VIDALAVIVA RETROSPECTIVEHIRVITALO
Festival.TangoofWorldofpartispublicationThe TOIVONENANNAProducer-Publicist|AEDORIESTRASIMÓNDirectorFestival ATOSUOMARIADesignerGraphicVOLKOVAALISACurator| 100Copies -FESTIVAALI
3 HIRVITALO RETROSPECTIVE VIVA LA VIDA
CONTENTS ALUSSA OLI MAA ........................................................................ 6 RUBBER DUCKS ......................................................................... 8 THE GOSPEL OF THE ENLIGHTENED CONSUMER .............. 10 DEAD BIRDS OF TALVIVAARA ................................................. 12 RESCUE BOAT BALTIC HERRING ........................................... 14
“As I descended into impassible rivers I no longer felt guided by the ferrymen…”
Curator Alisa Volkova
Photo: Olga Kravchenko
Arthur …becauseRimbaudwehad overconsumed. We thought that by purchasing we would have become happier. We though that our standard of living would have become higher and that everything would have become more attractive. And I realized that the impassible rivers are not attractive. The artists of this exhibition have made these works because this is what matters. The matter is about ocean pollution, about the attitude of consumer towards nature, the mining, overproduction and consumption. Artists foresee things that will be globally important only in afterwards, perhaps because of the subtle setting of creative people. The works at the exhibition has been created in 2006-2016 by Teemu Takatalo, Tommi Taipale, Sampsa Oinaala, Juha Mehtäläinen and Sebastian Boulter.
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Alisa Volkova: Nikkelin palasia Photo:InstallationAlisa Volkova
In the radio documentary Alussa oli maa from 2009, Oinaala and Taipale examine the transformation of the soundscape of the wilderness into industrial noise and the conflict of the human mind between livelihood and lost nature.
SAMPSA OINAALA, TOMMI TAIPALE Alussa oli maa Audio, ListenDuration200946:20(inFinnish): https://areena.yle.fi/audio/1-3304895
Since the late 1800’s the famous rubber ducks, (nowadays made of plastic), have spread all over the world. One unexpected spreading of the ducks happened in 1992, when three 40-foot containers holding 28800 plastic bathtub toys from a Chinese factory were washed off a ship to Pacific Ocean, containing 7200 each of blue turtles, yellow ducks, red beavers, and green frogs.
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SEBASTIAN BOULTER Rubber Duck (after Ophelia), 52x56cm, Oil on canvas2015
Two-thirds of the toys floated south and landed three months later on the shores of Indonesia, Australia, and South America. The ocean streams carried part of them to Alaska and then completed a full circle back near Japan. Many of the toys then entered the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia and were trapped in the Arctic ice. Their travel routes have provided researchers with more information about ocean currents. Viva la Vida!
Rubber duck (after Ophelia)
Photo: Sebastian Boulter
The
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In September 2011 Teemu Takatalo’s consumer critical mural The Absolution of the Enlightened Consumer was censored and destroyed in a gallery, in Tampere, Finland by the producers of the exhibition. The painting consisted of painted company logos of nine business enterprises, having their shops in the same shopping mall with the gallery, and texts about negligence of their social and environmental responsibility programs. By studying ethics, economics and the role of consumer Teemu Takatalo’s The Gospel of the Enlightened Consumer answers the question: why critical art work has to be destroyed?
TEEMU TAKATALO The Gospel of The Enlightened Consumer Video essay, 2012 Duration 51:19 The Absolution of the Enlightened Consumer approximately 165x200 Mural, 2011 Gospel of The Enlightened Consumer
After the bankruptcy of Talvivaara Ltd, the mine was saved by state-owned Terrafame Ltd. Terrafame has drawn strict boundaries for publicity, which is why journalistic work at the mine became impossible after the change of ownership. In this way, it sovereignly controls the public image of the mine, guaranteeing that there are no leaks of any kind. At least to the media. series Dead Birds of Talvivaara
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TOMMI TAIPALE
Dead Birds of Talvivaara Inkjet print, 60x90cm2012 Talvivaara mine rose rapidly into the wilderness of Kainuu and swallowed dozens of square kilometers of forest, fields, lakes, rivers and people’s homes. Reporter Sampsa Oinaala and photographer Tommi Taipale followed this change from the raven landscape of Kainuu to an industrial area. The photos of the exhibition have been taken in 2006-2014 when the Talvivaara’s story from its crazy idea ended to the bankruptcy of the mining company. Modern extraction of metals by using a chemical bioleaching method led to huge environmental problems that eventually brought down the mining company. The death of one man who inhaled hydrogen sulphide did not yet raise a big fuss. Instead, the protest was brought up by the dead birds in the process basin, which we found in the mine in the spring of 2012. In the following autumn, the leak of the gypsum sediment pool into the mine was a death blow to the mining company when it became public.
From the
Rescue Boat Baltic Herring Documentary film, 2011 Duration 1:23:18
JUHA MEHTÄLÄINEN, TEEMU TAKATALO, TOMMI TAIPALE
Rescue Boat Baltic Herring Photo: Tommi Taipale
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Rescue Boat Baltic Herring is a wind powered sailing boat built out of recycled materials - from waste that our contemporary lifestyle is producing. During the summers of 2010 - 2011 Rescue Boat Baltic Herring was sailing around Baltic sea and archipelago far from rectangular conventions and dusty tasting logic of the solid ground. During the sailings the crew invited various artist, scientist and critical thinkers from various backgrounds to join the expedition and talk and think about the Baltic Sea, ecology and some crucial factors in our culture and politics that are directly causing environmental problems.
-FESTIVAALI FESTIVAL
