On the Uses of Photography

I have a BA in photography, but I'm not particularly interested in taking photos. I'm more interested in how photographs are used, as a currency if you like. I'm interested in what we invest in them, and how power and ideology is conveyed through them.

Today on Salon.com there was an interesting article on a particularly American fetish of retouching children's photographs. The process is something like this: take an ordinary child and transform him - or more usually her - into a hideous, plastic doll. Take a look:







(All images taken from http://www.naturalbeautiescontest.homestead.com/retoucha.html)

This is exactly what interests me about photography. Our ideal use of the photograph is not to represent 'truth', but to represent what we want to believe, or what others want us to believe.

The photograph is one of the most powerful ideological tools because it allows us to present an image (an idea, a dream, an instruction) as an apparent, unquestionable truth.

Of course the images above are obvious examples. But what is interesting is that this process takes place in all photography, from the most innocuous family photo to the fashion shoot to official government portraits. Even supposedly unbiased journalistic photography presents one person's view of another person's world, showing us 'what it is like'.

Technorati Tags: education, art, photography

Pyha

Nothing political or controversial to add here. Just a quick pic from my recent hike at Pyhä.

Finally...graffiti

Someone has at long last made some graffiti in rovaniemi!

Ahh...but now it seems that it's not graffiti after all, but just adverts for local bands. Well it's a start. I'd still like to see some creative graffiti here. It seems there are two sides to street art here in Rovaniemi: on the one hand we have officially sanctioned bland paintings in the underpasses, mostly of the northern lights or reindeer. On the other hand we get some lame attempts at tags and mediocre spray-painted messages such as 'Fuck Tte' (?) and anti/pro Nazi nonsense.

I would really like to see the University or Polytechnic take some proactive action on this. There are many places that some good graffiti would brighten, and I know at least one person in London who could run a very interesting course in graffiti art.

It's all academic. Or at least it should be.

Mauri Yla-Kotola, rector of the University of Lapland, stated recently that the Media faculty should consider creating a professorship for film, so that film-making could be taught at the University.

Its an interesting idea, but one which which reveals a lack of understanding of the film industry and a denial of the current state of the University of Lapland media faculty.

Simply employing a Professor for Film does not make a course in filmmaking. Filmmaking requires a massive investment in technology and teaching. One tutor is not enough. You need education in scriptwriting, lighting, cinematography, set design. And how about acting, production management, editing, effects. The list is as long as the credits of a movie.

It would no doubt be said that some of these things already exist at the university, but to be quite frank, the level of competence is very low. In order to provide a competitive education you need qualified educators. And unfortunately in the University of Lapland media faculty there are very few qualified teachers. Many have no formal qualifications and little work experience. Often jobs are dealt to favourite students, nepotism is rife.

This situation can lead to only one thing - a decline in the already low standards of education available.

The problem with the media faculty is that it only provides technical education of a level that appears to be competing with polytechnics, not universities. Universities by nature are supposed to include at least some level of academic education, and in the media faculty this is sadly lacking.

In the media faculty of the University of Lapland, theory is often misunderstood as technical knowledge. Don't get me wrong, technical knowledge is vital, but it should go hand in hand with theoretical and conceptual education of an academic nature. Why? Because one informs the other, and through that produces art. Without that all that is produced - and this is typical of what is produced at the faculty - is technical demos.

Too often I hear comments that academic courses are not offered because 'students don't like them'.

This is madness! A university is not there to offer only what students 'like'. If it were universities would offer free beer and condoms and then hand you an MA. The last thing we should hear from a lecturer at a university is an apology after the lecture along the lines of "I hope that this lecture was not too academic"! It's a university! It's supposed to be academic!

Students should attend university to gain a quality education then encompasses both technical expertise and critical theory. This is where the arts universities in Finland go wrong, and it partially explains the notorious lack of real criticism and anything challenging in the Finnish arts.

Part of the problem is the targeting of the media faculty and its perceived position in relation to the rest of the arts universities in FInland. The media faculty, and to some extent the arts faculty in general, should not be trying to compete with the University of Industrial Arts. There are so few institutions offering 'academic' level arts education in Finland that there is only the need for one such institution, and UIAH/TAIK has it nailed. Why compete with that when instead the faculty could try to offer something unique in Finland - an arts faculty in a University with a strong grounding in academic theory.

