MILKA LUHTANIEMI & JOONAS SIREN – TOINEN LAJI
Different species is a spatial poem and a digital video installation. The installation consists of poetic fragments – written by Luhtaniemi and composed by a programming language – shown on LCD screens. The poems composed by programs are generated into chance compositions and generate visual and kinetic poetry on the screens.
Different species refers to the question of whether some other way of being a human could be perceived behind, in place of, or between the human parts. The fragmentary and emergent poetics of the work map out this possibility of different ways of being.
The text moving by means of a kinetic poem is programmed into 2D and 3D environments, allowing the textual movement to appear in two different ways. One location in the work is the sea and an archipelago: water, landscape and sun are programmed into digital space. The installation also includes a printed publication of poetry, and the exhibition visitors are welcome to read it while watching the video.
The spatial nature of the work includes a sound installation utilising a so-called soundshower speaker. Ultrasonic technology allows sound to be heard very subtly only at a specific point in the room.
The work is Siren’s and Luhtaniemi’s third collaboration and first joint exhibition. Previous joint works are the performances BLÄNK (2017) and OFF (2018). The completion of the work has been supported by Arts Promotion Centre.
Milka Luhtaniemi (1992) is an interdisciplinary performance maker, dramaturg and poet living in Helsinki. She graduated as a performance dramaturg from the Theatre Academy in 2020. She has made performances at Mad House Helsinki, Tiivistämö, Exhibition Laboratory, Third Space, B-Galleria and Oksasenkatu 11. Her poetry has been displayed at Exhibition Laboratory and Nokturno.fi webpage which focuses on digital poetry.
Luhtaniemi’s book Kirnu was published in February 2021 (Gummerus) and she combines her literary thinking to her other artistic work.
Joonas Siren (1983) is a sound and media artist from Helsinki. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts with a master’s degree in visual arts in 2013 and from the Nordic Sound Art master’s program in 2012. His most important projects and exhibitions include the following: Nordic Sound Art – Master student’s exhibition at Roskilde Museum of Contemporary Art 2012, Kuvan kevät 2013, Jussi Koitela’s Skills of Economy project at Kiasma 2016, OFF performace-installation at Tiivistämö 2018 (in collaboration with Milka Luhtaniemi, Nicolina Stylianou and Elena Rekola) and a private exhibition Softbed at Kosminen galleria 2019. He also makes electronic computer music by the name of Forces, and has released numerous albums and remixes through various international electronic music labels.
www.milkaluhtaniemi.com
www.joonassiren.fi
www.instagram.com/milkeniemi
www.instagram.com/fffforces
MALIN AHLSVED – MY ROOTS ARE IN THE FOREST (JUURENI OVAT METSÄSSÄ)
Malin Ahlsved paints small watercolours that all tell a story. It is about the longing for fellowship, vulnerability and love. Her works have been described as both gloomy and humorous.
“With my paintings, I want to give the viewer a story to step into. The exhibition Juureni ovat metsässä (My Roots are in the Forest) deals with roots and origins, dreams and aspirations. Forest and nature are constantly present like a green thread; as comfort and refuge but also as something unknown and mysterious. ”
The exhibition has received support from The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.
Malin Ahlsved (b. 1976) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2004. She lives and works in Hanko. She has exhibited mainly in Finland but also in Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Russia.
ALISA JAVITS – SEEING
HD, sound, 08:53 min
Music: sasha&mia [Sama Sasha, Mia Tarkela], Francis Gri, Mikko H. Haapoja
“Alisa Javits´s video Seeing is a philosophical and poetic portrait in which the individual and the universal coexist in an inseparable bond.”
– Mikhail Ovchinnikov (Member of international jury for the Carlsberg Foundation Portrait Award)
Seeing speaks about aging, revealing the person under the wrinkled, old skin. It can be hard to see the human behind it, because age is such a strong category. How to see the kid, the young, the adult hiding beneath? They are never gone, just often so invisible. The work is a combination of different memories, separate images, flashbacks and the voice-over. It is not a pure portrait of one person, rather a thought about looking, seeing and identification.
Supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
Alisa Javits works in Helsinki on moving image and drawing. The moving image works mix photographic and cinematic working methods, space and corporality. The main theme of the works is the contradiction of the inner and outer world of human experience. They approach e.g. loneliness, aging and alienation. The works build emotions and appeal to the experiencer’s associations. Alisa’s work has been exhibited in group exhibitions and festivals in Finland, Europe and the USA.
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