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 Mäkipää and Alvar Aalto.
Update: also spotted Ivana Helsinki, Secco and Golla.
Johanna
… I woke up 5.20 am local time and just couldn’t sleep. So I decided to go for a jog by the seaside. It was quite windy but beautiful and although I haven’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 wasn’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 I’m up for a couple of meetings and in the evening a get together at Thorey’s place with local artists. Great!
Johanna
…from the hotel Arnarvoll’s 8th floor restaurant & balcony in Reykjavik, Iceland
I love the Eames plastic amrchairs they have in the hotel, also in the rooms. They are just so beautiful. We need some chairs at our dining table at home and I must say I really like these ones. I have looked at them before and wasn’t so fond of them but I might have changed my mind! They are quite comfy. I definitely prefer the ones with the arm rests.
I’m off to have walk in the Reykjavik city centre. I’m meeting some artists in the afternoon and then might go swimming in one of the thermal pools after that.
Johanna
At Stockholm Arlanda airport, on my way to Reykjavik, Iceland. Although it’s just afternoon, I’ve been traveling now for 9 hours and have a slight headache. I don’t know if it’s because of the short sleep or lack of coffee. And of course, I forgot my paracetamol at home.
I’m going to see some performances, exhibitions and have arranged meetings with people. I’m really looking forward to all that, and experiencing some of Iceland of course, but more importantly, I’m hoping this trip would somehow enlighten me in terms of my new work that I’m working on. As always, there isn’t enough money to do what I have set myself to do and I’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 don’t know where to cut any more without changing the work completely.
So, I need to get a revelation concerning this matter and I’m hoping the time in Iceland would help me. I have of course packed my cameras and I’m open to get inspiration for my ongoing interest in the body/landscape.
Johanna
I performed with Jaana & Jaap I don’t have anything to wear on Friday in Helsinki. Since then, I’ve been somehow really tired. I don’t know why I’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 didn’t make sense to force myself to exercise. And this really wasn’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, I’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 that’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 body…
Next week seems really busy, lots of work to do and most of it is exciting. I’m planning to hold an audition for my new performance in the end of May or early June. At the moment I’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 let’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
I know there’s talk and writing about Ilkka Kanerva going on everywhere, but since I’m in Stavanger at the moment, I couldn’t help but notice the scandal on the front page of Vardens gang today. Oh boy.
Johanna
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 I’m making the dinner with Anne-Marte for everyone. We’ll hope it’s going to be nice! We also have a little wine tasting tonight so that should be quite nice, too.
It’s beautifully snowy and sunny in Stavanger today and I’m so excited about finally seeing all the artists and getting to work with them.
Johanna
Today I went to the office, first time after my oh-so-inspiring trip to Glasgow. The office felt dusty and dirty, which it also is… somehow I’m not inspired to clean it and all the paper and crap is just there to make the air bad. But it was a beautiful, sunny and bright day and I didn’t feel jealous of my friends in Thailand and Brazil. Not today.
In deed I felt so happy about visiting Glasgow, seeing all the great work, meeting colleagues and artists, having late night discussions with living legends of performance and live art, planning future festivals, panels and projects. What could be more inspiring?
I took one photo whilst in Glasgow. Maybe you know that image, but I still find it amusing. Peruna, a design label by Marks & Spencer, means potato in Finnish. It doesn’t really sound like the most attractive brand of clothing but rather funny.
I bought a couple of books during my visit. One is Eat Pray Love and I must say, I really enjoy reading it. I’ve been missing having time to read and somehow strangely during my trip it again became possible as there was so much waiting around at airports etc. But I do love that book although I’m only in India, in the book I mean. At the moment I’m just happy to be at home.
Johanna
Travelling is such a hard job. During the last couple of years I’ve been making more journeys and been away from home and family and although I’m excited about the things I’m involved in and the places I go to, I am starting to feel how it eats up my energy – especially as I haven’t had a chance to take enough time off and recharge. The only really nice memories are about flights in Costa Rica. I guess, you can can imagine the beauty of this destination. Yesterday I woke up at 4.27am, an airport taxi picked me up at 5am, my first flight was at 6.15am and another at 8.20am. It was a great ride, I talked to the taxi man for awhile and told him how I was also a taxi driver and recently just had to compare cheap taxi insurance quotes at utilitysavingexpert.com. I hang out at Manchester International airport, tried to stay awake and spend the eight hours I had to wait until my last flight to Glasgow. Because of all the despair of not having slept enough, waking up so early and waiting around for so long, I decided to treat myself with a large cappuccino (not big like I tried to explain) and a blueberry muffin. That’s another thing about travelling; it’s so easy to end up eating really unhealthy stuff because I might not have the time to go to good restaurants to eat proper food, I cannot cook, I usually don’t have the money to go to best restaurants and if I’m not really careful, I end up eating too much salty and fatty snacks like crisps, creamy pastas, heavy sandwiches and drinking too much coffee. And then feeling tired and overwhelmed by the travelling, I reward myself with wine. I’m such a heroine.
Well, this time I’m trying to be optimistic and I took my gym gears and Polar F6 with me. I went to the hotel gym in the morning as I know it makes me feel better. I’m hesitating to say that as I have taken my yoga mat along on some trips where I haven’t really done much of it. Anyway, maybe it’s more of an emotional support, trying to stay healthy and happy although not at home.
And of course the crew at home just think I’m having the time of my life, you know, not being at home, not needing to worry about dirty dishes, cooking, children – just watching art, having meetings with artists, curators, programmers and colleges. And when I get back home they want to punish me for the time off from home, or ‘holiday’ as they see it. What as vicious circle!
Anyhow, I’m just trying to say that I admire people who travel a lot in their jobs. It’s not easy. Maybe it’s the age, my workload or the family situation, but I’m sure it’s never simple.
Well, over the next five days I’m at the National Review of Live Art, doing my job.
Johanna
Things have been kind of hectic lately and I haven’t had the possibility to reflect on anything or write my blog. The beginning of the year is kind of hard to handle for me as I don’t have continuous artist’s grant or jobs and I’m kind of on top of nothing wondering how to pay the bills and balance the situation with the family. Well, I have a couple of things coming up but they are not enough to sustain the situation so it takes sometimes a lot of effort to try stay focused and calm and not to stress to death.
My performances last week in Helsinki went well although in general I found the trip really exhausting and energy consuming. Without the help of two lovely Maijas, I wouldn’t have survived the circumstances. I’m really grateful to them but realize that I cannot always travel around with two personal assistants. So better help and support from the organisers is definitely needed in the future.
On Monday was the first shooting of Suomi express, a weekly TV-programme at the Finnish national television in which I participate every third week. It was quite fun and nice. It came out on the 30th of Jan and you can watch it online at Yle Areena for another week or so here http://areena.yle.fi/toista?id=1053086. You can also search for Suomi express at Yle Areena and you’ll find the programs available. I will be commenting on some current topics with Atik Ismail every third week at least for the spring. It’s funny not to know who watches the program (it’s broadcasted prime time) and many people have said that they saw it. On Friday I went to the gym and think some people recognized me from the program as I felt I was strangely under scrutiny.
I’ve done several grant reports this week, visited tax office and tried to sort out my home office, which is a real chaos. Today I threw away probably a ton of papers and magazines but still it feels like a mess. I installed a new printer today so it’s getting a bit better to work in the office but most things are not in their place yet. I do feel tired of all the unfinished things as they are everywhere you turn. But I found an invitation to take part in a medical research which I had completely forgot. They are making a research on diabetes and as part of that you’ll get information about your blood (like cholesterol etc.), liver and kidneys. I think I’ll take part, at least I get to know something more about my health as I don’t have any regular health service provided which people in proper jobs have.
Johanna
