By Tina-Marie Friedrich

Early in the morning the sky was cloudy. At ten o’clock it cleared up and the sun came out. It is still shining.

Joana Cortes “from the air around you” talks about the community of microbes. She has been experimenting with making sourdough for six years: water, flour and microorganisms that are in the air, on our hands and everywhere. For them to thrive, they need to be fed and cared for. They also nourish each other with their excrements. The bread we tasted at the opening was made from dough that had been matured for ten days and was very tasty. Joana comes from philosophy, she has studied the microbes of her sourdough together with chemists, and one result is now shown here in an art context.

The Kilottaa Collective has hung large curtains in the trees to fish “transcendent messages” out of the air. Mia Mäkinen says that when they were setting up, the birch tree threw branches at them. She asked the tree if it didn’t like the art. Later, she realised that the tree had possibly warned her. Because the wind got so strong that they had to roll up the textiles to protect them. When Elsa Häkkinen works alone, she embroiders in cross-stitch “activity signs”. As an example, she shows us a pink vulva with yellow sun rays. She does not want gender to be thought of only in binary terms.

Filips Stanislavskis’ work is “Human Cloud Project”. Through his involvement with geoengineering, Filips came up with the idea of building his own machine that produces clouds from the liquids of people’s collected breath. Even thousands of his cloud machines would not influence the climate in any way, because our breath enters the atmosphere anyway. We are part of a very complex system.

Inari Virmakoski “Climate Nets” aka “Air Nets” She learned to appreciate the material for her work, gauze, in Tanzania. It protected her from mosquitoes and she saw how wonderfully light it moved in the wind. She lived there with a view of Mount Kilimanjaro, which showed her the weather every morning: sometimes it was clearly visible, sometimes it was covered in clouds. During her life in the desert, she washed herself with sand, grateful to her fellow human beings who, with their experience, made it possible for her to survive in the desert.

8 degrees, rain, wind gusts at 37 km/h: A perfect day to make radio outside next to a river and a pine tree! The air… was… wet!

Scheduled for today at 12 was the “Air Nets” performance by the artist Inari Virmakoski at the Jakkukylä suspension bridge some 5 km away.  We decided to split up: Ms Schaffner would stay at the station, watching the weather and tending guests and sound art works; Ms Friedrich would go, see the performance and report via telephone into the radio mic.

Radio guest of the day was Kai, who punctually appeared at 11:30. Offering him a glass of cold water seemed somehow superfluous, and we started our talk with a pronunciation exercise of his surname: LATVALEHTO. (I remember him telling me a much much longer version of this one which I looked up from the internet.) Kai Latvalehto knows the region well, having moved  over from Sweden to the region of Ii at the age of 13.

We talked about the weather, climate change (“Black Christmas” even in the North in 7 out of 10 years) and his work as a project manager of the Kripa-project/Northern AiR.

The Kripa project aims to create permanent supporting structures for the field and to increase the international competence for the local cultural actors in Ostrobotnia. It is a part of the Rural Development Programme for Mainland Finland, funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Currently there exist six residency location, namely in Ii, Kuusamo, Hailuoto_, Raahe, Oulu and Kärsämäki.

I asked for the website, and here it is: https://www.northernair.fi/en/

Shortly after he left, the phone rang. There was Tina reporting about the preparations of Inari’s performance: constant drizzle of rain, people with umbrellas is various colors, the curators shepherding the artloving crowd of ca. 30 people, a bridge spanning the river, a camera team on location… and amidth it, dressed in a shining yellow rain coat, the most wonderful looking artist, holding a mass of white material in her arms.

From the bridge itself “Air Nets” were dangling down and dancing in the rain gusts… just like giant “Jelly fish”, Tina reported.

The connection broke and kept on breaking during the telephone transmission. In between, the following works from the open call were presented:

• Joan Schumann: Shimmer & Loop
• The Square Root of Negative Two: Vapor
• Sebastian Pafundo: Gûlgaltâ = Calvariae = Calvario.
• Richard Zeiss: It’s a beautiful rain
  And the first episode of
• TzuHuan_Lin_How’s the Weather ep1-4: Bad Weather in Puerto Rico

By the time Ms Friedrich reappeared from the expedition, I was thoroughly frozen over. And she too. The station was packed into the box, the ‘air of Ii’ microphones activated and off we went in search for some hot hot hot cups of tea at the Kulturikauppila.