I would love to see something like this happen. It would put Rovaniemi and the University of Lapland on the international art map. It would be great to see graduates from Lapland included in the Venice Biennial representatives from Finland. By combining technical knowledge with strong art theory would place the University of Lapland in competition more with the Helsinki Arts Academy. This is where we should be aiming.

To not address this issue means that the perception of the arts in Lapland from other areas will continue to be unprofessional and incompetent. I know these are strong words, but I as an artist myself have encountered this attitude on numerous occasions from curators and arts practitioners in important positions in the south. It is very irritating, and it is something that needs to be challenged, and challenged now.

One way to do this is to immediately stop the promotion and employment of friends and favourite students. It's tempting to reward students that lecturers are fond of, but it does the reputation of the institution no good.

Another important issue to address is blind promotion. A recent exhibition of a Ph.D. graduation show was one of the most appalling examples of academic artistic work and presentation I have ever seen. To highlight this work as a fine example of the type of work produced at the University was a mistake. It showcased the lack of theoretical education at this institution, and an apparent lack of knowledge of faculty staff of the current international art scene and quality of art being produced at Ph.D. level. it was an embarrassment.

I've also recently discovered that, no matter how bad your Media Faculty-awarded MA might be, you can easily continue to do a Ph.D.! The policy appears to be something along the lines of 'we take anyone'. Are the administrative staff unaware of the damage this does to the reputation of the university? All those stupid comments I've had to put up with about unprofessionally in Lapland are only reinforced by policies such as this. Imagine the discredit and disservice this does to genuine Ph.D. researchers - the people who really care about what they are doing. How do they feel when they have worked hard to get where they are only to find that anyone can get a Ph.D. at the University of Lapland.

For too long the Arts Faculty has spent its money on technology only to find that it has no money left for teaching. We need more visiting lecturers. More visiting artists. For example, it is hard to believe that in the media faculty there are no practicing or respected artists employed in teaching positions. We need more stringent acceptance policies. We need to engage with academia and not shy away from it. We need to push students hard so that they create excellent, not mediocre work. Mediocrity should be unacceptable.

Technorati Tags: art, education, university of lapland

Myspace: the game

I've often wondered about the fascination with MySpace. To me, MySpace is an example of terrible web design, awful usability, and an annoyingly ad-driven interface. The worst of the web in other words. It's quite an achievement to have convinced so many people to sign up for it's sadistic endurance test (and it appears I was also a sucker).

I just read that someone has created a homebrew game for the PSP where the aim of the game is to close the pop-up ads before going insane. It's quite a witty commentary if, like me, you're a bit of a geek!





Read the original article at PSP Fanboy
Download the game at DCEmu.

Technorati Tags: game art, gaming

Veturitalli, and why it didn't happen...

Some explanation is needed concerning the failure of Magneetti's project to renovate the Veturitalli (Railway depot) as a centre for contemporary and media arts. If you are unfamiliar with our plans, check out these pages before continuing:

http://www.magneetti.org/veturitalli/index_en.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magneetti

Our plan was, I believe, a great one. We intended to revitalise an underused area of Rovaniemi, and create in it a new centre for media arts which would be relevant to today's contemporary art scene and to today's society in general. It would have contributed to the tourism industry in Rovaniemi, and its location near to the station. It wold have employed people, provided education for local schools, created a true contemporary art scene in Rovaniemi, and supported local artists and media organisations. The building was perfect. The plan was reasonable. Our motivation was high.

So what happened?

We made an arrangement with the owners of the building that allowed us to retain use of the building until 31.12.06 for free. After that we would have to pay. The rent for the space wasn't much, but as we essentially have no budget it was beyond our limited means.

Our aim was to get the University of Lapland and/or Rovaniemi City behind the project so we could apply for funding. The funds we would be applying for only pay the money after the project is underway, so you need to have considerable cash-flow to get things started. This was why we needed a larger organization to act as a backer for the project - someone to put the money up front and act as the main applier for the funds. We talked to the development officer at the University of Lapland. She was keen and interested, but she was also involved in so many project that in the end she wasn't a lot of help.We never seemed to progress anywhere.

