Taikamatto Oodin avajaisissa / Taikamatto at the opening of Oodi library

(in English below)

ALA Architects 20181120 Helsinki Central Library Oodi

Monikielinen puhuva matto Oodin avajaisissa 5.-6.12.2018

Taikamaton ovat maalanneet Kirkkonummen ja Inkoon kuvataidekoulujen oppilaat. Kuva Outi Korhonen 2018

Uuden Helsingin keskustakirjaston Oodin avajaisiin valmistettu Taikamatto kertoo tarinoita eri kielillä. Sen tarkoitus on innostaa lapsia ja perheitä jakamaan kokemuksia lukemisesta ja kirjoista sekä tarjota mahdollisuus kuunnella vieraita kieliä leikinomaisesti.

Taikamatto alkaa puhua, kun joku astuu sille ja puheen vauhti reagoi matolla liikkuvan henkilön liikkeeseen. Kielivalikoima painottaa pääkaupunkiseudun eniten puhuttuja kieliä. Äänimateriaalina Oodin avajaisten Taikamatossa on monikielisiä äänikirjoja tarjoavan Lukulumon äänikirja, Eva Lindströmin Apan och jag (Alfabeta förlag) kuudellatoista kielellä, jotka ovat  albania, arabia, bosnia, englanti, espanja, kurdi, persia, pohjoissaame, puola, ruotsi, suomi, somali, thai, tigrinja, turkki ja venäjä.

Taikamatto löytyy avajaisten ajan toisen kerroksen ryhmätilasta 20126. Maton kuvat ja äänet ovat pienimpienkin avajaisvieraiden ulottuvilla ja siihen voi tutustua myös ryömien tai vaikkapa pyörätuolista käsin. Kieltä voi vaihtaa nappia painamalla.

Taikamaton ovat maalanneet Kirkkonummen ja Inkoon lasten ja nuorten kuvataidekoulujen oppilaat. Se koostuu noin sadasta kuvasta, jotka liittyvät kunkin tekijän omaan kokemukseen kirjoista tai tarinoista.

Maton äänitekniikan rakentaa äänitaiteilija ja elektroakustisen musiikin pedagogi Alejandro Olarte. Teos on samalla osa Soni-adores-työparin monikielisten ääni-installaatioiden sarjaa.

Oodin avajaiset ovat kaikille avoin tapahtuma 5.-6.12. Tervetuloa mukaan! Tästä linkistä löydät lisätietoja Oodin avajaisohjelmasta.

Kiitokset: Kirkkonummen ja Inkoon kuvataidekoulujen oppilaat ja opettajat, Lukulumo, Alfabeta-kustantamo, Monikielinen kirjasto, Oodi, Satakielikuukausi

Magic Carpet at the opening of Oodi library 5.-6.12.2018

Multilingual sound installation for families

The Magic carpet is painted by the students of Kirkkonummi Arts School for Children and Youth and the sound technique is constructed by Alejandro Olarte.

The magic carpet flies with stories and languages. It starts to talk when you step on it and increases and decreases its speed according to the movement. At the opening of Oodi, the new central library of Helsinki, the magic carpet talks with Lukulumo’s audio book Apan och jag, written by Eva Lindström och published by Alfabeta förlag. The languages are Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, English, Estonian, Finnish, North Sámi, Kurdish, Persian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Somali, Thai, Tigrinya and Turkish.

The carpet consists of around 100 textile squares painted by the students of the arts schools for children and youth of Kirkkonummi and Inkoo. Each square is different and related to an experience or memory of a book or a story. The sound technique of the carpet is constructed by sound artist Alejandro Olarte.

At the opening of Oodi Library you find the magic carpet from the second floor group work space 20126.

The Magic Carpet is one of the multilingual sound installations created by Soni-adores.

Thanks to: Teachers and Students at Kirkkonummi Arts School for Children and Youth, Lukulumo, Alfabeta förlag, Multilingual Library, Oodi, Satakielikuukausi

Puhuva tie, laulava talo – Talking road, singing house

The exhibition Puhuva tie, laulava talo (Talking Road, Singing House) at Kanneltalo Gallery 8.3.-1.4.2017 presents multilingual installations made by Alejandro Olarte and Outi Korhonen. These include (UN)REST lullaby installation, Zebra crossing (an installation version of the talking carpet), Satakielipuhelin (multilingual telephone) and Don’t trust the Oracle, an old suitcase that answers to knocking with ’yes’ or’no’ in different languages. All the objects can be touched and played in their own ways. In the exhibition you can hear more than 40 different languages. The exhibition is accesible also for people with wheelchairs.

