Category Archives: Festivals

about what’s going on

Next week I’ll start working with Vaatu & Sami Henrik on my new work. Exciting! Lately I’ve been working on my archives, gathering & collecting texts and writings, digitalizing old vhs video tapes and forcing myself to look at the work I’ve done over the past 10 years. Huh! It’s a lot. The upcoming work requires quite specific physical strength and ability from my behalf and I’m collaborating with personal trainer Riikka Valve of the Functional Team in order to be physically able to do what I’ve set myself out to do. So Riikka has created a new exercise programme for me which includes functional training, running, walking and Pilates. I’m also super excited about the Polar RS200 heart rate monitor which doesn’t only measure the pulse and sport zones but also the distance I’ve run and the speed… Inspiring!
Last week the Saaristokatu opened in Kuopio. I’ve run a lot around the area as I live nearby and the opening of the Saaristokatu made me feel so happy and proud of where I live and Kuopio in general. It’s just really beautiful and also shortens the distance to the city centre substantially. Makes life so much easier.
What else? I’m going to give an artist talk in Outokumpu in couple of weeks and perform soft skin / harsh life in Joensuu as part of the Lonely in the Rain? –festival. After that I’m going to a Space for Live Art meeting in Madrid…
By the way, ANTI Festival is seeking to appoint a full time, permanent Senior Producer. So if you are a super producer or know one, please let them know about the post.

Hope you are well.

Johanna

Busy days

A quiet moment at home, alone. A rare occasion. Somehow I’ve managed through this week although I’ve been a bit overwhelmed by all the work I’m involved in. All is going well, but let’s just say it’s a lot. I’ve also had a bit of a flue and I think that’s why I haven’t felt completely ok.
I will hold an audition for my new piece on Thursday the 18th and I should write a press release about that. But for those who are interested, mark it in your calendar. By the way, in the new issue of Finnish dance magazine titled TANSSI-lehti was a great review of my latest works soft skin / harsh life & Festive work. The ladies of the Festive work also made it to the cover of the magazine! The photographer was Pekka Mäkinen, of course.
I’m going to see the premiere of Chicago musical in Kuopio city theatre tomorrow night. I’m kind of looking forward to it although I must say I’m not a big fan of musicals, in general. But you never know, I might be surprised! I have a new skirt that I’m going to wear with my Minna Parikka Morticia shoes. Maybe I’m looking forward to that more that the musical itself? Could be.
The ANTI Festival brochure is out so make sure you get one if you are planning to attend the best contemporary art festival in Finland. There are some works that need signing up so be prepared for that. The whole programme is also online www.antifestival.com.
Next week I’m heading off to London for a few days which I’m really looking forward to. But more about that another time.

Have a restful weekend!

Johanna

Copenhagen & PSI

I’m off to Copenhagen tomorrow morning. I’m performing at the PSI # 14 conference on Friday and on Saturday we have a panel about the ANTI Festival. Hope to see you all there!
Lately things have just been crazy with work –my own and with ANTI Festival. Couple of days ago I was in town getting things I need for my performance and needed to buy a shimmering body lotion from the Body Shop. Well, this is not the season for their strong smelling shimmering body lotions and I was getting really worried in the shop as I need the lotion in the performance. Then the owner asked if I need the lotion for a performance (she must have recognized me) and I said YES! Then she went through the storage and found a tester of shimmering body lotion smelling of cinnamon -from the last season. Great! She gave it to me for free and I was so happy. Not just because I got for free but because she saved the show! So thank you so much, the lady in the Body Shop of Kuopio.
My trip to Copenhagen is supported by the city of Kuopio, so thank you Pekka Vähäkangas & Hanna-Mari Kokkonen for that.

Johanna

Report from Stavanger

Days in Stavanger have been a long but exciting. Annie Sprinkle’s and Beth Stephens’ 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 –although Annie’s and Beth’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 I’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.

demonstration1.jpg
Annie”

Yesterday was the first day of the showing period so there were great tours by the artists, sculptures, installations, sound, performance etc. happening. I’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 I’ve taken during the last couple of days.