So we talked to Rovaniemi City's culture office, but although Marja Widenius was vaguely interested, of course 'Rovaniemi City doesn't have any money' (unless of course the project involves reindeer)

Even with all the enthusiasm in the world, this kind of project can only succeed if there is someone in the local city administration or other large organization with equal enthusiasm to make it happen. Unfortunately, finding someone with the vision to see what Magneetti can bring to the city and to Lapland is not easy. This is a very conservative town, and often the future seems a long way away.

So that's about it. By the end of the year, nobody had come forward to back the project, so we had to return the keys. We lost a great space. Roveniemi lost a great new focus for contemporary arts and the opportunity to increase it's image as a contemporary city.

In the end, you can only put so much into working on a project like Magneetti. If you are met with a lack of enthusiasm from people in power there's not much more you can do. After a while you just end up thinking 'why am I bothering? If they don't want this to happen why should I keep fighting for it alone?'

We will keep trying of course, but if those people don't want change and progress, there's not a lot you can do until they are either resign or are removed from their positions. And in Finland, that never happens.

Technorati Tags: art, magneetti, veturitalli

Colonial Secrets

Now, I'm a fairly well-connected guy. I like to think I know what's happening around me in my areas of interest. But occasionally, things slip by, and I found out at the last minute that something is happening which I had no idea about. Why is this?

Just now I was chatting with a friend, and he mentioned that there is a seminar in Rovaniemi next month. Apparently it's been arranged by a bunch of people in Helsinki. They'll come here, then go to Lofoten in Norway.

The funny thing about this is that, although - as I understand it - it is supposed to be an open seminar, nobody here knows about it. So it begs the question: how open is it really?

From what I gather (and this will remain my opinion until proven otherwise), it seems that this event has been arranged so that a bunch of (I hate to use the term again but what the hell) southerners have arranged a nice trip for themselves to the north under artistic pretenses with no intention of involving anyone actually living here (at least in Rovaniemi) or encouraging them to participate.

I have to admit I am, as an artist living here, a little offended by this. I wonder why I'm not included in this private excursion, and excluded from all the nice parties that will undoubtedly be the focus of the event.

It brings to mind another recent exclusionary event - that of 'Rethinking Nordic Colonialism', the final event arranged by NIFCA. It's a little difficult to write about that because, again, Magneetti worked with them to get the Veturitalli after the exhibition finished, but there were issues there which I'll come to later.

So anyway, Rethinking Nordic Colonialism (or RNC to save my late night typing problems). NIFCA arranges a group of artists to come to Rovaniemi and show works. How many of the artists were from Rovaniemi? How many artist groups from Lapland were directly involved in planning the project?

None. There are contemporary artists living and working here - as I've mentioned before, it's not all porotaide (reindeer art).

Does anything seem odd that no artistic input was sought from the north? There's that little word in the RNC title: colonialism.

How could an arts institution as influential and aware as NIFCA arrange a traveling exhibition exploring issues of south-north colonialism and then create it in such a way that it was inherently colonialist? The exhibition seemed to be saying "finally, you people in Lapland can see some 'real' art". Yes indeed, 'real' art made by people not from here, living elsewhere, and presented to us by an organization based in the south to inform us and illustrate how we have been oppressed by power residing elsewhere.

Another not so funny thing happened over the Veturitalli arrangements. We managed to negotiate the use of Veturitalli after the RNC exhibition. As you may know we had big plans which came to nothing in the end, but anyway... Veturitalli was quite messy before NIFCA arrived and I agreed to help them by clearing out all the junk from the space. NIFCA then put down boards to cover the train servicing areas and made other constructions to tidy up the place and get it working. After we got the keys to Veturitalli, I got a phone call from one of the curators asking if Magneetti could contribute something to the costs of these boards and other equipment - some 2000€ if I recall. (Un)fortunately, Magneetti had/has no budget so we couldn't afford to pay for them, and when I explained this NIFCA kindly agreed to leave the boards there for us. However, a few weeks later I spoke to Anu Riestola from the Arts Council of Lapland, and she told me that the Arts Council had given NIFCA a grant to pay for these boards and materials. So why were we asked to pay for them?