Opening 
8.3.2017
17-19

Guided tours:

Sat 25.3.2017
13:10, 14:10 and 15:10.
The artists Alejandro Olarte and Outi Korhonen present the exhibition. The duration of each presentation is about 20 min.

kielikerays_Kanneltalo_25.3.2017

(UN)REST Lullaby installation

Alejandro Olarte, Outi Korhonen 2016

(UN)REST is a sound installation consisting of lullabies in different languages that form a shelter where both rest and unrest are present. The structure is composed of cables and small speakers that can be displayed in different formats.

unrest_a_olarte_o_korhonen_compr
Fragment of the installation. Photo and wire drawing: Outi Korhonen

Illusions of safety

Thematically the installation focuses on the universally shared need to provide shelter for a tired child, independently of the circumstances. The aim is to connect our own experiences to those of the others, to notice the similitude of a basic emotion. The melodies, lyrics and the languages of the songs contribute to the construction of a mobile, temporary, or permanent home. Singing can be used to provide an illusion of safety even in moments of the total lack of it.

Collective creation with 25 singers and languages

Most of the singers of the lullabies are people who have arrived to Finland from different countries. The installation includes songs in more than 25 languages.

Singers:
Anna Dantchev (Bulgarian), Ali El Aziz (Arabic), Anna Lumikivi (Skolt Sámi),  Annette Kiener(German), Anette Åkerlund (Russian Roma), Cátia Suomalainen Pedrosa (Portuguese), Emma Raunio (English), Erick Dæhlin (Norwegian), Evija Skuķe (Latvian), Fatou Beye (Wolof ), Grisell Macdonell (Nahuatl), Kitari Mayele (Lingala), Liza Umarova (Chechen), Manuel López (Spanish-Spain), Mari Kalkun (Võru), Marouf Majidi (Persian), Menard Mponda (Swahili), Mirjami Ylinen(Finnish), Natalia Castrillón (Spanish/Colombia), Olesya Skorbilina (Russian), Olesya Zolotowa(Polish), Riham Isaac (Arabic), Ruben Gonzalez (Spanish/ Argentina), Satu Ekman (Finnish), Suado Jama (Somali), Supriya Nagarajan (Hindi), Taika Ilola (Carelian and Finnish), Tristana Ferreyra(Guaraní and Spanish/ Argentina), Troels Strange Lorenzen (Danish), Valisa Krairiksh (Thai)

Waves of single human voices

sketches_unrest_outi_korhonenSonically (UN)REST consists of single human voices singing each one a different lullaby mostly in the mother tongues of the singers, without instruments or other background sounds. The timeline of the sound assembles to waves, starting with one single voice/song and adding more and more voices/songs simultaneously, creating a contradictory emotion of (un)rest, and then falling back to a single song and voice, each time a different one. Thanks to the sound technique that relies on many small speakers, the sound remains local and does not cause sounds in a large area.

Touchable sounds

The installation consists of long copper cables and 24 small speakers at the end of each cable. This format permits the visitor to listen to the individual songs simply by placing his/her ear close to one of the speakers, having thus an intimate experience of listening as is the case of a child listening to a lullaby. In the middle of the space the visitor can listen to the coexistence of the different songs.  The physical form can be modified and adapted to different spaces and forms.

 

On display

homeless-sleepUpcoming:

included in Mennään jo naapuriin -exhibition,
Stoa, Helsinki, 20.2.-24.3.2018

 

 

Past:

Nordic Language Festival, Godsbanen, Aarhus, Denmark 18.-21.9.2017

– MuTe Fest and Global Fest 21.11.-12.12.2016, Musiikkitalo, Helsinki.
”Cable Graffiti” version without the tent structure.

– Kanneltalo 8.3.-1.4.2016Helsinki. Part of exhibition Laulava talo, puhuva tie (Alejandro Olarte, Outi Korhonen), Satakielikuukausi 2017

– March 2016, The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki. during Homeland exhibition, Festival of Political photography www.pvf.fi (Displayed as Koditon uni  / Homeless sleep)

– February 2016, Vuotalo, Helsinki. Part of Satakielikuukausi / Month of a Hundred Languages. Exhibition Universaaleja unia

Special thanks to

All the singers who donated their voice and time
Vuotalo
Satakielikuukausi / Multilingual Month
The Finnish Museum of Photography, Festival of Political Photography
Coro Latinoamericano de Helsinki
MuTeFest
Kanneltalo
Nordic Language Coordination