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 15th and the 19th 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)!
Open Call: Air on Air Datscha Radio will broadcast from the 8th Art Biennale in Ii, Finland. From June 15-19, 2022.
About
Art Ii Biennial addresses current themes, participates in the public discussion through the methods of art and boldly combines the rich cultural heritage of Ii with contemporary art. The main focus of the event is ecological, economical, social and cultural sustainability.
This year’s theme is In the Air. How can the interconnected immateriality of air be communicated using the methods of art.
Text: https://artii.fi/
Broadcasting about and listening to ‘just air’ seems to be an unusual concept. This is mainly because we take air for granted. Actually, it is not. The next planet with a probability of having an atmosphere breathable for our species lies 159 lightyears in a distance.
Datscha Radio’s 2022 event “Air on Air” will present a 24/5 hour radio stream of the air in Ii. For three hours each day we will invite artists and locals alike into our studio to talk about air and present selected works from the open call. For the remaining hours a microphone will transmit the atmospheres of Ii. “Air on Air” will happen from the 16th to the 19th of June 2022, we will be broadcasting directly from the park of the Biennal, close to the banks of the river Iijoki. The broadcasts can be heard online on datscharadio.de and via micro FM on the grounds of the Biennale.
The Call
Most people consider air sound as boring, since it contains not much/redundant/ uninteresting information. The contrary might be true. Air does not only form the background of anything we perceive by our sense of hearing: It constitutes the very precondition of why we hear at all. There is no transmission of sound in empty space.
What travels empty space and almost any space though, is radio. In the shape of electromagnetic waves, radio frequencies have been with the cosmos from its very beginning… and they travel on forever, no matter whether they are emitted by cosmic explosions, radioactive matter, microwave ovens, mobile phones, or, in that instance, by Datscha Radio.
Let us broadcast your ‘airborne’ compositions and sonic musings together under the midsummer skies of Northern Finland. Datscha Radio is looking forward to your radiophonic input.
Do not (!) send any links to downloads. Do not send your work as mail attachment. Thank you!
Please provide a pdf with two or three lines (400 spaces max) each about the piece and its relevance for the theme. Two or three lines (400 spaces max) about yourself, including a website if desired.
Add a line as to whether you agree with having your broadcast work archived with Datscha Radio’s online documentation.
Please put “Air on Air” as a subject line.
Deadline: May 28, 2022
What Datscha Radio can offer
Datscha Radio works on a non-commercial basis, therefore we cannot reimburse you for your valuable time and work. Instead, what we have to offer is this:
your work will be presented within the frame of the Art Biennal Ii 15-19 June, locally on FM,and worldwide on stream
a radio art platform for discovery, exchange and networking
sustainability: the documentation of “Air on Air” will be archived and made accessible on mixcloud (your agreement provided)
DIRECT LINK to player (if clicking the button on the right should not work):
For the mp3-stream (192kbit/s):
https://radiolada.out.airtime.pro/radiolada_a
Durational morning broadcasts:
A cold start: Ice Bathing in Germany by Ursula Rogg The Avant Garden goes on Ice. A Rebel Radio Selection.
Open Call Contributions andMiscellanies
Shorter pieces, lullabies, poems and field recordings
Guests in the Studio between 12 and 4 pm (Finnish Time):
Anita Hannunen – Residence Coordinator
Mika Tepponen – Head of the Merkanto Opisto, the Mänttä Music School
Tomi Voronin – Poet
Kirsi-Klaudia Kangas – Poetess and yoik singer
Specials:
Sleigh rides with and without horses
A Twilight Talk – with Merja Kääniäinen and Hannu, Keijo and Leevi Tuominen
Blinis & Moose: Food preparations and lunch with Tiina Nyrhinen, Anita Hannunen, Pauli Sivonen
Organ pieces played by Kaja Jantsikene in the Mäntta church
An introduction to the tradition of yoik singing by Kirsi-Klaudia Kangas
Kirsi Poutanen. A talk about Weeping Songs and Fado. With an introduction and a weeping song from quite another part of the globe, recorded by Mahlet Hates I as well as a lament about a very contemporary disaster: a corona weeping song, courtesy Emmi Kuittinen
The Upside Down Awake Fake World. A talk with Tixa Juka
Afternoon Ghosts From noisy to eery to Pareidolic phenomena whispers and revisiting dreams: More selections from the open call contributions.