NIFCA were actually very lucky. They had cut corners with what they were supposed to do with the money, utilizing it elsewhere. This, to be honest, is not unusual and I don't have a problem with it. Anu had a different point of view of course but in my experience you have to get money from where you can without any guarantees of funding, and if its necessary to fiddle the accounts and where the money goes then fair enough. It's hard enough putting together an event without much funding, ou have to cut corners somewhere. But I was a bit annoyed - it felt like we were being 'played' by NIFCA when we weren't even a part of the project in any real form.

The corners they cut could have got them in bigger trouble though. The roof of Veturitalli has some serious leaks. Big leaks. The kind of leaks where if it rains water gushes down from the roof in torrents. I warned them about this but apparently they did nothing. Fortunately for them it didn't rain during the exhibition, because one of these leaks would have sent water rushing down directly over one of the artist's installations and onto two flat-screen TVs. I imagine that would have caused quite a bang.

But to end back with the theme of secret seminars and colonialism: although I happily hope to be proven otherwise, history seems to be repeating itself again with another event arranged 'for' us which nobody knows about. If anyone has any information on this new exclusive seminar/event I'd be happy to hear it and eager to have my presumptions challenged.

Technorati Tags: art, colonialism, magneetti, NIFCA

Say NO to Reindeer Art!

I get tired of the attitude I frequently get from southerners - most often Helsinki people - that the only thing in Rovaniemi is darkness, mosquitoes and reindeer. But the blame for this phenomenon cannot be laid entirely with the people. This received 'wisdom' comes from how Northern Finland is represented in the media, and perhaps more disconcertingly, from how the north (and Rovaniemi) represents itself.

Here is a classic example: Rovaniemi city has announced it's latest and greatest cultural program, to involve and celebrate the arts and artists in the region. Exciting no? Rovaniemi's head of culture Marja Widenius excitedly announced the name of the project recently, and it is....wait for it....

Reindeer Parade

YES! Excellent! Just what we need! More reindeer references!

What is going on with Rovaniemi city? What is the obsession with Reindeer? More importantly: What do reindeer have to do with the arts?

The answer is simple: absolutely nothing. Once again Widenius reveals that she is unaware of contemporary artistic issues.

It seems that Rovaniemi city is unable to distinguish between nature and the arts. Perhaps I can assist in this problem by clarifying things for them.

Reindeer are medium-sized animals which roam the country freely eating mostly lichen. They are farmed. Their meat is used as a food product and sold in shops. Their fur and other leftovers are sold on to tourists as gimmicky souvenirs.

Art, on the other hand, is a means of expression of ideas and concepts. 'Artists' are people who work in different media producing 'art' (hence the name).

Now, here's the confusing bit, so pay attention: They are not the same thing. Reindeer are never artists. Artists are very rarely cut up and eaten. Artists are not farmed (although some graduates from the more critical art universities might argue with this). Reindeer never receive artist grants. I know this is very difficult to grasp, but it is absolutely essential: Reindeer have absolutely nothing to do with art.

I would like to continue to educate the staff of Rovaniemi's cultural department for a moment longer if you will permit me.

Although reindeer are very nice, and taste delicious, their mere presence does NOT mean that every artist in Lapland feels an urgent need to paint, photograph or otherwise represent reindeer.

This distinction between 'REINDEER' and 'ART' is important because it highlights another distinction which it would appear that many people - especially those in power - are unaware of. That is the distinction between 'ARTS' and 'CRAFTS'.

This is a little more problematic, so it's no surprise that Rovaniemi City Culture Dept. has some difficulties with it. Again let me clarify things. The arts could be said to comment on society. In one way or another artistic representation is a commentary which is filtered through the artist. Of course it gets much more complicated than this, but this is a blog not a BA in art history. Art is often produced at the inner behest of the artist, and is shown in places called 'galleries'. Although these galleries purport to sell art, very little is actually ever sold and most artists never dream of making any money. The crafts, however, although they might comment of some aspects of society, generally utilize local materials to produce material objects. Often these are sold in craft shops (a number of which can be found in Rovaniemi). Many craft practitioners aim to sell their works and make some form of living.