Due to cable rearrangements, the ‘air stream’ set-up in the birdhouse (masterly put together by Ii Art technical assistant Timo) now runs only on batteries. Depending on temperatures and weather these tend to die at some point during the night.

A great occasion to create a “Night Loop” consisting of a (re)broadcast of the ‘Air on Air’ sound art contributions and also a fit way to present longer works.

The NightLoops will start from approximately 1 pm (=death of batteries) and will play until 11 am.

We also have the pleasure to say that from the 17th on, our program will be by [Open Radio]: https://openradio.in

Nightloop I: 16th

• Elisabeth Shores: On The Inhale 0:33
• Stuart Mellor: Turbine 4:44
• Kazuya Ishigami: Gods rhyzm of Kehi-Jingu Shrine and Wakesa bay 5:50
• Martin Virgili: Campana – Acantilado (10 Chapters) 1:20:00
• Joan Schumann: Shimmer & Loop 12:46
• The Square Root of Negative Two: Vapor 15:24
• Sebastian Pafundo: Gûlgaltâ = Calvariae = Calvario 8:00
• Richard Zeiss: It’s a beautiful rain 7:36
• Tzu Huan Lin & Campbell Watson: How’s the Weather ep1-4:
  Bad Weather in Puerto Rico 25:40
  Human Social Interaction 25:40
  Evolution 14:22
  Utopia 25:40

Guests on Friday, 17^th of June 11am -1pm

• Joana Quiroga: Ferment: From the Air Around You
• Filips Stanislavskis: Human-Cloud Project
• Kilottaa (Elsa Häkkinen, Miia Mäkinen, Sannu Vaarala): Transcendent Messages

Nightloop 2, 18th

• Charlotte Law: hAir
• Castelló_Domínguez Rangel_Moreno Vera_Somón Medina: Of Breath and Sound
• Tiger Stangl: Oxygene / Sauerstoff
• Isto_Rahkila_Diffuser
• Ian Joyce: Blow Out for Air on Air
• Juho_Rahikka: Soundscape (for Datscha Radio)
• Lukas Noren: Orgelwind
• Sol Rezza, Franco Falistoco: Yeast DNA

From the 16th (due to a tech failure In streaming) for some time:

• Joan Schuman: Shimmer & Loop
• Stuart Mellor: Turbine
• The Square Root of Negative Two: Vapor
• Elizabeth Shores: On the Inhale
  TzuHuan_Lin: How’s the Weather ep1-4
• La Claud: Ondes
• Martin Virgilio: Campana Acantilado
• Neu:
  + Stephen Shiell: Vojak

Nightloop 3, 19th

• Chelidon Frame: a_certain_sense_of_loss + Flatline Voyages
• Dirk Hülstrunk: Chennai Air Condition
• Gabriele_de Seta: Air, Membranes
• Joana Jardim & Filipe Miranda: WRP
• Jaakko Autio: _Love_Is_In_The_Air
• Kate Donovan: The Dream will watch over it
• Eva Sjuve: MetopiaDeepSignal
• Roberto D’Ugo: FICA COMOVIDO | SI COMMOUVE | BE MOVED BY
• George Ridgway: pedagogy of the knot

Sunday: Last Show

• Paint the Sky: Conceptual Artists
• Hagai Itzenberg:  Involuntarily
• Sebastian Pafundo: Gûlgaltâ = Calvariae = Calvario
• Dirk Huelstrunk: Poem for Air
• + Peter Courtemanche: Mechanical Velocities
  

NIGHTLOOP 4
only until 0:00

The above plus:

• Lauren Wong: (Don’t) take my breath away
• Wilfried Hanrath: Something in the Air (and in-between)
• NKvdK (Nieuwe Klanken van de Keizer – The Emperor’s New Sounds): Planktone

Datscha Radio Ii would like to thank ALL participating artists!!!!!

Stay tuned: There’s more to the night!

—> Streaming right after midnight, the radio artist Marold Langer-Philippsen will start on “Hörmaschine”. Both on datscharadio.de and [open radio] Read More

The weather forecast had shown a rain warning, yet the day started with bright sunshine and  stayed like this during our very first broadcast at 11 am at the Lähti park in Ii.

