Verbal Art

A short New Years greeting from me in Copenhagen, with a small public-service announcement of how the podcast is continuing after this holiday. Thank you for listening, talk to you next year! For questions, comments, or other feedback, write me on verbal.art@protonmail.com

I meet Oskar Partanen in Annantalo in Helsinki, to see his solo exhibition Self Titled and talk about his cute but eerie sculptures that move and make sounds. His creatures live side-by-side in one room, but somehow seem to all exist within each their own universe. We talk about repurposed items, pragmatic choices in materials, and Oskar explains how he has hacked electronic audio devices and built motorised constructions to give his figures life. We get into childhood dreams, discuss how children might be better art critics than adults, and reflect on how to make work that speaks adult language in a child-friendly way. Also, on this episode you hear me speak a bit more Finnish, we have an actionpacked live-moment with an artwork, and we have a surprise cameo of Marloes van Son's interactive sound work!Oskar's InstagramAnnantalo's websiteOskar's exhibition on Annantalo's websiteMarloes' website

Today on the podcast, I have little treat! As a Christmas present, I made a live recording of an exclusive, improvised Christmas collage concert! I am layering five Finnish Christmas cassette tapes, all played on old, analogue tape players, to sculpt a new old holiday sound for you to enjoy while you are waiting for Christmas Eve. There is a lot of old gold in the mix, but everything is in Finnish and played simultaneously. A very merry, morphed X Mess Mashup, to all of you from every me <3

I return to Asbestos Art Space in Helsinki, to see Kamila Śladowska's solo exhibition Growing Interconnectedness, which has turned the gallery into a surreal painting installation of water, plants, and morphed shapes of naked, human bodies. Kamila tells about foraging herbs and finding inspiration in nature's ecosystems, and guides us through her assemblage of deconstructed paintings and sculptural elements. She explains how her art is an existential and political tool to deal with topics such as ecology, sexuality and gender, and how growing up in a country dominated by oppressive Catholicism has created a need for rebellious commentary within herself. Kamila also tells a bit about how she relates to the concept of hydrofeminism and how water is an essential element in her work, and we get to hear a small concert on her collaborative hydrophone Herb Brew Instrument (this is best heard with headphones or decent speakers).Kamila's websiteKamila's Facebook pageKamila's InstagramAsbestos' websiteAsbestos' Facebook pageAsbestos' InstagramAnd the Herb Brew Instrument collaborators:Robert Prakapovich's InstagramMark Reid Bulatovič's InstagramKristīne Tukre's InstagramWanda Kamińska's Instagram

I meet Paola Fernanda Guzmán Figueroa in Oodi library in Helsinki, to talk about her video work Nanita, para siempre. Paola explains how her Colombian roots grew stronger while living in Finland, and how she keeps a close connection to her family by making them a focal point in her art. We discuss different techniques for working with film- and video, and Paola talks about the process, and feeling, of making one thousand drawings of her grandmother for the animation film projected in the library. We also talk about showing art in public spaces not created for exhibitions, and how an audience reacts differently when they are surprised by art rather than looking for it.Paola's websitePaola's InstagramKino Club's InstagramKino Club's Facebook pageOodi's websiteALA Architects' website

In this crossover episode with OOO Radio (Out of Office), James Prevett guides me through his exhibition Together With in Forum Box gallery in Helsinki. James explains how ongoing collaborations with other artists, the public, and his daughter, helps him reconsider and reinvent himself as sculptor, teacher and curator, as we look at years of different initiatives of socially engaged sculpture displayed side-by-side. We talk about material translation, travelling artworks, methods of public participation, and how every project entails its own set of practical, ideological and aesthetic premises.This episode was broadcast live on OOO Radio at the time of recording, as a crossover with the community-radio component of the exhibition. Contact OOO Radio on hello@oooradio.live if you are interested in getting involved.James' websiteJames' InstagramOOO Radio (Out of Office)Forum Box's websiteParties for Public SculpturesMalmö MonumentParts (for Muuri) scoresListen to Conversation Pieces (Things for Homes / Homes for Things)

I finally sit down with Niko Nordström, to talk about his solo performance This Is Why I'm Late, in The Theatre Academy in Helsinki. We talk through his semi-fictionalised self-portrait of monologues about clocks, dreams and the struggles between thought and time, all the while dipping into the history of structured time; the societal needs for, and science behind, these structures. Niko explains how the framework of his performance is inspired by experiences in his immediate life, and how he embodies the act of storytelling from various positions, via different characters and as writer/actor. We talk about time as collaborator, time as antagonist, time as a premise for planned out events, and time as an uncontrollable element of surprise. We discuss shared feelings of ambiguity towards the concept of lateness, and reflect on how internal perception of time does not always align with external expectations."We proclaim the environment we act in to be subjective to the core, and believe that it unravels itself differently to each individual...we strive to include the aspect of Time in the context of accessibility, which so far has primarily concerned itself with the dimensions of physical space...In a society that increasingly, constantly and actively demands, steals and feeds off our concentration, energy and Time through demands of activity...The more we sleep, the less we consume scarce resources...we deem the current neoliberal capitalist system that bases itself on endless economic (and other) growth to be both unsustainable, illusionary and naïve in its core."- excerpts from The Late Party's Explanatory Party ProgramThis episode contains sound bites from the performance This Is Why I'm Late, recorded as video by Willjam Tigerstedt, ripped and edited by me.Niko's InstagramThe Theatre Academy Helsinki's websiteThe Theatre Academy Helsinki's Facebook pageArtist at Work by Bojana KunstMomo by Michael EndeI could not find the exact article I mention, but I found a few other interesting reads:Emotions & TimeLanguage & TimeNeuroscience & Time

I take a walk on Vallisaari island with Myriam Gras and Cyane Findji, to look at a selection of works from Helsinki Biennial 2023. They have organised a series of guided tours for the exhibition, with focus on more site-specific works. Their project, Navigating Turbulence ~ towards the making of place, also contains a publication and a sound piece. We talk about the island's many functions; military defence, natural habitat for plants and animals, and now international art gallery. We discuss the concept of art biennials and how they affect the places that host them, and we reflect on how a place like the island is used and regulated by many groups with different agendas. We also talk about the sea freezing to ice, how this phenomenon is studied in a lab in Aalto University, and we learn about the existence of science-poetry.This episode contains excerpts from the sound piece Navigating Turbulence ~ towards the making of place, made by Cyane and Myriam for the boat ride as part of their tours. The project is developed as part of The Art Mediation Forum by ViCCA@Aalto ARTS, one of five curatorial collaborators invited by curator Joasia Krysa and HAM for the Helsinki Biennial 2023.Full sound pieceCyane's websiteCyane's InstagramMyriam's websiteMyriam's InstagramViCCA's websiteHelsinki Biennial's websiteVallisaari's websiteVallisaari on Finnish National Parks' websiteAalto's Ice & Wave TankTim Hammer on LinkedIn