This is not to devalue either the arts or crafts. Both have their place in society. Both contribute to the wealth of experiences, emotions and activities that make humanity so occasionally wonderful (when we are not shooting or bombing the hell out of each other).

What I am trying to show here is that 'reindeer' has more to do with 'crafts' then with 'arts'. Craftspersons might make objects out of reindeer horn. I believe beer bottle openers are quite popular here. This is a good example - a beer bottle opener is not art, unless it is also more than a beer bottle opener. If, for example, I were to attach a beer bottle opener to a stuffed whole reindeer and exhibit it in a gallery, you might get away with calling that art because at the same time as being a beer bottle opener it is a comment on the industry of reindeer farming and tourism. It would NOT be a celebration of how wonderful reindeer are. This is another important point: just because it is art and it features a reindeer does not necessarily mean it is a celebration of the reindeer.

Perhaps I have complicated matters too much now. But in any case I hope my point has become clear. An arts event called 'Reindeer Parade' indicates a severe misunderstanding of both culture and the arts.

Unless the ridiculous attitude that the reindeer is some form of metaphorical signifier for art in the Northern Finland is constantly and repeatedly challenged we will be stuck with inaccurate opinions of life in Lapland. It just adds ammunition to the barrage of misinformed comments from those southerners!

So please join me, and say 'NO' to reindeer art.


Additional note:
In 2006 Rovaniemi entered the 'Cultural Capital' competition. The cover of the application featured - you guessed it - a reindeer.

Interestingly, although Magneetti were asked to write a resume of our plans for contemporary art in Rovaniemi for the application (which we happily did), this was cut from the application at the last minute. No mention of Magneetti appeared.

Rovaniemi did not win the Cultural Capital competition.

Uncritical Mass

In a recent issue of 'Voima' magazine Outi Nyytäjä wrote that there is a severe lack of criticism - by which I mean REAL criticism - in Finlnad. People are afraid to state strong opinions, to name names, to take a position. Even those who do make their opinions known and are perceived as being radical are often only expressing conservative viewpoints. I would wholeheartedly agree with this position. I am therefore going to use this blog as a forum for my -often extreme- critical opinions. Some people won't like this.

I imagine, for example, if I were to criticize some of the grant-giving institutions in Finland, or if I were to criticize certain persons in positions of cultural power in local government that this would make life more difficult for me as an artist in Finland. I imagine that such institutions would have second thoughts about giving me grants and supporting my work. I even fear the possibility that biting the hand that feeds me might result in me starving, quite literally, through a sudden withdrawal of financial support.

But if that were to happen, what would it say about the country we live in? About democratic values of free speech? If people in power were to be offended by my words and withhold funding, what would that say about the Finnish arts system?

It would reveal that the culturally powerful wield their power undemocratically. It would show that the Finnish arts system is based more on a soviet-style dictatorship, where friends are given high positions, the unqualified are handed inappropriate jobs, the qualified are punished unfairly because their opinions do not match those of the powerful, where professional jealously pervades and pollutes the artistic environment, where free thought and new ideas are not encouraged, where potential is ignored in preference to personal profit.

Does any of that sound familiar? Is it already too late?

The only way to change an ineffective, archaic and out of touch system is to directly combat through action, words, art. To make the problems more visible, and to hold the people who cause the problems accountable.

And there is the key word: accountability. For too long the art administrative elite have been unaccountable. They make decisions without consultations with artists, handing down didacts on the direction of the arts both locally and nationally.

Finland is drastically behind the times in the arts. It is as though postmodernism never happened here. The Finnish arts excelled during modernism, but the arts have never moved beyond this. There is such a resistance to taking risks with art that it has stagnated. It has become a stinking pool of rotting ideas.

It is time to change this. But in order to change this, there needs to be a change in administration. Out with the old, in with the new. It is the time for direct engagement. If the boards and power-holders can't handle the heat, then get out of the kitchen.

Finland has reached uncritical mass. It is time to reverse the trend, to hit the restart button. If the arts is truly operated on a soviet-style system, then to change it we must adopt similar tools. Soviet regimes were constantly undergoing changes of personnel, under the guise of the purge. This is what is needed: an arts purge. A coup d'etat. Regime change. And it's needed now.