Preparing for Mars
Last night studies and a phone talk
From 7 pm: Aelita II with Marold Langer-Philippsen
„One two three: Kaaaamo-ss Radiooo!“ Kaamos Radio started into its 14-hour session with a joint shout by all studio guests present as there were:
Anita Hannunen – Residence coordinator of the Serlachius museums
Matti Kivilahti – Poet, priest of the local community, and teacher of a writing class
Tomi Vorinen – Poet and founder of the Mäntää Poets Association (with Matti)
Kari Soino – Visual artist from Helsinki and resident artist
Tyyra Juka – mushroom expert and textile artist, Ruovesi
Tixa Juka – vocal improvisor and feeling dealer, Ruovesi
Studio View
By and by all had gathered in the studio which was set up on the first floor of the Serlachius Residency artist premises, the door to the balcony was opened to ensure a fresh drift of air through the room; there was a sofa, several chairs, and an atmosphere of general excitement and anticipation. Tixa set up the gear for his up-coming performance, involving a table record player and a reindeer horn fixed in a clamp to the table. His wife Tyyra – having brought in a medium sized and promising looking suitcase – settled into the office chair with her knitting work and the two poets comfortably lounged on the sofa.
Anita uploading some social news
The broadcast began with a Karelian lament song, performed by the Helsinki artist Kirsi Poutanen. (The talk with her will form part of the program on the 20th of February.) Anita Hannunen started out to give a description of the studio from memory with her eyes closed, congenially translated by Kari. Anita had facilitated many of Kaamos Radio’s recordings in the town and vicinity of Mänttä, and together with her horse Lissu we had taken a sleigh ride.
Kari Soinio talking about his daily snow walk
Kari Soinio is a photographer but currently he is working on a video about memory and personal resilience. Every day he walks the 3 km that separate the resident’s home at the Gösta Serlachius Museum to the studio close to the Gustav Serlachius Museum. It’s a long winding path along the shores of the lake, and one keeps walking in the footsteps of so and so many predecessors in a kind 40 cm deep furrow in the snow. The sound sounds and resounds differently with changes in temperature and humidity. And in a way, so do the musings of the walker.
Poets must wear black…
Matti Kivilahti had written to me some weeks earlier and had sent three poems about ‘kaamos’… and that’s how our acquaintanceship started. Next to being a poet, Matti is also the priest (one out of four) of the Mänttä-Vilppula community and he is teaching a writing class. He came and brought his friend and colleague Tomi Vuorinen. Both performed their own poems, the translations were spoken by Tixa. Tomi also sang a poem by the poet Eino Leino, his deep voice ringing out beautifully through the room.
This ‘Poet’s Hour’ was spiced up with the playing of several compositions by some of the Open Call artists. Kaamos Radio has received more than 35 pieces, including also a set of poems by the local poetess Jaana Korhonen. Not all of these could be played, they will be features more extensively in the afternoon of the 20th. Tomi is also the founder of the Mänttä Poet’s Association and he has been writing poems for more than 35 years. “You can say very deep things with very few words. I am a lazy man!” he says with a wink. Both also explained the concept behind ‘Poem Karaoke’: “It is NOT a contest!”, they jointly exclaimed. There is also a beer name “Kuu” which means “moon” and has a poem on its label, which was consequently read.
Steinpilzkekse! Ich hab das Rezept!
Tyyra Juka is an expert on multileveled planes of knowledge: She is a member of the Finnish Mycological Society and mushroom number 7263 (sienineuvoja). She is a resource producer by profession and also a member of the board of local corvesation of nature-society (Suomen luonnonsuojeluyhdistys, Virtain-Ruovesden luonnonsuojeluhdistys ry.)
The suitcase she has brought with her is really a “Pieni Sienet Kauppa”, a little mushroom shop. For us in the studio and for our listeners she takes out one piece after the other. For example different kinds of dried mushrooms of which she explains their uses: Mushrooms for making ink, mushroom dyes (three colours alone from one specimen), “tähti” (Boletus) biscuits, mushroom dyed organic wool – her knitwork turned out to be a sock in the making with a mushroom pattern –… On my questioning Tyyra also explained that there are indeed “talvi sienet”, mushrooms growing during winter, even eatable ones that pop up as soon as a patch of snow has melted into the soil. In the course of our talk we tasted from her salads and muffins, and I must say, the taste of a sweet and salty, vegan (!) boletus biscuit is indescribably marvelous!