The demonstration by Ottar yestrday: demonstration3_pos.jpg

demonstration2_pos.jpg

demonstration5_pos.jpg

Free Sidewalk Sex Clinic by LoveArtLab & Tom Garretson:

sexclinic1_pos.jpg

Annie & Atle, the owner of the Love Shop:

annieatle_pos.jpg

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

geirperarna_pos.jpg

Elaine Kordys floating in Badedammen:

elaine1_pos.jpg

Helge Olav:

helgeolav_pos.jpg

Mariela Limerutti:

limerutti2_pos.jpg

limerutti1_pos.jpg

Mona & Torunn:

monatorunn_pos.jpg

A tour on Nytorget:

nytorget1_pos.jpg

Torunn by the sculpture of Nils Thomas & Rune:

torunn_pos.jpg

Kristen Gustavson from Urban Sjöfront:

kristengustavson_pos.jpg

TW1 artists with Kirsten:

tw1artists_pos.jpg

Pedersgata:

pedersgata_pos.jpg

Trond from the Svop/t -team:

svopt1_pos.jpg

The Pedicab:

pedicab1_pos.jpg

Tom & Beth & Annie:

tombethannie1_pos.jpg

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

Invitation

I’m talking about ANTI Festival’s experiences of being involved in an international EU-project application in a seminar on Thursday the 24th of April organized by CIMO and the regional arts council of North Savo. You are warmly welcome! See the whole programme (in Finnish) here kutsu_kuopio240408.pdf and note that you should register today if you are intending to participate. The seminar is free.

Johanna

Thoughts from the swimming hall

I got a one-year artistic grant until the end of the year and in my mind I’m working on the new production. The challenge is the lack of production support so it’s kind of impossible to proceed with the plans in terms of the people involved. But I’m working on it and have to hand in another two funding applications next week. Besides working on the grant applications, next week I’m busy with completing the soft skin / harsh life & Festive work DVD, having some ANTI meetings and going through the submissions for ANTI 2008.
I’ve been going to the gym quite intensively lately in the near by swimming hall. After the work out, it’s great to have a sauna (which I don’t have at home – shamefully un-Finnish) and maybe a little swim although I don’t usually have time for it if I do a full workout. But the best part is to sit in the sauna and have a shower with all these wonderful women aging from small babies to something like 100 years. Where else is it possible to be naked among some many women from different ages and backgrounds? And see a wonderful selection of female bodies of all shapes and sizes! I just love it and have realised that I need to bring my daughter to the swimming hall more often. Of course the swimming itself is a great exercise but equally important I think is to realize that there are as many different bodies as there are people and everyone is equally beautiful and valuable.
When I was a young girl, I used to go to the swimming hall with my father. He worked in 3 shifts so every now and then he was at home during the day and that’s when we went to swim. I never really learned to love swimming halls and I’m kind uncomfortable with the conditions after the swimming and sauna in the halls. Not the nakedness but somehow I cannot really enjoy the changing, drying hair and trying to dress up after wards the way I can at home. Sometimes I’m also really annoyed with the screaming and loud teenagers as I’m kind of running away from all that to go to exercise and be with my own thoughts. But you cannot have it all, can you?
Tomorrow we are shooting for another Suomi express fro YLE 2 and our topic is the prize of food in Finland. Let’s see what comes up.

Johanna

Happy to be at home

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.
peruna.jpg
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

Traveling to Glasgow / NRLA

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

Greetings from Norway!

Came back from Norway last night and was happy that all flights were on time and luggage wasn’t lost once. It’s the simple things you start to appreciate when you are away from home. My meetings in Helsinki went really well and were meaningful to me. Managed to see the new works of Eeva Muilu and Jyrki Karttunen in Helsinki and got so happy about them. To visit the Performance Festival in Hamar was also inspiring and of course it was great to see new works by many wonderful artists. I think my talk was ok as well. But nothing beats ANTI. It’s just so different to watch works in the same location and pretty much the same space, one after the other, than to actually explore various situations and ways of engaging with the work.

After flying to different city every day and too short nights, I had to dash into the office in the morning to send some documents to Brussels and to work on ANTI’s funding applications. I’m also working on my own applications and trying to find time to go to the studio as well. The work never ends. But so it seems to be with everyone whether you are from Helsinki, Malmö, Stavanger or Kuopio…

Thanks to Ingrid for inviting me to Hamar and thanks to Pilvi, Maija, Essi, Virve, Anne-Marte, Roi, Irma, Elin, Petter, Annika and everyone for a companionship.

Johanna

Post-ANTI

ANTI-Festival was a huge success and I really enjoyed the festival, all the artists, works, visitors, the seminar – all of it. Working with Gregg has been really great and I’m so happy we are doing it and enjoying it. And our artists and visitors were having a great time. We make a good team with Maija. ANTI made it to the national news and yellow press – you can read more about it on ANTI’s website.
Somehow I managed to write my grant applications and a new column on the midst of all. But I don’t think I have recovered from the fact that I won’t have an artist grant from the Arts Council of Finland next year.
Now I’m into working with my solo with Maija Hirvanen and Pekka Mäkinen and I’m really looking forward into the darkening autumn and spending time in a studio, alone.
I saw my doctor on Monday and he said that the time of miracles is not over. My back is so much better that with a new exercise programme I should be fully back to normal physical work in two weeks. But to ashtanga he said no no no until 2008…
I’ll see.