2015 » Finland » Section of Countries and Regions

WEATHER STATION. staging sound

The exhibition explores the novel spaces and conditions of performative sound.

Weather Station is an exhibition of performative sound and sound art in which sound is approached as a spatial, temporal, multisensory, affective and transformative creator and activator of space.

From the themes of PQ'15 (Music Weather Politics), we have chosen „Weather“ as the starting point for our sound-based exhibition.

Sound is a performative and spatial element that, like the weather, is unpredictable, untamed, changing in unexpected ways, an effective mover and a circumstance that digs to the bone. The exhibition explores the role of sound as a scenographic factor in the performing arts in various multisensory ways.

Weather Station takes place at two sites – the exhibition space A4 at the Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace and on Ovocný Square, a public space located in the heart of Prague’s Old Town.

Weather Station presents four artistic works – two installations and two documentations.

It is an installation in two parts: an exhibit of weathered instruments at the Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace, and a public space concert venue consisting of a cargo container on Ovocný Square.

The container will host musicians and sound artists who will create new and site-specific music for instruments that have been greatly and unpredictably altered by the container’s microclimate. Weather phenomena will include rain, snow, stifling heat, floods and winds, as well as all possible combinations of these weather conditions. Most instruments react to just slight changes in humidity, let alone these extremes that the container.

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons will act as a measure of change. The composition, which is known to almost everyone, is a way of hearing how much the weather can affect the instruments’ tone. Over the course of several weeks, it will be interesting to see how this shift can turn Vivaldi’s piece into something new and different. Will it be recognizable until the very end, and if so, in what ways? Or will it change into a new piece with a new character?

As the instruments decay, the ways of creating music change as well. This is where the creativity and curiosity of the participating musicians and artists will play a great role: How to use an instrument that cannot be used in its original way? What kind of unexpected sounds will it produced when treated with an open mind?

It is an installation based on the use of hydrophones – microphones designed for underwater recording and for listening to underwater sounds. The installation utilizes the changing states of water – liquid, frozen, melting, evaporating – according to prevailing conditions. The sound installation recycles the continuous phase transitions of water, making them audible in the most spatial, multifaceted and nuanced ways.

Audiovisual documentation of ongoing project. The group Water Tower has taken over a disused water tower in Helsinki’s Lauttasaari neighbourhood that was slated for demolition, and turned it into a monumental instrument that can only be played with the whole body. The tower inside was dominated by an immense echo and an oxygen-scarce microclimate that affected the mind, voice and equilibrium. Playing the water tower is an opportunity to make spatially intense and wild sound.

As part of his multidisciplinary artistic work and doctoral research, Antti Nykyri developed a concept for a spatial, interactive and participatory sound environment. This concept has been applied in different forms for several performances and installations.

The work is based on custom experimental sound sources and large boxes of gravel as tangible and playable sound sources. Grainy rain-like electronic sounds are directed and diffused all around the installation space, creating an acoustic environment that surrounds and transfixes the space. Boxes of gravel are used by performers or visitors as instruments for creating crackling, varying, musical sounds.

WEATHER STATION logbook – description of a 2-stage exploratory exposition development: The four projects of WEATHER STATION were chosen through an open call for proposals starting in late 2013. During spring 2014, four proposals were chosen for WEATHER LAB HELSINKI – a 10-day exploratory event-exhibition held in October 2014 at the artist-run MUU Gallery in Helsinki. In WEATHER LAB HELSINKI, the works/projects were experimented with, tested and developed further. The Helsinki event-exhibition also included a one-day seminar on exploratory and performative sound with the curator of the PQ15 Weather section, Simon Banham, as our special guest, and involving leading Finnish artists and researchers in contemporary sound, art-science collaboration, and climatology as keynote speakers. At PQ15, WEATHER STATION brings together the spirit, ideas and works of ten leading Finnish artists and designers active in the expanded field of intermedia scenographic arts and practices – performative sound, space, light, new media and movement. WEATHER STATION is curated by artist-researcher Maiju Loukola and performance dramaturg Timo Heinonen. The exposition is produced by lighting designer Mia Kivinen, the technical producer is lighting designer Ada Halonen, and the designer/architect is artist-architect Johanna Hyrkäs.

