Despite the gruesome wars going on in the world this was a peaceful year for me personally, involving some important developments, though. This was the second year of my TAIKE working grant; I have basically led a modest life and enjoyed the freedom to work at my own pace on the project Pondering with Pines, see project archive on the Research Catalogue and the three-lingual blog. An important event was creating a version of Animal Years on Harakka Island, that is, installing small plates with QR codes leading to examples of the videos on the sites where those videos were once performed, with the help of the curators Anna Jensen and Eliisa Suvanto of the exhibition Artists’ Island. See map here. Let’s see if they are still working in the spring.
A nice recognition was being chosen as one of the three Uniarts alumni of the year, see news here. The biggest event of the year on a personal level was finding a new second home in Stockholm, with the generous help of my brother and his wife. Thank you!
 
I did not accomplish everything I planned for the year, but something, and have listed some of the activities here below as if in a cv.
 
Solo exhibitions
Pondering with Pines – Miettii mäntyjen kanssa – Funderar med Furor, exhibition in the Telegraph Gallery on Harakka Island 6-18.6.2023. See Harakka website in Finnish
 
Works in Group shows
On the Birds’ Rock 1 & 3 in Merisilta in Oiva gallery on Särkkä 28.5.-15.9.2023, see merisilta_info
Animal Years and Animal Days and Nights in the exhibition The Artists’ Island on Harakka Island 1.9.-30.9.2023 See info in Finnish and pressrelease_ai23_eng
 
Works in screenings and compilations
Sunnuntait männyn kanssa [Sundays with a Pine], video at ESSE festival in Seurasaari, Helsinki 29.7.2023, see website
Day with the Firethorn Rhus as video poster at PSi #28 in Johannesburg 2-5.8.2023 (with support from The Finnish Cultural Foundation) see on Vimeo here
Day with a Bog Birch (with text) in a screening at CARPA 8 25.8.2023, see programme.
Day and Night of the Dog (2007) in Helsinki Biennial film screening: works from HAM’s collection, 21., 25, 30.8 and 14.9.2023. In various venues
Screening of Day with a Pine in a compilation for Muu Gala 18-21.10.2023, see here
Screening of Revisiting the Juniper video essay in the symposium Videographic Entanglements. University of Huddersfield 19-22.10.2023, see here
 
Performances
“Männylle” (To the Pine) performed as part of Nomadic Academy of Experimental Arts Presents: Impossible week: Analogy and magic. Harakka Island 27.5.2023 See video
 
Podcast episodes
Talking with Trees – Puhetta Puille – Talar med Träd on Soundcloud, here See the playlist Pondering with a Pine in the Park
 
Residencies
Residency in Mazzano Romano, thank you Väinö Tanner Foundation (see info in Finnish)
 
Peer reviewed articles
“Writing with a Pine: Addressing a Tree as Audience.” Näyttämö Ja Tutkimus, 9, 2023, 103–120. Retrieved from https://journal.fi/teats/article/view/127615 (the whole volume available here)
“Letters to a Pine: A Video Essay” in Performance Matters Vol. 9 No. 1-2 (2023): Performing Practice-Based Research, 78-87 https://performancematters-thejournal.com/index.php/pm/article/view/411
“Performing with Trees as Shifting Attention” in Figurations of Peripheries Through Arts and Visual Studies: Peripheries in Parallax. Edited by Maiju Loukola, Mari Mäkiranta and Jonna Tolonen. (Routledge 2023) See info here
 
Other research texts
“Moninaistuva taiteellinen tutkimus” [Differentiation of artistic research] see here and “Taiteellinen tutkimus tohtoriopintojen tuolla puolen – kasveista, puista ja prosessin tallentamisesta” [Artistic research beyond doctoral studies – on plants, trees and documenting process] see here, in Laura Gröndahl (ed.) Taiteellinen Tutkimus, [Artistic Research] Teatterikorkeakoulun julkaisusarja 76, 2023, Taideyliopiston Teatterikorkeakoulu, Helsinki [Uniarts Helsinki].
“Explorations with an Ash Tree” in HUB – Journal of Research in Art, Design and Society issue #0, see here and the whole issue here
 
