties with deciding whom to ask to be part of the project and Anniina has convinced me to keep an audition. I’m looking for three female performers who would be strong individuals willing to show their weaknesses, fears, bodies, minds…
Last week with Gregg we went to meet the director of cultural affairs of Kuopio, Pekka Vähäkangas, and he said we should also meet some of the politicians. Gregg is coming over again today and I’ve been arranging all these meetings for us. Well, tomorrow we first hold the TALKS & DEEDS event, we both teach workshops in the mornings and early afternoon and then later in the afternoon we’ll have the public event at the city library of Kuopio. On Saturday there are some press interviews and on Monday we’ll keep this presentation to group leaders of Kuopio’s political parties. Then on Tuesday we’ll meet the head of the Music and Dance Academy to discuss collaboration. And we should also have time to complete the programme of the ANTI Festival 2007 with budgets etc. So a lot to do over the next few days!
I postponed my tax paper’s return date two weeks ago which means that the new deadline is now on Monday. Shit! My tax papers are pretty complicated to do so again I’m facing long nights going through piles of receipts.
Is this ever going to get any better?
Johanna