Our scheduled guests for this transmission were the curators of the art Ii Biennal, but! Propped up in the birdhouse our air on air mics picked up a different sound (different from the rustling wind in the pine trees, birches and the grass and the river): a song!

Along the pathways of the park a girl in a wheelchair and a social worker approached us speedily. As it turned out, Miia loves to sing. And she loves radio music, concerts and more singing.

The artist’s park of Ii is situated close the towns municipal center. There is the hospital, pharmacy, job center, retirement home and a support center for people with special abilities.

Later that morning we were joined by another radio-hunry group (we still had not started on our show), Paula, Jonas, Susanna, Timo, Sanna and Sirpa. Sirpa too proved to be a lovely singer. We chatted on about singing and our forthcoming program and the Art Biennal.

Of course, the radio day had then just started. You will read more about it in due time. This is it for now.

Datscha Radio Schedule Up-Date
Finnish Time (GMT+3)

Hello, our time here has been very exiting so far: Pine tree juice dripping on our birdhouse cables, a visit to the local pub, tech mysteries, inspiring encounters with our fellow artists… most of which you will meet in the course of our shows.

The original plan of broadcasts has been changed to the following times:

Wed. 15th of June      2-3 pm Opening
OC Artists today: Elizabeth Shores, Stuart Mellor, Martin Virgili, Kazuya Ishigami, (after the show:) Jussi Alaraasakka

Thu. 16th of June        11 am – 1 pm
Expedition performance by the artist INARI. Reported live from the event via Tina on the telephone.
The Square Root of Negative Two: Vapour
Later on with possible changes:
Joan Schumann: Shimmer Loop
Sebastian Pafundo: Gûlgaltâ = Calvariae = Calvario (will be played again during our broadcasts
Now playing: 12:50 – the return of Tina: TzuHuan_Lin_How’s the Weather ep1-4

Fri. 17th of June          11 am- 1 pm

Sat. 18th of June         11 am- 1 pm + Radio Picnic 2 pm – 3:30 pm

Sun. 19th of June        11 am- 1 pm

Updates will follow within the next 12 hours, stay tuned :)

Datscha Radio Ii is realised with the kind support of the Goethe Institut Munich

Blue and translucent as the air in Ii the violets bloom in the meadows: Yes, it is still late spring here. And just as translucent and glittering are the 28+ compositions Datscha Radio received from all corners of the world as contributions to our “Air ‘in Air’ program, broadcast between the 15^th and the 19^th of June.

Pieces shorter than one can hold one’s breath and pieces with enough oxygene to survive a trip into space. There are ventilators, flutes, noses in marriage with microphones, extensive compositions, ‘ear plays’, airy choirs and every now and then a musical evaporation  of voices into the hues and blues.

Datscha Radio is very much looking forward to present the following international artists (here in alphabetical order):

We are delighted to welcome you to “Air ‘on Air’! Thank you for sending us your works!

• Castelló_Domínguez & Rangel_Moreno
• Cenk Bekdemir
• Charlotte Law
• Chelidon Frame
• Dirk Hülstrunk
• Elisabeth Shores
• Eva Sjuve
• Gabriele de Seta
• Hagai Itzenberg
• Hans Castrup
• Ian Joyce
• Isto Rahkila
• Jaakko Autio
• Joana Jardim & Filipe Miranda
• Jussi_Alaraasakka
• KAZUYA_Ishigami
• La Claud
• Lauren Wong
• Lucas Norer
• Martin Virgili
• Peter Courtemanche
• Roberto_D’Ugo
• Sebastian Pafundo
• Sol Rezza, Franco Falistoko
• Stephen Shiell
• Steve Transcoder
• Stuart_Mellor
• The Square Root of Negative Two
• Tiger Stangl
• Tzu Huan Lin & Campbell Watson
• Voice Changer
• Wilfried Hanrath

Due to the extraordinarily varying time spans of the different works we are still in the process of deciding how to implement them into the running schedule. State of things currently:

Pieces up to ca. 15-20 minutes will be presented in our shows. Longer works will be grouped into ‘Special Hours’ and broadcast either before and after those, with due credits given after respectively before.

We will keep you updated with more informations as soon as possible, with the midnight sun aiding us staying in awake with its untiring ray on sun (or else the ever hungry mosquitos)!