After so much tasty food it was time for an evening coffee which all enjoyed very much, some of us rather staying with their winter beers, why not!
The Feeling Dealer’s set up
Feeling dealer (“but only for the happy feelings”) Tixa went to work with a small saw, sawing the reindeer bone attached to his performance table. Before that, he held a little introductions as to why for reindeers there is no such thing as darkness as we perceive it: Their eyes have a special retina, which makes them “hundred eyed”, and this ability helps them to stay orientated and fed during the arctic winters. He played a piece titled “pohlejoka punka”, derived from a performance earlier in 2020, and he used his voice and several instruments to accompany it live. A poem-tale written by Tyyra’s mother about three sisters going into the forest still added an additional layer to the concert, read by Tixa and Tyyra (then in English) in turns.
There is also a fish bone used as instrument
The sad moment came when all the guests had to say Goodbye, which happened around 11 pm Helsinki time. Still, you will meet some of them again on your radio this Saturday. Kaamos Radio continued its program with the presentation of further contributions from the open call, an arctic opera among them as well as recordings in the field of sonic anthropology.
Around 1 am the moment came when the Kaamos stream was handed over to Bratislava: “Aelita” being the title of a brand new, durational night performance of the artist Marold Langer-Philippsen. In a little phone conversation, he told us about his planned journey to Mars, herby following the narrative outline of Aelita, or The Decline of Mars, a 1923 science fiction novel by Russian author Aleksey Tolstoy. I sent him on his way with a lullaby sung by Chrisse Candolin, about a blue car taking the children to dreamland.
Morning found me at 7 am with sleepy eyes at the microphone. An orchestra of refrigerators was still broadcasting as part of the night program, leaving Mr Langer-Philippsen in the midst of his Marsian journey. Despite some technical problems, the morning was celebrated by another – and final – durational radio art piece. Night Call by Kate Donovan listened from a Berlin garden to “the one who listens”, in that case, eavesdropping on the female nightingale.
Kaamos Radio will continue its excursions into the local arts and artist scene of Mänttä on Saturday, 20th of February, from 10 am (9 am CET) to 1am (midnight CET) on the 21st – including many stunning and intricate compositions dedicated to the many-layered fabrics of winter. The second part of “Aelita” will start at 7 pm.
Please stay tuned and look out for the up-dated (!) program schedule on Friday evening.
Next to diverse field recordings from Mänttä and other places in Finland, there were played:
Karelian Lament Song – an improvisation by Kirsi Poutanen
The Happy Squirrel, sung by by Merja Kääriäinen
Stories in Colours: D15/Winter 1998
Vernon and Burns – A wrong turn towards eternity
Tom Miller – A Meditation on Darkness
Tom Miller – In Deep Taiga by L.M. Likhachev
Katuvalot I – Jaana Korhonen (poem)
Michael Begg – Last Dance under the Moon
Jane Foley/warlock Fulltime – Voice from the edge of a frozen Lake
Elmo Panainen – Heptagonal Winter
Elmo Panainen – Snow
Joost van Duppen – Sisa Ulko
Constantine Katsiris – Dorothy
Niina Nokkonen: Ilta Kahvi
Elmo Panainen – Heptagonal WInter
La Claud – Valo Nukatah, an Arctic Opera
Sebastian Pafundo – Borealiinen
Konrad Behr – Bauhaus.fm Orchestra/Radio Helsinki: Refrigerator Concert
(Übersetzung folgt) there have been rumours and yes, it is true: There will be two Kaamos shows and they will be not be identical :) Here comes a program sketch for both days. As this is all quite in the making. Changes might occur. Kaamos Radio can be heard on: https://datscharadio.de and: openradio/live.in But here we go… already with some sounds!
