QR codes are supposed to be reliable and practical but I have encountered some problems, again. This time, to my surprise, the free QR code generator program that I used in 2023 has changed owner or policy and now want to lease the QR codes for quite a sum each month, which is not an option in this case. Probably they have changed the static codes to dynamic codes (see screenshot blow) but how you can do that in retrospect, I cannot understand. Anyway, before I can make new metal signs and place them on top of the old ones, probably only next spring, the videos are temporarily visible on this page
 

Two grown-up male cats from Turku, Pipo and Pompeo, are now living with me and have already changed my way of life. Probably they will change my art making too at some point. For now I am learning how to take care of these miraculous beings:
 

Pipo

Pompeo
 
 
 

 
The first visit to the island after the ice break is always an experience and this time the rain made it special. The houseplants in my studio had survived the long period of drought and I was especially glad to see that most of the small aluminium signs placed around the island for the series Animal Years were still there. Moreover, the qr codes worked and linked to the videos online, as planned. The sign for the Year of the Pig on the cliff in northwest was detached and a friendly passerby had placed it next to the rail with the sign for the Year of the Monkey, where I could find it. I shall put it back somewhere near as soon as possible (in the image it is on my table). The sign for the Year of the Rat on the rock at the north-eastern shore had completely disappeared and I should order a new one. The other signs are all where they are supposed to be, as shown by the pictures:
 

To celebrate the leap day I will note a few events from the beginning of the year as a reminder of those great experiences. First of all I had an exhibition in MUU Helsinki Contemporay Art Centre, Pondering with Pines – Conversations in Three Languages 7-21. January. The material from the exhibition is available on this RC-page. There was a conversation with Olga Cielemecka and Karoliina Lummaa in connection with the exhibition on 13 January. Moreover, I was selected an honorary member of Muu, together with Irma Optimist and Terike Haapoja and we celebrated that on 19 January. Listening with a Pine-mix (2023) was part of a one-day exhibition “Strolling Creatures of Light” in MUU on 26 January. Participating in Sanna Kekäläinen’s performance Auringonvihreä in the Helsinki Observatory, reading Gunnar Björling’s poems in their original language, Swedish, at the end of the show was a beautiful experience in another way on 25-27 January. In February I had an online lecture for MA students at Stockholm University of the Arts on 2 February, led a seminar for Norwegian doctoral candidates in artistic research in Oslo 7-9 February and participated in the pre-examination of a doctoral dissertation jointly organised by Tallinn University and Åbo Akademi on 15 February. And the seminar on auto-theory etc. at University of the Arts Helsinki continues a few more times on 24 January, 14 February and 14 March. The Muu Gala compilation was screened in Lappeenranta on 17 February, including my small video Day with a Pine (2020) although I could not go there to see it. Another short video of mine, Rakas Kuusi or Dear Pine (2020) is shown in a screening compiled by AV-arkki, the Distribution Centre for Finnish Media Art, “Trees & Destruction” at the Tampere shortfilm festival on 7 and 9 March. And I will go to Tampere as a first timer to marvel at the ways of the film world.
For me the start of the year usually means instigating new processes, as I did this time as well. Only my visits to the pine by Essingeleden motorway in Stockholm will continue from last year. In Helsinki I chose four new pine trees in January to visit once a month: The Pine of the Year in Kaivopuisto Park that I will “play” blues harp for, two pine trees on the shore in Kaivopuisto Park that I will chat with in English, a pine on the shore in Drumsö that I will address in Swedish and a pine on the shore in Mustikkamaa that I will speak Finnish with. Disappointments are unavoidable, as many applications receive negative responses, and so are small accidents – during the last weeks I have had my teeth repaired several times – but I have to say that the year has commenced well. Let’s hope the tailwind will continue…
 
 
 

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!
 
 
 

And at the same time also an invitation to the opening of the exhibition Pondering with Pines – Conversations in Three Languages in Muu Contemporary Art Centre at Cable Factory 5 January 5 to 7 pm. For more information and the adress see Muu’s page, here.
 

 
 

Animal Years can now be viewed on Harakka Island via QR codes, thanks to the curators Anna Jensen and Eliisa Suvanto and the exhibition The Artists’ Island. Here below are snapshots of the locations of the QR codes. Most of them are on the spots where I performed, only a few are in places closer to the place of the camera tripod.