Exhibiting artists / ateliers

• Antti Mäkela

Specialization: composer, sound designer, sound artist
Education: Master of Arts
Collaboration with theatres: Kuopio City Theatre, Finland
Additional information: He has a master of arts degree in sound design from the Theatre Academy (University of Arts). He has applied his versatile work in a multitude of genres in the field of the performing and installation arts.
• Kasperi Laine

Specialization: sound designer, sound artist, mechanics of industrial engineering
Education: Master of Theater Arts
Collaboration with theatres: Q-theater, Finland
Continuing collaboration with directors: Susanna Leinonen & Akse Petterson
Additional information: He works with everything that might be considered art. He graduated from the Department of Lighting and Sound Design at the Helsinki Theatre Academy
• Jani-Matti Salo

* 1984, Huittinen
Specialization: set designer, lighting designer
Education: Bachelor of Arts
Collaboration with theatres: Kiasma Theatre (Helsinki)
Additional information: He is a Helsinki-based lighting and set designer who works with contemporary dance and performance art. www.janimattisalo.com
• Nanni Vapaavuori

* 1969
Specialization: lighting designer
Education: Master of Arts in Lighting Design, Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland; Bachelor of Culture and Arts, Interior Architecture, Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Additional information: In addition to creating works for the stage, she has created numerous site-specific works, does lighting design for museums and exhibitions, and has created spatially-inspired works in collaboration with various artistic groups. She participates in Water tower project
• Timo Heinonen

* 1967, Äänekoski
Specialization: dramatist, author, theatre theoretician, curator, artist, researcher
Education: University of Helsinki, MA in dramaturgy and drama; University of Arts and Design, MA in performance design and scenography
Collaboration with theatres: Joensuu City Theatre, Live Art Society
Teaching activities: Theatre Academy, University of Art and Design, University of Helsinki
Participation in other important exhibitions: 2014 Tampere Theatre Festival; 2012 Lens Politica Film and Media Art Festival, Thank You for the Music – Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art/Kiasma Theatre (2012)
Additional information: Co-curator of Finland’s PQ'15 exposition. He has published widely in his field and has lectured and worked at various universities and theatres.
• Maiju Loukola

Specialization: theatre theoretician, teacher, media artist, scenographer, curator, researcher
Education: Doctor of Arts (Aalto ARTS, performance design/scenography)
Teaching activities: Lecturer & workshop organiser at Aalto ARTS since 2006 (scenography and Art & Media) and at the University of Arts Theatre Academy in Helsinki (Departments of Dramaturgy, Directing, Choreography, Sound & Lighting)
Participation in other important exhibitions: Experimental Event #1, Generator Gallery/Art & Media, Pori (2011). ILLUSION exhibition, Cable Factory, Helsinki (2007). CHIASMA exhibition, Aalto ARTS, Helsinki (2005). SCENOBOX exhibition, Riga, Latvia (1997).
Additional information: She is the co-curator of Finland’s PQ'15 exhibition. She is a scenographer (Doctor of Arts / PhD) and artist--researcher in the field of intermedia and expanded scenographic practices and artistic research.
• Elina Lifländer

* 1978
Specialization: scenographer, visual artist, Installation art and research
Education: Visual arts and scenography (MA)
Collaboration with theatres: Kiasma Theatre, Helsinki
Teaching activities: Lecturer at Aalto University and Metropolia in Helsinki
Additional information: She is a spatial artist and researcher in the field of contemporary scenography, dance and live art. In her artistic research she is interested in exploring new kinds of spatial and rhythmic working methods. She participates in Water tower project.
• Leila Kourkia

* 09.12.1982, Finland
Specialization: choreographer, dancer, performer
Education: Master of Arts from the Department of Dance, Theatre Academy of Finland
Additional information: She is a Helsinki-based freelance dancer and choreographer interested in multidisciplinary work and collaboration with visual artists. She participates in Water tower project.
• Heidi Soidinsalo

* 1983, Helsinki
Specialization: sound designer, sound artist
Education: MA in Theatre Arts
Teaching activities: Guest lecturer at the Helsinki Theatre Academy.
Continuing collaboration with directors: Anni Klein, Anna-Mari Karvonen
Additional information: She works in the field of contemporary theater and dance. In addition to her work as a sound designer, she also works as a sound artist, dramaturg, and performer, and writes about contemporary performance sound design.
• Ville Seppänen

* 1982, Helsinki
Specialization: set designer, lighting designer, Video design, Video art
Education: BA in Theatre Arts
Collaboration with theatres: Q Theatre (Helsinki)
Additional information: His work has been seen in various theater, dance and opera productions both in Finland and abroad. He participates in Sound of music installation.
• Antti Nykyri

* 1976, Jyväskylä, Finland
Specialization: journalist, sound designer, sound artist, research, lecturing
Education: Master of Arts (Helsinki Theatre Academy)
Collaboration with theatres: Arja Raatikainen & Co, Nomadi Productions, Petri Kekoni Company
Teaching activities: Samsung, Helsinki University of the Arts, Aalto University, Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
Participation in other important exhibitions: Forthcoming: Gwangju Design Biennale 2015, Korea
Additional information: He has created music and sound design in various fields, including contemporary dance, installation art, interface research, theatre, application design and electronic music. He is current working on his doctoral dissertation at the Helsinki University of Arts.
• Kristian Ekholm

Specialization: sound designer
Education: M.A., M.A.
Additional information: Kristian Ekholm is a Helsinki-based sound designer working with installations and the performing arts. He holds an M.A. in the theatre arts (2008) and fine arts (2013). His interests lie in the spatial dimensions of sound. He participates in Water tower project.