“Song for the Unknown” is inspired by L’Inconnue de la Seine, the death mask of a young unidentified woman who lived in the late 19th century. The story tells that she was found drowned in the river Seine with a smile on her face. Her death mask became a popular fixture on the walls of artists’ homes and has inspired numerous literary works. Later the mask was used for the head of the first aid mannequin Resusci Anne. For this reason, she is also referred to as the most kissed woman in the world.
Her face and beauty has captivated numerous people throughout the years, however, nobody knows her story. She is mute. “Song for the Unknown” is an attempt to study poetic language as a means to communicate and to reach out to otherness. The installation is a part of Heta Kaisto’s Doctor of Art research, where she studies Maurice Blanchot’s demand of language — its calling-into-question. When language reveals it’s silence and ambiguity it reminds us of its impossibility, its madness and its ambivalence.
Heta Kaisto & Antti Ikonen: Song for the Unknown
MUU Helsinki Contemporary Art Centre / Cable Factory / Tallberginkatu 1 C, 00180 Helsinki, Finland
7.–28.2.2021 / Tue–Fri 12–17 / Sat–Sun 12–16
Heta Kaisto: concept, video, voice
Antti Ikonen: sound design
Antti Ikonen (MA) works in Aalto University as lecturer of sound design and music, the head of Sound in New Media Master’s studies and a member of Sound and Physical Interaction research group. Ikonen’s work covers music and sound design for a wide range of different kind of media, performances and works of art, including contemporary dance, theatre, short films, radio plays, art installations and new media. His current research relates to Helsinki New Children’s Hospital soundscape which was designed and realised by Ikonen and his students. In 2019 the soundscape project was awarded with Grand Prix in International Sound Awards in Hamburg, Germany.
Heta Kaisto (MA) is a doctoral student in visual culture at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, and currently working as the chief curator of Rauma Art Museum, Finland. She has a background in art history, comparative literature and philosophy, and she takes a deep interest in music and sound. In her practice-based research she explores writing as a mode of thinking in texts, images and sounds in the context of post-war theory and art. As a part of her artistic research, she has co-written and directed a radio play “A Hundred-year-old Night” based on archival materials of the Finnish Civil War in 1918.
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The installation is curated by Äänen Lumo and it is part of Ääneen – Sonic Arts Month in February 2021. The festival is realised in collaboration between MUU ry, Äänen Lumo, and several actors in the local field of sonic arts. The programme has been formed through an open call for co-curation and the events are supported by Niilo Helanderin säätiö and the City of Helsinki.
Due to the recent development of the pandemic, the festival collaborates also with Station of Commons, a collaborative initiative on digital commoning practices. www.stationofcommons.org Given the difficult circumstances in which the festival is taking place, the gallery spaces can be accessed in person in small groups of max 5 people. We also recommend to keep safety distance and wear a face mask. Thank you!
More info about ÄÄNEEN – Sonic Arts Month: