Category Archives: Art

post festival blues

It’s been a week since the ANTI Festival finished. It was probably the best festival ever –partly because of the length of the festival and number of artists involved which really made an impact to the city but I was especially satisfied with the programme this year. Of course, as an organizer there are always areas of improvement, but the overall level of the programme was very high this year. Also the seminar was great. I felt so proud of these amazing artists, academics, guests and visitors who all gathered to Kuopio to create the festival. I want to say thank you to each and every one of you. And especially I want to thank Gregg with whom it’s such a pleasure to collaborate.
Johanna & Gregg

ANTI squirrel 09

As usual, after the intense festival period, everything feels flat. I always get very emotional after the festival when all the exhaustion, pressure and expectation begin to ease off. For a couple of days I was just in tears. But by now I’ve learned that that’s part of it, part of the festival experience and although it feels tough each year, it’s something that will surely but slowly pass.

Luckily there were other things that kept me busy last week. Application deadlines, meetings, runs, exercising, other performances and reviews.

Part of me hates when the brisk but colourful autumn begins to get colder and rainier but a few days ago I had such a blissful 10k run and today an easy Nordic walk that I cannot complain. Yes, it’s quite cold but it didn’t rain on me. And yes, we are in the North, on the edge of Europe.

Next week I’m back to Acts of Clothing and very excited about it!   

Johanna

working hard

acts of clothing1
Last month I’ve been working on ACTS OF CLOTHING, my upcoming show which is a concept by British live artist Marcia Farquhar. It has been a rather thought stimulating process to go through my past by looking at items of clothing and stories & incidents related to them. Marcia has been a great support and I’m so honoured to be working with her in this process. 
half marathon 1
half marathon 2
half maraton 3
Last weeks have been an emotional roller cost as I run my first (and maybe last) half marathon and felt really flat after achieving the goal I had been training for about nine months. A few days later I learned some sad news about funding and felt totally devastated. All that has to be dealt with later on as now it’s the best time of the year in Kuopio because the ANTI Festival kicks off on Wednesday. For about a week, Kuopio turns into the hotpot of live art as international artists, programmers, and festival visitors gather to create amazing work – thanks to me. Not just me, of course, but I’ve started the festival and I guess one could say that I’m the ‘force’ behind it. So tomorrow I’m having dinner with Gregg Whelan, Guillermo Gomez Pena and Roberto Sifuentes among others and later during the week will be spending time with Jennie Klein, Dee Heddon, Gwendoline Robin, Cindy Baker, Alex Bradley, Antti Laitinen, Essi Kausalainen, Leena Kela, Pilvi Porkola, Pirjo Yli-Maunula, William Petit, Samo Gosaric to name a few. How exciting!

Hope to see you all at ANTI. It will be great. I promise.

Johanna

 

 

cover girl

Today I was positively surprised to find myself on the cover of the Finnish Dance Magazine (Tanssi-lehti). Inside the magazine was a review of my work HUIPPUSUORITUS – OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE at the Full Moon Dance Festival in Pyhäjärvi and it was very positive and a bit flattering. That’s always nice. So if you haven’t seen it yet, you have to go and get your copy of the Tanssi magazine. I might translate some bits into English but these days are so filled with writing grant applications and preparing for Acts of Clothing rehearsals next week that it might take a while.
The only ‘problem’ with the great cover & review in the Tanssi magazine was that the cover photograph was not credited correctly. For about the last 9 years, all photographs of my works have been taken and created in collaboration with photographer Pekka Mäkinen and it’s really really a shame and a big mistake that the front image (which is just amazing) is credited to someone else than him.
The image -by Pekka Mäkinen- is this one, of course:
HUIPPUSUORITUS 1

Johanna

back to business

Last weeks have been a bit of a struggle in terms of adjusting into a new rhythm of getting up really early. The summer wasn’t pure holiday but mornings were mellow –not only for me but for he whole family. My daughter started school two weeks ago and as she goes to the Steiner school in Kuopio, her days start every day at 7.55 am. And that’s quite early in my opinion. Anyway, I’ve found myself quite disorientated and almost dysfunctional at times as days seem to be suddenly filled with appointments of bringing or picking up someone from somewhere.
And in the midst of that, I’ve tried to keep up with my running as my first half marathon is coming up soon, on the 5th of September. Today I did my last long run (16 kilometres) before the half marathon and the upcoming weeks will be a bit lighter and easier with the training. That’s great as some of the long runs have been kind of ‘fighting my mind’ although I think I’ve been able to overcome many psychological obstacles lately in terms of my running. Now there’s a lot to think about in terms of pace and gels / energy drinks during the half marathon especially as I easily get problems with my stomach during running. And of course there’s the question, what to wear?
The Functional Team, where I’ve done my functional training and which has been coaching my training for the past year or so, has moved to a new beautiful space with three studios and KINESIS circuit training possibilities. I’ve tried out KINESIS twice now and I think it’s something I’ll be doing a lot during the autumn. It just feels great and efficient but at the same time fluid and soft. I’ll have my third workshop session tomorrow and then I should be ready for individual KINESIS training. I’m really looking forward to that!
I’ve started rehearsing on my upcoming work and I’m really excited about the collaboration with Marcia Farquhar. More about that a bit later. Last week I had a photo shooting session of the BODY/HAIR performance and I hope I’m able to post a few images next week.
Now I need to get some rest. I feel the long run in my legs and there’s no mercy in the morning when my daughter’s school starts!

Johanna

rules & hints

I’ve been wallpapering my home office and therefore cleaning and going through tons of stuff. Today I re-found this A4 that I got maybe about 10 years ago which includes ‘Some rules and hints for students and teachers or anybody else’ by John Cage. It always makes me smile so here it is for you as well:

Some rules and hints for students and teachers or anybody else

by John Cage

RULE ONE: Find a place you trust, and then try trusting it for awhile.

RULE TWO: General duties of a student – pull everything out of your teacher; pull everything out of your fellow students.

RULE THREE: General duties of a teacher – pull everything out of your students.

RULE FOUR: Consider everything an experiment.

RULE FIVE: be self-disciplined – this means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.

RULE SIX: Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail, there’s only make.

RULE SEVEN: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.

RULE EIGHT: Don’t try to create and analyze at the same time. They’re different processes.

RULE NINE: Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It’s lighter than you think.

RULE TEN: “We’re breaking all the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities.” (John Cage)

HINTS: Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully, often. Save everything – it might come in handy later.

aftermath

I’ve realized how stressful the spring was and now that I’m easing into the summer and a bit of a holiday, I start to feel all the workload in my body. I even haven’t had the time to sit down in peace to write my blog and there are numerous things that I haven’t managed to complete the way I would have liked or needed to. I have some issues with my lower back and neck which need a bit of focus, time and energy.
My performances during the Kuopio Dance Festival as part of Paikallisliike 09 event went well but left me with a lot of questions. I was very happy that some collegues, people from the Finnish Dance Information Centre and at least one international writer were present at the performances but I don’t understand why the Kuopio Dance Festival cannot collaborate with the regional dance centre more thoroughly. Many dance professionals say that the Paikallisliike programme is much more exciting than the actual Kuopio Dance Festival programme but still there are a lot of writers that were in Kuopio who did not bother to see the full Paikallisliike programme because they don’t consider the program seriously. Jussi Tossavainen from Helsingin Sanomat and Eeva Kauppinen from the Finnish theatre magazine and Kaleva newspaper -among others- were here but did not attend the full Paikallisliike programme (they also didn’t bother to attend the launch of the ANTI Festival 2009 programme). I saw Eeva in one of the performances, which consisted of two worst works I’ve seen for a while. I don’t know, but I think she was there because one of the works was a premiere by Rimpparemmi, a folk dance group from the same region where she lives. Jussi Tossavainen I only saw in the Veljmies supermarket gambling and didn’t feel like saying hello to him. I don’t know – I just don’t understand why writers across Finland and Europe come all this way but instead of seeing as much as they can, they gamble, take salsa classes or otherwise just relax as supposed so showing interest to contemporary dance artists’ works? This really depresses me. Well, an exception was Ann-Marie Wrange from the Swedish Dans Tidningen who came to see several nights of the Paikallisliike event and who also attended both of my works. That was really lovely and I enjoyed her presence in BODY/HAIR a lot.

There’s a lot I would like to blog about but I will have to continue tomorrow. Today I went to functional training and cycled back and forth and feel pretty exhausted now. I’ve promised to my trainer that I will run a half marathon in September so I’m in the middle of my running programme. I’ll write more about that soon.

Johanna

performing on Saturday & Sunday

I’m performing HUIPPUSUORITUS – OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE on Saturday and BODY/HAIR on Sunday as part of Paikallisliike 09 event. Hope to see you there!

NOTE! Both works has a limited audience capacity and pre-booking is required. Please email aluekeskus@elisanet.fi or call +358 50 581 6300.

Huomaathan, että molempiin on rajoitettu katsojamäärä ja siksi pakollinen paikkavaraus! Varauksen voi tehdä Itäisen tanssin aluekeskuksen tuottaja Vilja Ruokolaiselle aluekeskus@elisanet.fi tai +358 50 581 6300.

HUIPPUSUORITUS – OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE on Saturday the 13th of June at 7.30pm:

Pink bra √
Miss Privilege √
Book called Huojuva talo (trl. Swaying House) √
Book called Perhosten valtakunta (trl. Empire of Butterflies) √
Overhead projector √
Items of clothing √
Treadmill √

Johanna Tuukkanen’s work OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE, created in collaboration with performers Sami Henrik Haapala and Vaatu Kalajoki, deals with concepts of time, daily routine and gender, all of which have been central to Tuukkanen’s body of work, formed by 15 pieces over 11 years.

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Pinkit rintaliivit √
Miss Privilege √
Huojuva talo √
Perhosten valtakunta √
Piirtoheitin √
Vaatekappaleita √
Juoksumatto √

Johanna Tuukkasen teos HUIPPUSUORITUS – OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE yhteistyössä Sami Henrik Haapalan ja Vaatu Kalajoen kanssa käsittelee ajan, arjen ja sukupuolen teemoja, jotka ovat olleet keskiössä hänen tähänastisen taiteellisen työnsä aikana toteuttamissa 15 teoksessa.

Concept & Choreography: Johanna Tuukkanen
Performance: Sami Henrik Haapala / www.samihenrik.me, Vaatu Kalajoki, Johanna Tuukkanen
Music and sound: Tatu Metsäpelto
Costumes: archive of Johanna Tuukkanen
Photography: Pekka Mäkinen
Light design: Sami Henrik Haapala, Jari ’Piki’ Lappalainen
Johanna’s fitness coaching by Riikka Valve, Pilates instructor Pipsa Rautsi / Functional Team / www.functional-team.fi
Treadmill: Sportia Kuopio / York Fitness
Supported by: Regional dance centre of Eastern Finland, Arts Council of North Savo, Arts Council of Finland and National Council for Dance
In collaboration with: Functional Team, Kuntokeskus Fressi, Sportia Kuopio

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BODY/HAIR on Sunday the 14th of June between 12noon-4pm:

BODY/HAIR is a one-to-one performance.

Each performance lasts approximately 30 minutes, during which the viewer can reflect compassionately and/or critically on the body; the questions it raises,
its beauty and its ugliness. Look / discuss / listen / experience.

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BODY/HAIR on yhdelle katsojalle kerrallaan esitettävä teos.
Teos kestää noin puoli tuntia ja katsojalla mahdollisuus pohtia ruumiiseen, sen kauneuteen ja rumuuteen, omaan lempeään asenteeseen tai kriittiseen katseeseen liittyviä kysymyksiä kokien ja keskustellen tai vain katsoen ja kuunnellen.

