installation in progress: koti pizza

This blog took a back seat to my Finnish endeavors this summer. But now I'm back! It's nearly the end of September, and I've been in graduate school for a month now already.  It's been truly overwhelming. It was one thing to imagine what it would be like, and quite another thing to be living it.  {It's kinda my fault for auditing an extra class, but hey, when else will I get to learn Português Brasileiro with enthusiastic college freshmen and sophomores?}

Lyndon with my Koti Pizza installation somewhere around midnight yesterday.

I decided to sign up for one of the two installation spaces we have over at the grad studios for a little self-imposed deadline. They are available in one week slots, and I stayed up quite late last night to get it up (with Lyndon's help). I didn't want to fall into the trap of spending weeks hemming and hawing about ideas. I'd much rather see them physically manifested, reflect on what was successful or not, and move on.

This work is based on what I found when I went to the address where my great-grandmother used to live in Tampere, Finland. The building has been replaced by a strip of shops. On the corner is a Koti Pizza, which is a chain in Finland. Ironically, Koti means "home" in Finnish. So the house is now a Home Pizza, which is not at all a home pizza. The video on the right shows an actual home pizza being made in a home, while the video on the left shows Koti Pizza at closing time one night in August.

The pizza that is being made is an "Americana", which is topped with pineapple, ham, and blue cheese as well as mozzarella. It's close to what Americans would call a Hawaiian Pizza. The tape "drawing" on the wall is derived from architectural drawings from the early 20th century, when my ancestors lived there. The plans at that time were drawn up for a stove replacement. The videos are projected into the spaces where the two stoves were located in the drawing.

There are many layers that come to mind with this project:

• the replacement of a home with a commercial space that uses the word "home"
• the contrast between the cold commercial space and the warmth and sensuality of making something at home with your hands (and with someone else)
• the misinterpretation of cultural icons 
• the transformation of traditional worker's housing architecture in Tampereella to a more generic and bland type
• the disappointment of looking for "home" and never quite finding it, and the idea of making home wherever one is

I'll take better photos soon and probably put them on my website. The finished installation includes a recipe viewers can take away from the right side, as well as a stripped down "menu" page on the left showing Koti Pizza's "Americana" pizza.

*Update* This is a link to the video

exhibition in tampere, finland

here is the piece Lyndon and I are showing: Marjatta

new video: marjatta

Lyndon Barrois Jr and I collaborated to make this video at Arteles, in Haukijärvi,, Finland:

screenshot of   Marjatta by Lyndon Barrois Jr + Addoley Dzegede

This video will be projected at the Hirvitalo Gallery at Center of Contemporary Art Pispala  in Tampere, Finland, at the end of the month as part of the World of Tango festival.

an exhibition in hämeenkyrö

Saturday, July 27, was our exhibition at Heiska. It was a pretty hot day. There was a giant pig roasting, the squawking, tweeting, and chirping of Emilie's birds (from a CD of 100 Finnish birds used for her performance) and the loudspeaker here and here as a soundtrack. We had free soup inside the main Heiska house and ate lots of ice cream. There wasn't much else to do. There was a sahti brewing competition, a tractor parade, a smoke sauna, an exhibit of old bikes by a pretty interesting local sculptor, and more. 

my video, being projected on mosquito netting at Heiska

Here are the links to watch the videos that I projected:

The Restless

and

Failure to Communicate

We drank some leftover competition sahti before leaving. There is some loophole...something like because the sahti legally can't be purchased unless it's sold with food, we got it for free (since we didn't want the food (roasted pig)).

Here are some more photos:

part of Lyndon's installation based on part of the Kalevala

part of Laura's bread installation. It means "road to home"

It felt like a long day. I helped Emilie document her performance. She was untangling fishing line while sitting between two buildings and two windows while 100 birds were taking turns chirping (or squawking). She was wearing a life vest. The idea was to continue until she had untangled it all. Quite an exhausting task requiring lots of endurance.

mosquito test

The forests are so beautiful (and look so peaceful) here in Finland. However, every time I step inside one, I'm surrounded by flies, mosquitoes, spiders... How maddening that the time of year when it's warm and sunny, and one would want to have skin exposed, is also the time when you're most likely to be attacked by little, annoying creatures.

