Did you know that all babies are color bind until they are around 4 months old? Do you ever think that someone might see the color that you see differently? Do you know that there was no word for orange in the Middle-Age?
"MOHN is Burger/Voigt's new project (Jörg Burger and Wolfgang Voigt)
MOHN is extremely decelerated, slow motion techno with and without bass drum, containing lots of plasticiser
MOHN is slow, sublime, sombre music, fusing different ambient styles to one new one
MOHN LIVE primarily is a non-stop concert-lecture for a seated audience (theatre), but it also works standing up(shoegaze, ambientbounce, ambientgrunge,...)
"Pilvi Takala (*1981 in Helsinki) deals with the constitutions and limits of social groups and communities. Her videos, books, and installations are based on interventions in (semi-)public spaces, and this first monograph documents most of her work since 2005."
She has most brilliant ideas in her videos. Like in Wallflower waiting in a Finnish dancing hall if someone would come to pick her up, for the whole evening. As a trainee in a company doing thinking work without the computer or driving the whole day in an elevator. Or going with two other women into a Turkish tearoom. Or building castles of 1 and 2 euro coins. What happens when Snow White tries to enter to Disney world?
Watch the videos for more info. They are awesome. Check the webpage for all of them. http://pilvitakala.com/
Nordic countries have a special atmosphere. We have certain way of understanding others. We know how to survive from the dark winters. I think in most Nordic music you can see and feel the fact that we have so little sun light almost half of the year. I think that's why there's so many metal fans in Finland and in Scandinavia. But especially the electronic music scene is something quite unique in Finland. And so long all the Icelandic composers who's music I have been listening to have something very common. The compositions and the atmospheres of the music are so fragile and at the same time beautiful. It's not easy listening. It demands concentration from the listener. It brings you into the darkness of the winter of the North but then reveals also the light. It's very confronting and honest music. How is the Nordic mentality too.
I love the the honesty of people in the North, you don't need to pretend to be happy or something else if you don't feel like it. Where in some Mid-Europe countries you always see this phenomena of people trying to play the hard guy, something else or just trying to keep up the smile. I hope these both groups could learn things from each others. To give the peace to people to be alone if they need to be but also to be able to show the joy if they feel happy. To be able to be honest towards others. To show the care towards others around you.
I found two to me new Icelandic composers. Daníel Bjarnason released his debut album "Processions" (2010). He is a composer but also a conductor and has worked with London Sinfonietta, Icelandic Opera and Icelandic Symphony Orchestra. He has had collaborations with bands like Sigur Rós, Efterklang and Múm just name some. In 2011 Bjarnason collaborated with Ben Frost and together they created the album "Sólaris". Here you can listen two songs from this album: http://www.bedroomcommunity.net/releases/solaris
But if you don't have the chance to go to see it yourself you can reserve a virtual seat for the concert via here: http://disquiet.tv/ Reservations are free but limited to 200, so be fast!
Another Icelandic composer and sound artist I found is Bjarni Gunnarsson. He is currently living in Den Haag in the Netherlands. He's music is more abstract, rough and sometimes I could say, scary.
Lewis Hine (1874-1940) was an American photographer who used photography as a tool to bring out the social problems of the society, to make a change. He took photos of child labor in USA, immigrants for searching better live overseas and steel workers, building Empire state building. The famous picture with the workers of Empire state building sitting on a steel bar is also by Hine.
Self portrait of Lewis Hine
I got the chance to see the exhibition of Lewis Hines pictures in Nederlands Fotomuseum. There were so many really stopping pictures. There's so much feeling in the photos. Stories of child laborers, a newspaper boy that is sleeping on the stairway, a small boy that is picking cotton. A small baby in front of the "temporary home for colored children".
Here's just some of the photos. Rights belong to their respective owners.
"Little spinner girl in Globe cotton mill"
"Shrimp and oyster worker" (1911)
"I wanted to show the things that had to be corrected;
I wanted to show the things that had to be appreciated."
- Lewis Hine
"Underprivileged child at Hull House" (1920)
"A sleeping newsboy" (1912)
"Candy worker" (1925)
"Rockefeller Center Construction Site, c. 1930"
"Photography can light-up darkness and expose ignorance."
- Lewis Hine
"The girl works all day in a cannery." (1911)
This was the most stopping picture of the whole exhibition. Too bad I couldn't find any better version of the picture from the internet. In the white board it says "temporary home for colored children"
I have so many things what I've found in couple days, actually lot today. I have still some cool things that are waiting be written about, some awesome artists, installations and videos. I've been thinking of maybe broadening my blog also into other arts as in audiovisuals and texts if I feel like sharing them, not those facebook stuff with kittens... Well actually I once had to share one cat video, it was about a cat inside a small hamsterball and it didn't want to get away from it and was rolling around. It was just awesome! Who cares. I don't want to be one of those hypocrites that say that only this is cool. If I feel like some thing has the value and interest to be shared publicly here I will share it. Opinions can be always be debated. But I will still stay more in music, audiovisuals (installations), other visually mind exploding things and texts.
So let's start from one thing. Snap! at Kutavond.
I had the chance to see them live at Perron in Rotterdam. Actually it's the New Snap!
First I had to survive trough one and a half hours of 90's disco with songs like Captain Jack, YMCA and other golden hits. But it was all worth of it.
Snap! started in 1989 and behind it was German producer duo Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. The crew has been changing some times during the years. It was famous with the rapper Turbo B. I think the most famous songs from this group must be "Power" and "Rhythm is a dancer". The newer Snap! consists of Penny Ford and newer Benjamin Lowe. Ford has been with the crew from almost the early years of the band. It was great to see what energy they still have. We got the chance to hear THREE times "Rhythm is a dancer". Got to say that Snap! did great!
Just listened trough at Kompakt site Ssalivas "Sync thrills" which is released on label Vlek and like the tunes! Good stuff. It sounds bit like early Moby. Especially "Ave" caught my ear and "A*i". Hadn't came across to this artist before. They have released earlier also "rza". Click here to see Vlek's artists and check the both albums. Ssaliva aka. Francois Boulanger is from Belgium.
The funny small fact in the "Sync thrills" is that the artist who has done the original artwork for the album is called Dimitri Runkkari what means in Finnish Dimitri The Wanker. I wonder trough how many people this name has just gone and they have thought that it's just a "name". Haha. Though beautiful cover.
And just now listening more from Vlek. Sagat does amazing techno! Really love it! Check "Few mysteries solved in a year of contact". Just amazing! I would just say it's just massive! Big heart!
Check also Squeaky Lobster. And how awesome software this is! Beatsurfing! Follow the link to download it and learn more! https://vimeo.com/44805129
My flatmate introduced me to Klangkarussell. It's an austrian duo of Tobias Rieser and Adrian Held. And they are good! They became well known from their hit Sonnentanz.