Consept & choreography & performance: Johanna Tuukkanen
Music & sound: Tatu Metsäpelto
Costume: Janna von Becker
Lighting design: Jari ’Piki’ Lappalainen
Supported by: Regional dance centre of Eastern Finland, National Council for Dance
In collaboration with: Emilia Tengvall/Kuopion Sirkus

impressions & some iconic images of New York

The site-specific performance symposium in New York was very good and exciting and I thank Gulgun, Bertie & Frank for inviting me. It was very important for me to hear about several projects and festivals done by an exciting mix of curators, artists and venues. And in terms of curating and organizing the ANTI Festival, it was also great to feel that we are part of a whole field working site-specifically and sharing a lot of similar concerns, challenges and issues.
My schedule in New York was quite tight and my visit rather short, but here are some images I took during my walks. Many of them are very iconic and typical images of New York but I guess the same images have to be taken over and over again as New York is just amazing. Unfortunately, I don’t have any images of the symposium or my 10k run in the Central Park. I was supposed to participate in a running event here in Kuopio in May but then this trip came about and I couldn’t take part in it. So I promised to myself and my trainer, that I will run 10k on my own in the Central Park, my goal being that I run it in less than an hour. Well, I did it in 58 minutes and it was truly an amazing feeling to be running there. And I was pretty satisfied with my performance that went easily and smoothly.

Images from where I stayed – in the middle of Manhattan:
newyork10_pos.jpg

newyork14_pos.jpg

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My hotel Carlton Arms which I can highly recommend:

newyork3_pos.jpg

My stop:
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newyork8_pos.jpg

newyork12_pos.jpg newyork13_pos.jpg

The ruins of WTC:
newyork15_pos.jpg

A walk in Soho:
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newyork4_pos.jpg

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A boat trip to Staten Island:
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Nighttime visit to the Empire State Building:newyork20_pos.jpg

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symposium in New York

I’m just on my way to New York where I’ll be giving a talk in one of the panels of Site-specific Performance Symposium in CUNY. The whole symposium looks really exciting and I’m looking forward to participate in it -and of course to spend a couple of days in NY. If you are anywhere near, please come and here us discussing issues around site-specific performance!

Johanna

finally a weekend at home

Last weeks have been super busy for me as I was performing in Sweden, then went to Brussels and every chance I got, I was working on the new one-to-one performance BODY/HAIR which I premiered last Wednesday in Kuopio. It was a kind of work-in-progress day of performances but I’m pretty happy with it all. It was quite exciting as to get the soundscape, the costume, the stage equipment and all that together was a real challenge in terms of time and budget so I’m kind of proud that I was able to pull it together. The performance is quite tough for me to do –not so much one but to keep repeating it one after the other… I was really exhausted, friction burned and bruised afterwards. I was also very tired because it has been more than a month since I had a day off. Anyway, I survived it and have the weekend off now. What a luxury.
My performance shoes are the corset boots by Minna Parikka:
corset boot

Brussels was real nice and green. Kuopio was still very winter like when I left so it felt like a real luxury to see so much green (I stayed near Botanica) and walk in summer shoes. It was a lot of work though as I did a presentation with Gregg about ANTI Festival, then worked with Gregg on completing this year’s festival programme, saw as many performances as possible in the Trouble #5 Festival and also we had an audit of our A Space for Live Art EU project. Lot’s of work indeed! But it was great to see Gregg and some other artists there like Rosie Dennis, Essi Kausalainen, Guillermo Gomez Pena, the xxx group, Johanna Lecklin etc…. The nice thing also was that Kuopio had a kind of a heat wave whilst I was away so when I got back, practically all the snow was gone and the weather had really changed.
Brussels:
Botanica1               Botanica2

grand placa               Brussels01

mussles               in a cafe

Now I have a couple of days off and I’m just trying to relax and do stuff that at home. Then I’m staring to prepare my trip to New York. Lot’s of exciting things happening!

Happy Labour Day weekend to everyone! Hauskaa Vappu-viikonloppua kaikille!

munkkivuori

Johanna