Category Archives: Art

At home

A lot of time spent home with family this summer. Somehow nice and relaxing, although at times hard for me. During the last year, Iâ€™ve been away travelling so much that now I actually have been able to enjoy being at home, not on my way anywhere. Of course it helps to know that some trips are approaching â€“Copenhagen in August and London in September… A chance to see friends and collegues, to feel connected to the field Iâ€™m working in.
I had the most terrible throat infection for almost two weeks, which really slowed me down. Then there was the funeral of my 32 year-old cousin. That was really really hard emotionally. Oh my god. Besides the work on the house, Iâ€™ve been concentrating on my exercise routine -jogging, gym and functional training. At the moment I really enjoy this period of preparing for my new work and working on my fitness, having time to think and prepare the work â€“although it feels thereâ€™s never enough time for this period.
ANTI Festival is approaching but this week Iâ€™m off from that business. Next week we are back full on and itâ€™s time to get to serious business.
Today we painted one wall and hang some curtains. Painfully slow, but things are getting there. Sometimes I wish I wasnâ€™t so impatient, but only sometimes. Impatience can be a great force, an energy.
I cycled with the kids to a park today and went swimming with them. Felt like a proper person for a moment. Iâ€™ll try to enjoy these last days of summer holiday with them but to be honest, cannot wait to get back to work.

Johanna

Applaud, please!

Today is the day I have paid back all off my student loan. Quite an achievement for me.
Iâ€™ve had student loan since 1989 and I can reassure you, it has been quite a bitter experience as an artist to realize that off the little money you make, a third disappears into your study loans every month. Anyway, Iâ€™ve done that now. Everyone applaud, please!!!

Johanna

Report from Stavanger

Days in Stavanger have been a long but exciting. Annie Sprinkleâ€™s and Beth Stephensâ€™ work and them just being part of TW1 project (and Stavanger 2008) have caused a great controversy in Stavanger. There have been attacks against their work and especially Annie as she has been a porn star and a prostitute in her past -and of course us and TouScene as organisers of this project. So since yesterday we have been in interviews by newspapers, radio and television. And mostly all we have done, is talk about porn and prostitution â€“although Annieâ€™s and Bethâ€™s work is not about either of those things. Their work is about love and the seven year project they are involved in at the moment can be viewed on their website www.loveartlab.org in more detail.
Anyway, Annie and Beth are just amazing artists and incredible women and feminists and Iâ€™m so proud that I have been able to curate them into the project.

Annie & Beth had posted this email out to their fellow artists to tell a little about their experiences:

“Fellow performance artists,

Today’s performance piece in Stavanger, Norway.
By the Love Art Laboratory.

1. Sensationalist press writes about prostitute/porn star (Annie) and her lesbian lover coming to “give away free sex in norway as art”!!!! ??? (SO not true)
2. Anti-porn feminists protest Sidewalk Sex Clinic with Beth and Tom Garretson (fellow artist from Oslo). And also protest the curators of art exhibit and harass the funders of art project we and other artists are doing. Saying art org supports prostitution and porn!!!! ???
3. A tall man (Neo nazi?) in ski mask walks up to our window and spray paints a Jewish star and writes JEW on the windows of the building we’re doing our performance in. (Annie is Jewish blood–Unitarian actually)
4. We, the friendly performance artists, then go stand among the crowd of anti-porn (“all porn stars are victims or perpetrators”) feminists while wearing our white lab coats and holding daisies. Confusing the anti-porn feminists and the media and amusing ourselves.

It was an interesting day.

Annie”

Yesterday was the first day of the showing period so there were great tours by the artists, sculptures, installations, sound, performance etc. happening. Iâ€™m quite pleased how it all went and the works were very well attended by audiences and very covered in the media. Here are some images Iâ€™ve taken during the last couple of days.

The demonstration by Ottar yestrday:

Free Sidewalk Sex Clinic by LoveArtLab & Tom Garretson:

Annie & Atle, the owner of the Love Shop:

Geir, our producer and Per Arna, the general manager of Tou Scene:

Elaine Kordys floating in Badedammen:

Helge Olav:

Mariela Limerutti:

Mona & Torunn:

A tour on Nytorget:

Torunn by the sculpture of Nils Thomas & Rune:

Kristen Gustavson from Urban SjÃ¶front:

TW1 artists with Kirsten:

Pedersgata:

Trond from the Svop/t -team:

The Pedicab:

Tom & Beth & Annie:

Links:
http://aftenbladet.no/webtv/?id=654228
http://www.rogalandsavis.no/nyheter/article3603208.ece
http://www.aftenbladet.no/kultur/2008/article653510.ece
http://www.rogalandsavis.no/puls/article3599402.ece
http://www.aftenbladet.no/debatt/article653242.ece
http://nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/rogaland/nord-jaeren/1.5984981
http://www.aftenbladet.no/kultur/2008/article654522.ece
http://www.rogalandsavis.no/puls/article3604256.ece
http://www.stavangeravisen.com/art.asp?id=41974
http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/rogaland/stavanger2008/1.5905196
http://www.rogalandsavis.no/puls/article3557723.ece
http://www.ostpluss.no/urban/public/openIndex?ARTICLE_ID=958&PROJECT_ID=287
http://www.regionstavanger.com/?c=25&intro=85_614_8&PR=292_11_115&mi=mct6&sp=NO
http://web3.aftenbladet.no/kultur/hvaskjer/?instanceid=12077575
http://www.trafo.no/nyheter/2008/06/er_prostitusjon_kultur-1366/
http://www.rogalandsavis.no/puls/article3466323.ece
http://studyfeminism.blogspot.com/2008/03/tou-works.html

More updates coming shortly.

Johanna

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