February 13-14 The NIGHT Broadcast
Jingles spoken by (this is for both events):
Kari Soinio
Leevi Tuominen
Sophea Lerner
Guests in the studio:
Anita Hannunen – Serlachius Museum
Kari Soinio – artist in residence
Tixa Juka – feeling dealer
Tyyra Juka – mushroom expert
Matti Kivilahti + 1 (or 2) – poet, teacher and priest
Night Stream Special:
Aelita by Marold Langer-Philippsen
Composers and Contributors:
Brainquake
Elmo Holopainen
Felipe Otondo
Jaana Korhonen
Jane Foley / Warlock Fulltime
Kate Donovan
Michael Begg
Konrad Behr / Rundfunkorchester Weimar
La Claud
Sebastien Pafundo
Stories in Colour
Tom Miller
Trihn Lo
Vernon & Burns
February 20 The Day Broadcast
A focus is put on shows and recording made by and with the local people of Mänttä/Vilppula and Ruovesi. Also, a special on Karelian lament songs – with artist Krisi Poutanen – is in preparation.
Guests (so far): Mika Tepponen – Merikanto -Opisto; Anita Gratzer, artist in residence; Tomi Voronin (Poet Society Mänttä-Vilppula)
Evening Stream Special from 7pm to midnight:
Aelita (2nd part of the journey) by Marold Langer-Philippsen
Composers and contributors
Björn Eriksson (and sound art class: Cecilia Enberg, Anna Lindkvist, Amanda Nowèn, Lisa W. Carlson, Louise Ölund, Karl Åberg )
Blanc Sceol, in collaboration with Charlotte Wendy Law and James Worse
Kaamos – this means something like arctic night, melancholy, darkness, yes, and also somehow “lock-down”. A story of the Sami in Lapland tells of the sun retreating into a nest behind the horizon during these days. Others say it is the time when the earth breathes long and deeply and draws strength … while it breathes out in the other half of the year – such blowing the life-breath into the plants and animals of the earth to awaken them.
Whatever will happen now during this 14-hour program dedicated to winter and its long, long, deep breath, it will take place at a leisurely pace.
Please note: We start in Mänttä at 7 p.m. local time; in Germany it is 6 p.m. (CET) and accordingly different times in other places. A view of the slightly snow-drifty program is hereby given, put blankets and pillows ready:
7-9 Mänttä People Open Doors with:
Anita Hannunen, Representative Serlachius Residency. Anita took me on a sleigh ride around the small island here in front of the Einola house. It was a kick sled, and while I set comfortable on the tiny wooden seat, she pushed the sled while telling me about ‘kaamos’ and her horse Lissu…
Kari Soinio (Artist in Residence). Kari is a visual artist based in Helsinki. We mostly meet at breakfast, neither of us talking much. And we meet in the evenings talking more – ocasionally. He will introduce his work to us and maybe talk about the different kinds of snow in this region of the world.
Tyyra Juka will join us with her husband Tixa and bring some mushroom samples along. Do mushrooms grow during wintertime too, I wonder? Tyyra will know the answers. She is a nature resource producer by profession and mushroom counsellor number 7263 (sienineuvoja). She is also member of the board of Local Conservation of Nature Society (Suomen luonnonsuojeluyhdistys, Virtain-Ruovesden luonnonsuojeluhdistys ry.) And as well a member of the Finnish Mycological Society (Suomen sieniseura ry.).
Matti Kivilahti is a poet and a teacher and a priest. He wrote to me sending three poems about the ‘kaamos” state of mind and feeling. We will listen and talk and translate and exchange our thoughts. He will bring a guest along who is also a writer. Hyvä!!!
The Open Call! More than 30 compositions reached Kaamos Radio, all of them special: from ice swimming to artic opera, from time-warped Berlin punk (?) poetry to orchestral fridges. And more – I cannot tell since I am still sorting out the timelines. There is a rough plan, and a list of participating artist will follow shortly in an extra post. Bear with me! Shorter pieces will be played in between the conversations (will we grab a coffee or pancake); 11pm to 1am pieces of a medium lenght will be introduced; durational pieces will accompany us in the long hours before the sun rises from its nest.
Rough schedule continued: 9-11
Tixa is a reindeer bone sawing man! Click on the audio player to the right on this page. (I am still editing the other jingle) He also catches fish, lost a jacket made to “greet the bears”, and he is a man of words and sounds. Most important: He is a ‘feeling dealer’. What feelings will he trade for us? A portable record player will be brought along, together with whatever he feels fit to make these dark times lighter for us listeners.