Other texts
Contribution in Practice Sharing II online-publication, edited by Emma Cocker, Cordula Daus and Lena Séraphin. See here
“Performanssi, media ja katoava taide 80-luvulla” [performance art, media and ephemeral art in the 1980’s]. In Heidi Tikka, Petri Kuljuntausta, Tytti Rantanen, Minna Tarkka (eds.) Suomalaisen mediataiteen ensimmäinen vuosisata [The First Century of Finnish Media Art] Helsinki: Parvs. 2023, 139-40.
“I wanted a big stage and a small audience”, Uniarts alumna interview, see here.
 
Talks and presentations
“How to do things with artistic research – notes on diversification and in(ter)disciplinarity”, lecture at the winter school Integrative Humanities: Intersecting Art, Science, Nature and Technology, Tallinn University 23–27.1.2023.
“Perspectives” (via zoom) as part of Performing Landscapes Laboratorium, Copenhagen 27.1.2023
“On Documentation”, zoom lecture at SKH 1.2.2023.
“Approaching plants:Talking with Trees – Pondering with Pines”, presentation at the symposium Approaching Plants – Studying human-plant relations beyond disciplines, University of Würzburg 23-24.3.2023
“Is it too late to start talking with trees?” at SAR conference in Trondheim 19.-21.4.2023
“Pondering with Pines – Two examples” at Nordic Plant Humanities Symposium: Plants, People and Ecologies, University of Oulu (online) 7.6.2023
Presenting the exhibition “Pondering with Pines” on Helsinki Day 12.6.2023, see info about the day
Three contributions to the Artistic Research Working Group of PSi (Performance Studies international) online meetings 30.6., 30.7., and 30.8.2023 See documentation.
“Pondering with Pines or Pine for Par”, presentation in the Performance as Research Working Group of IFTR (International Federation for Theatre Research) at the conference in Accra 24-28.7.2023 (with support from The Finnish Cultural Foundation), see documentation
Presentation of video compilation (Joburg-mix) in the workshop of the Artistic Research Working Group of PSi (Performance Studies international) at the conference in Johannesburg 2-5.8.2023 (with support from The Finnish Cultural Foundation), see documentation
“Miettii mäntyjen kanssa” [Pondering with Pines], lecture in the series Artistic Research Today at open university of Uniarts Helsinki 9.10.2023
“Performanssista esitystaiteeseen ja työskentelyyn puiden kanssa” [from performance art to live art and working with trees], lecture for theatre research students at Helsinki University 18.10.2023
”Pondering with Pines – At the limits of relating”, conversation with Otso Aavanranta in Post-doc circle, Uniarts Helsinki 22.11.2023, see documentation
“From the Pine – Männyltä – Från tallen”, alumna talk at the graduation event of Theatre Academy, Uniarts Helsinki 15.12.2023. See here
 
Seminars and workshops
Norwegian Artistic Research School – seminar 2 in Voksenåsen, Oslo 8-10.2.2023
Seminar on autotheory, autofiction, autoetnography and performative writing for doctoral students at Uniarts Helsinki with Hanna Järvinen and Pilvi Porkola, during the autumn term 2023, and continuing in spring 2024.
Workshop “Parametric Methods and Temporality, or Constraints and Commitment: Creating your own Rules” with Alan O’Leary in the symposium Videographic Entanglements. University of Huddersfield 19-22.10.2023, see here
 
Conversations and moderating
Moderating at Lethe symposium, SKH (Stockholm University of the Arts) 2-4.3.2023.
Library Lunch talk, conversation with Eleanor Bauer at SKH (Stockholm University of the Arts) library 7.3. and 14.3. 2023. See recordings
Alumni conversation at Uniarts Helsinki 10 years celebration 22.9.2023.
 
 
Thank you to everybody – humans and pines – that I have had the opportunity to work and talk with!