Since 2017, Äänen Lumo’s project Neuroverkko has been supported by the Kone Foundation. Its scope was to reach out to the sonic arts community of Helsinki, understand how its actors had changed in the last years, what are their interests, needs and struggles, and ultimately how could Äänen Lumo rethink its function to keep it meaningful after 20 years since it was founded.
The first step of this project was to call the meeting “Lets talk about Sound Art and Experimental Music” held in Kuusi Palaa, on the 19th of June 2018.
What did we find out?
Since the foundation of Äänen Lumo Sonic Arts, as a term, has expanded to encompass a multiplicity of different directions and practices. Helsinki today is a very lively place, hosting a constellation of places producing and diffusing Sonic Arts in the various possible acceptances of the term.
At the same time many small and micro actors often tend to involuntarily “compete” with each other, subdividing resources. Most of the people involved manifested a need for more (material and immaterial) resources for independent, experimental projects, operating outside of the commercial logic.
Other common themes, were a shared will to reformulate the duality “professional/amateur” on the one hand, and to rethink the historical opposition between audience and artists.
What is missing?
What is felt to be missing is some kind of unifying network, both physically and immaterially connecting and strengthening this constellation of actors, multiplying rather than dividing resources. Its function should be to allow the various subjects to be able to operate together at a bigger scale, still remaining true to their individual missions.
Äänen Lumo is willing to act as an initiator and facilitator to build a collective base, to create a network within this constellation of small actors. To transform itself to act as a “third” subject, an umbrella-organisation: be a place, a support hub (applications, communication, documentation, etc), a platform, rather than one of the many curating entities.
The plan
On the 23rd of February 2019 a second meeting was organised in Kone Foundation’s Kamari, in order to start a common path towards this transformation.
We think that creating a permanent, sustainable structure, that could foster the community, allowing for co-organised events with a non-profit, community driven agenda, could be the answer to provide what is now out of reach for any of the actors when alone.
The goal of this process is twofolds. Firstly it means creating this network within the communities, through a number of shared initiatives and open discussions. In the longer term, the objective would be to build a common House of the Sonic Arts, a venue providing a structure for active, independent organisers, performers, artists and public alike to create, share, promote and document such arts, as well as just a place to participate and hang out. A place that could be at once a concert venue, a production facility to host residencies, a Sonic Arts workshop, a library and an archive, a cafe and a place for leisure.
Starting from the experience of places such as Temporary/Kuusi Palaa in Helsinki, Fylkingen in Stockholm or Teatro Valle Bene Comune in Rome, we are thinking of a place to allow activities to scale up, by sharing resources, knowledge, facilities, but at the same time an open space to communicate and reflect, to rethink alternative power structures (funding distribution, selection criteria, visibility, etc.) and to create conditions for more diverse independent approaches: democratic, self-organised, sustainable, diverse, inclusive.
In order to collect as diverse opinions as possible, we have created a questionnaire that is available at this address.
Participating:
Jenny Penna – Äänen Lumo
Lauri Hyvärinen – Äänen Lumo
Andrea Mancianti – Äänen Lumo
Tuukka Haapakorpi – Äänen Lumo
Paola Livorsi – Catalysti ry
Dmitri Zherbin – Jozik
Sebastian Dumitrescu – Korvat Auki Ensemble
Roberto Fusco (Pugliese) – Catalysti, MUU ry
Petri Kuljuntausta – Akusmata
Minna-Kaisa Kallinen
Jukka Kääriäinen
Anton Nikkilä
Kenneth Kovasin – Frekvenssi RY
Lauri Supponen – Ung Nordisk Musik
Sergio Castrillón
Taneli Viitahuhta
Marja Ahti – Himera
Joonas Siren – Välirivi ry (Sola festival) & SIAM
Heikki Lindgren – Suomen Ambientyhdistys
Timo Viialainen – Là-bas
Matti Luokkanen – Välirivi ry
Juuso Paaso
Minerva Juolahti – MAA-tila