11-1am (still Helsinki time): Musings, Open Call, a snow cake meditation, a “Twilight talk”, sleigh rides, we’ll see… (details until Friday)
Starting from around 1am (12pm CET): Radio artist Marold Langer-Philippsen will step in at this time of the night and convert the ‘stream’ into a six hour kaamos dreaming. His piece is called “Aelita” and this is what he writes:
“Frozen bells, Aelita, and radio messages from Mars will be the base for soundscapes and stories from the void in the universe and a vast bluish Kaamos landscape.”
From approximately 7am to 8 am more selected compositions from the open call contributions will be played and you may join me in my getting up from the studio sofa bed and drinking coffee under a sky filled with the distant drones of the Mänttä paper factory.
Lifted out of the darkness of the bag to light: Datscha Radio’s wonderful documentation of its Berlin activities in 2019 and 2020 is here! We are most pleased!
“Nachtgärtnern I-III / Radiophonien des Alls” boasts numerous photos, a ‘vignette parcours’ taken directly from radio quotes, an essay by Kate Donovan, foreword and epilogue and of course the list of all participating artists – in the garden and of our open calls. A look at the table of contents reveals the skilful hand (and eye) of our graphic designer Tiger Stangl. Enjoy! Enjoy!
Above all, we would like to thank you – and have reserved a physical copy for everyone who participated on site. Hence the appeal to all Berlin contributors: Please write to us when and how you would like to pick up your catalogue. We cannot send copies via post.
We collect your inquiries and of course, we hope that there will be an opportunity in late spring to hand over the booklet personally at a ‘distanced’ garden party. Until then, we will endeavour to distribute the copies in a smaller circle (if possible in accordance with the applicable Corona requirements).
Kaamos Radio. A radiophonic journey into the (sub)arctic winter
Kuunvalo nukahti ja tähdet katosivat taivaalta. Ja maa hengitti hiljaa lumen alla.
The moonlight fell asleep and the stars disappeared from the sky. And the earth breathed quietly under the snow.
KAAMOS RADIO: An invitation The term ‘Kaamos’ refers to the lightless period of the year (above the 60th latitude) when the sun lingers below the horizon. Kaamos is the time of darkness, of stillness and quietude and of the arctic light, a time of storytelling, contemplation and of taking a rest. A Sami legend tells us of the ‘Nest days’, because it was believed that the sun rests like an egg in its nest during that time. ‘Kaamos’ also stands for a mental state that is difficult to endure and is also used synonymously for winter depression in Finnish culture.
LOCATION The town of Mäntää-Vilppula is located approximatly 180 km northeast of Tampere, on the shores of Lake Melasjärvi. It is surrounded by a sparsely populated landscape made up of forests, lakes and rivers. Temperatures in January and February go from – 20 to -2 degrees Celsius. Northern lights occur at times.
KAAMOS RADIO will track both the phenomenon and variations of its inner states. Please share with us:
your theme specific compositions
favourite winter-time stories
poems and spoken word
recordings and investigations
Please send your files via wetransfer to kaamos@datscharadio.de. Please provide two or three lines each about the piece and yourself including a website, if possible. Please put Kaamos Radio Contribution as a subject line.
LIVE STREAM As the project is still in its planning stage, the final dates need to be confirmed yet. Scheduled are
Saturday, February 13, 2021
Saturday, February 20, 2021
The length of the broadcasts is between 2 and 6 hours on the respective days.
DEADLINE Please submit your audio piece until the 3rd of February 2021
KAAMOS RADIO is a temporary radio art project located at the residency studios of the Serlachius Museum in Mänttä/Central Finland. It is initiated and maintained by the Berlin sound artist and performer Gabi Schaffner, in cooperation with Sophea Lerner (Open Radio, Helsinki), Marold Langer-Philippsen (radiolada, Bratislava) and aporee.org (Berlin)
SCHEDULE The program will grow with the flow of the events. There is no fixed time schedule. You’ll find a list of all participating artists on the datscharadio website in due time.
COPYRIGHTS Kaamos Radio is a non-commercial art and culture project. The copyright for all submitted files remains with the artists. The legal model is the Creative Commons License (see http://creativecommons.org/learn/licenses).
KAAMOS RADIO CAN BE HEARD ON
datscharadio.de
openradio.in
in collaboration with other radio stations and projects (if interested, please, let me know)