Yesterday, after such an adventure into the forest (to pick bilberries), I came back to my desk and made a big, ugly mosquito using newspaper and a torn up book, along with some black cord I found, feathers my friend Ais gave me, and a few BBQ skewers.

I'm trying to figure out how to move the mosquito in a way that mimics the creepy way that they buzz around with their nasty dangling legs. He's a little test I did today:

airport animation

One of the animations I made in the Miami airport while waiting for the next flight

breakdancer

kickstarter launch!

Today I launched a KickStarter campaign for the artist residency I will be attending this summer in Haukijärvi, Finland at the Arteles Creative Center. After many weeks of work on the video, it's a relief to finally be able to share all the fun little animations I made with you.

The project is:  Ephemeral Past --> Material Present

Check out the Video

I will keep a Finland blog that will be open to the public until June 9, 2013. After that date,  the Ephemeral Past --> Material Present blog will be private and dedicated to all $25+ backers of my KickStarter campaign, who will be added to the "readers" access list.

I'm grateful to all backers and supporters of me and the project ... Backers below $25 will still receive official project updates via the KickStarter site, and will be able to view this blog as always, but those updates will not be as frequent or as detailed as the ones on the Finland blog and won't include extra insights and fun details about food and travel.


I have never kept a blog during my travels, so this is a very special case where I have decided to do so as an extra special part for most of the rewards. 

While the campaign is active, I still have the ability to add rewards. If you think of something I may have overlooked that would make a great reward, please feel free to leave a comment and I will consider it!

Thanks to all for your support! Remember, KickStarter is all-or-nothing, so please spread the word. :)

sneak peek: kickstarter video

I've been having a lot of fun making these little animations. So far, I have taken photos for probably 10 clips out of a possible 20+. Some are long and required hundreds of photos, and others are like this one above: quick and easy. I hope to finish the video and launch the KickStarter in the first week of May. I backed two projects that are currently going on at the Arteles Residency and received a postcard from one artist and a letter (and photo) from the other this week...fun! I don't know either of them, but have enjoyed hearing about the snow, the art making, and a trip on a ferry to Tallinn.

This afternoon, I spent a good amount of time cutting out little paper objects (tiny undies, a tube of toothpaste, and an umbrella among them) and will photograph them for a "vessel" clip that I'm really excited about tomorrow. I also cut out leaves for a plant and spelled out the word "project" using sticky letters. I stopped cutting when I realized the sun had set and it was too dark to see in the room. Most people would have just turned on a light, but I took it as a cue to make cinnamon popcorn and write this blog entry. 

Scary...the middle finger on my right hand has actually gone tingly from overuse of scissors...and it's been two days since then. So now I'm using an x-acto knife to cut. It's great to be semi-ambidextrous at times like these. Scissors go in the right hand and most other tools in the left.

More announcements coming soon!

video: swarm

9 to 5

march 2012

This video contains an image for each of the 480 minutes in a working day.  In 9 to 5, I sought to capture that archetypal chunk of time when most people are away from their homes and at their place of employment.  The room is sealed off; no one passes through. The room and the camera are left alone to experience the daylight. 

Having spent many days at home during these hours -while unemployed either by choice or by circumstance- I have become familiar with the passage of light through my bedroom. This measured passage of time began to concurrently represent both the transgressive freedom of “playing hooky” from standard work hours and increasing anxiety at my separation from what can be viewed as common experience. 

I continue to be interested in the idea of work, in terms of what qualifies as work and the value placed on work. As with my Year Project, I am also fascinated by the passage of time and the many ways in which something so intangible can be quantified and depicted.