Work plan

Why?

Primary goals.

A pilgrimage to the oracle of me

In Manchester I am successful. Outspoken. A warrior. Asked for my opinion. This has made me violent, aggressive, oppositional, the lead to get their head blown off.  I’ve enjoyed these titles. But come to realise it is a waste of my precious time on earth.

 ‘Sámi artist Marja Helander, has often wondered if it would be possible to sometimes just paint trees simply because they love it? Would anyone fund Helander’s painting of landscapes and who would find it interesting?’ Sámi artist Áillohaš.

I've been wondering shit like this too. I want to put it to the test.

 Q. How you intend to accomplish those goals during your stay at the Saari Residence?

A. Active laziness.

 ‘Academic research involves a theoretical quest for truth and the production of applicable knowledge. In addition, it includes wonder and contemplation, confronting things and being present. Thinking is not possible without allocating time for it, which is a fundamental condition for academic freedom. Yet less and less time and periods of inactivity are allowed for research today. The continuous reporting, evaluations and publication, as well as outputs and impact, steal time away from thinking. Academic freedom requires a special kind of active laziness’ Ari Hirvonen.

 1 month ago, I drop my manic productiveness. Dump projects I don’t love. Make room to revisit old books. Old philosophies. Calm. I listen to books about constructing memoir.  Zen hippies from my era.  Julia Cameron: The Artist’s Way. Natalie Goldberg: Writing Down the Bones. They make me feel safe. Make me remember simple things that I love.

• Wildflowers. Trees. Snow.

• The power of the universe. My place in it. That I am alive.

• My 30 years of practice.

• How useful it will be to others.

• Especially people from my background.

• I want to walk into my knowledge.

• Inhabit it like Julia and Natalie have. Make others feel safe too.

• Tell myself I am not a fraud but a Zen master also.

The aesthetics of a beautiful life

Áillohaš,’ Traditional Sámi life was holistic. Art was not a separate event, but part of the artist’s philosophy of life. Everyone was an artist and everything was art. The aesthetics of life – Eallit čábbát, to live beautifully – was a good life lived in reciprocity and balance with the world. Whatever we did, we did it beautifully.’

I want to live this philosophy.

Money makes the world go round

‘Art does not exist unless it is made. Artists need financial resources to make art.’ Áillohaš.

I did not invest in stocks and shares; a great job with a great pension; love and a partner to take care of me. I invested in knowledge. How to generate art. 12-Words. How to structure art. 8-stations. I have proof that both works. The high-end art I have produced. The art I have enabled others to produce. I want to present both to the world.  A retrospective of my journey. I set sail with no shore in sight. I want to tell the reader about the beautiful land I arrived at. And the tools I conceived to get me there.

Who?

I am an introvert. I love my own company. I’m terrible at small talk. I’m great at in depth. I love Astronomy. Philosophy. Sociology. Anthropology. I am looking forward to meeting people who use these and other fascinating topics to inform and generate their work.

 With whom?

I will invite residents to 12-words and 8-station workshops. To add new tools to their kit. Help me understand how to teach both on the page. Learn from the work they produce and feedback. I am very interested in any workshops that others may schedule.

 Slow travel grant, artistic work entail/include while travelling

• 7 days

• Train to Marseille.

• Train Marseille to Berlin.

• Bus Berlin to Riga

• Bus Riga to Tallinn

• Bus Tallinn to Turku

• Bus Turku to Mynamaki

Of the 4 dimensions I have:

• 1.    My memoir.

• 2.     My tools: 12-words and 8-stations.

• 3.     I need to look for the central image.

• 4.     And the landscape.

Travel time will be part of my work.

• I hear myself repeating that I have made a journey.

• Exiled, I left the shores of my ‘normal’ practise.

• I set sail into 12-words and 8-stations.

• Sometimes for days.

• I didn’t know there would ever be a shore. 

• A seemingly unending physical pilgrimage will give me the spine of that feeling.

• Experiencing, noting, photographing unfamiliar vegan food. Coffee. Independent cafes. Decor. Roadside wildflowers. In my vase. Pressed. Looking them up in unfamiliar bookshops.  Unfamiliar stars. Landscape. Art. Architecture. Drama. Cultural differences. Domesticity in a different culture. Cinematography.

• That evolves into my journey’s skeleton in the Saari residency itself.