Category Archives: Art

second day

We set a task today to make a walk for each other. Rebecca made an autobiographical walk and I made a socially engaging participatory walk. I had a great time creating the walk in two hours, doing the audio walk Rebecca had created and doing my walk with Rebecca.
I had a really nice conversation with a chugger on the market square, talked for an hour with a woman who sells vintage Arabia porcelain and cookware, went to Merja’s shop Alli & Aino which sells Finnish design by Noolan and Lumi Accessories and we participated in the @kuopio.doc project by Anniina Aunola and Anu Rajala-Erkut.

Johanna

beginning of a new project

with FrenchMottershead!

Rebecca landed yesterday and today we started working at 10am.

We talked an walked.



We walked and talked about our work, the audience, our ideas, about walking and about maps. We went to the Kuopio tourist information and got some maps. We walked more and talked more about autobiography, participation, social engagement and tasks. We realized that we both wanted to be architects.

We had Hanna Partanen’s rice pies in the market square. I had the first strawberries of the year and a cup of coffee.

After dinner we took a walk to the beach and Rebecca swam. I got a sun burn.

Johanna

perception

I’ve been warming up Twirling World show with Sonja, working on the ANTI 2011 programme details and the upcoming book. I’ve been cycling, doing Kinesis and Zumba. Went for a day to Helsinki. And wondered about the flowers in the garden. You cannot imagine how much joy the rhododendrons bring me! And they are all going to bloom this year – very soon.



Johanna

a week of sports

Today I did a longer aerobic workout and went for a Nordic walk for about 95 mins. I took it very easy as I’ve been exercising a lot this week (about 10 hours including Zumba, functional training, Kinesis, cycling and Nordic Walking) and my body feels a bit tired. But I wanted to do one longer aerobic exercise so this afternoon was a good moment to do that. It was surprisingly warm and it was ok to just have a t-shirt on as I walked the Jynkänvuoren pururata twice. As I was Nordic walking and listening to music, I was thinking why I feel so tired. This week my body has physically felt tired because of rather hard exercise but I’ve also felt tired in relation to my work. Strange as this hasn’t been the busiest time ever. But I guess I have a few processes going on which always take more energy than expected. Two new works that I’m planning and working on, the ANTI Festival programme and our upcoming book…

I’m so excited about being invited to perform Acts of Clothing in the autumn in few festivals. I was so happy to get a phone call last week from one artistic director and to be invited to a festival I’ve never performed before. Great! And of course we have a show of Twirling World in June at the Paikallisliike event as part of the Kuopio Dance Festival.

Oh well, now it’s time for the ice hockey world championship final!

Johanna

 

 

 

London & Brussels

I had the luxury of visiting London and Brussels last week. First we worked two days in London with the ANTI Festival’s core team; me, Laura and Gregg. We are so used to Skype and email that it felt so luxurious to actually be in the same physical space. And we accomplished so much! There are a million big & small details to discuss and decide with the festival programme which we are hoping to launch in the end of the month or in the beginning on June. So I was so pleased with our meeting. Very useful. And it was great to see Gregg, sniff the air of London a little bit and see my friends’ house for the first time. Inspiring!


Gregg pointing out that he’s having tea while me & Laura are enjoying something else…



We were there just a day before the royal wedding so I had to buy a Will & Kate T-shirt. When I was buying it on Oxford Street, I got interviewed for French TV. They asked me why I bought it and I said because it’s so kitsch. Probably not the right answer! We also had a lovely dinner in a wonderful tapas place with Laura in Soho. By the way, if you are in London, check out FrenchMottershead’s photographic exhibition in the Photographers’ Gallery. Saw some images before they went to print and they looked very intriguing.

From London we took the Eurostar to Brussels. It was my first time on Eurostar and I was amazed how quick and easy it is! Less than two hours and you are in Brussels. It feels like a miracle comparing to Finland where it takes four hours for me to get even to Helsinki….

In Brussels we had A Space for Live Art project meeting with all the partners. The meeting was during the Trouble Festival so evenings we spent watching works. Rosie Dennis was doing her Downtown project there and it was great to see her working in a different context, different city and language. She performed in Les Halles but I must say that I really preferred her shows in Kuopio as they were not hidden in some art space. Also the work of Mitch & Parry was great.

We had a wonderful time with Laura. The weather was great, +23 degrees and we enjoyed the city a lot. On Saturday afternoon we had a little time to pop into the city centre for shopping. I brought Laura to the Pierre Marcolini chocolate shop… I didn’t remember how amazing the chocolate really is! It blows your mind. Laura will probably hate me forever for bringing her to the Cora Kemperman shop…where we both did some shopping. Again we had wonderful tapas and on Sunday just amazing mussels in La Pré Salé. Oooh. Unforgettable.




La Pré Salé:





1st of May:

Laura’s Belgian waffle:


This week has been hard trying to adjust to the normal rhythm. Every time I’m away and then come back home, I feel that so much work has piled up I don’t know where to start. But I’ve been happy cycling, going to Zumba and getting my energy flowing. Tomorrow I’m looking forward to Functional Training with Pipsa and on Saturday a Zumba marathon with Outi! Yeah.

Johanna

 

ARS11 opening & Helsinki

As you know, I went to the opening of ARS11 exhibition last week in Kiasma, Helsinki. Here’s some pictures of the night.





Tarja Halonen opening the exhibition:

Our friend’s Hannu’s & Irene’s cat Neppu:

A slow morning:

Meeting with Mladen & Bruno:

Great, inspiring trip.

Johanna

lovely Sunday morning

What a nice morning! +10 celcius degrees, sunny although a bit windy. I decided to take a risk and test how my operated knee feels about running. I wore my Nike Free trainers and run about 40mins. I wanted to take it very easy so I walked a few minutes in the beginning and was able to run without stopping after that. What a great feeling! My knee did hurt a little bit a few times but not so much that I would have had to stop. Also the kind of stinging pain went away so I’m not really able to analyze what causes it. I think I just have to let the knee to get used to running very, very slowly. I’m also thinking that maybe the very light trainers without any extra support actually work best for my knee. Don’t know. Anyway, I felt happy and strong and I can really feel all that functional training and Kinesis workouts in the strength of my legs. Running itself feels easy and light, it’s just the knee that is troubling me.

After my run I had a quiet breakfast reading Helsingin Sanomat and enjoying gorgeous pecan bread that I bought in Maatilatori in Helsinki. So delicious! It was really inspiring to spend a few days in Helsinki. I went to the opening of ARS11 in Kiasma with Pekka, saw Lea & Pekka Kantonen’s exhibition in Taidehalli and hang out with my daughter. Lovely. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay to see Maija Hirvanen’s new choreography in Zodiak but hopefully I will have a chance to see it somewhere else soon.

Today I have some writing, budgeting and thinking to do. Also my home office is waiting to get organized a bit better…

Johanna