Press release 12th Jan 2011:

Darkness, Wanderlust and the End of the World

The artists of Musicam Video launch collaboration

What do you get when you bring together a flutist, a cellist, a guitarist, three video artists and three new music composers for four days? Nobody knows each other well and not even the producers have met all the artists beforehand, as some of them have been invited based on their websites and e-mail correspondence.

What the artists did have in common was the desire to push their professional boundaries and experiment with mixed-art in an international setting made possible by Turku 2011. Through workshops, discussions and improvisation, the nine artists formed three teams, which all consisted of a musician, a composer and a video artist.

Milja Viita (Finnish, born 1974) uses black-and-white film along with video in her work. Juho Laitinen (Finnish, born 1977) is not only a cellist but a composer as well. Aleksander Nowak (Polish, born 1979) has composed opera, symphonies and music for documentary films. All three share an interest in international and multi-cultural issues. Their collaboration produced a piece that examines wandering and remembering through the use of scratched film, projector noise and cello microtones.

Composer Markku Klami (Finnish, born 1979) is an active member of the young composers’ Ears Open Society. Flutist Johanna Kärkkäinen (Finnish, born 1987) is the founder and musical director of Se Ensemble. Video artist Arttu Merimaa (Finnish, born 1983) runs the Alkovi Gallery in Helsinki. These young artists share a similar ambitious and playful approach to mixed-art collaboration. Their piece is inspired by cults preaching the end of the world, horror films, fables, trash documentaries and the moral issues emerging from all the aforementioned.

Guitarist Kimmo Rahunen (Finnish, born 1977) has performed a variety of new Finnish music. Composer and pianist Maria Kallionpää (Finnish, born 1981) is especially interested in electro-acoustic music. Video artist Laura Pawela’s (Polish, born 1978) works often take a stand and have recently involved visual vibrations and minimalist movement. All three have worked extensively outside their native countries and consider themselves European rather than Finnish or Polish. In their joint piece, the vibrations of guitar strings merge with the pulse of the screen.

Musicam Video is part of the programme of Turku 2011. The mixed-art pieces will premiere at a visualized concert at the Sibelius Museum on November 4th 2011 and at the Window Gallery exhibition, which opens at the same time on Turku Market Square.

Musicam Video is realized by Mixed-art Association Poike and supported by Pori City Board of Culture, Arts Council of Satakunta, Arts Council of Finland, Foundation for the Promotion of Finnish Music, Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society Teosto, and The Embassy of Poland. The project has also received pre-production support from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

For more information, please contact:
Executive Producer Tuuli Penttinen-Lampisuo
tuuli@poike.fi
Tel +358 50 535 8916

www.turku2011.fi/musicamvideo