UNIPUU / DREAMTREE
A multidisciplinary exhibition-happening and a platform for rhizome-formation
15.2-24.2.2019
Asbestos Art Space
Openings 14.2.2019 klo 17-->
Open daily 13.00-18.00, welcome !
Happenings and gigs: 19.2, 20.2
”If trees dream us alive, and our existence is just forms in the realm of the dreams of trees”, was one of the thoughts in the beginning.
Can people learn something from the trees, something about what it is to be a forest, not only one tree? Can we hear the forest? How to listen? How is the forest present when we are there, and when we are here? How is it present for our actions, as a place, as a stage, as a listener, as an enabler? Are we a part of the forest?
“People walk in the woods. They settle down in a place where a dead tree rests. Everyone takes their place, settles, individually, still reminding each other. Everyone forms a human-shaped area in the atmosphere, forming an area bounded by skins, membranes, looks, hairs. Everyone creates impulses in the shared space, in the air and in the ground, in water, through sound, smell, thought, language, gesture, and being. To construct a formation, to connect, to follow the same instructions, to give instructions, to move to the same direction, to different directions, listening to the same silence, and the sounds that it reveals. Can we hear more together? Heart-sounds form a weave, a varied rhythm, variable, continuous, unique, although reminding so much like something known, an inkling. The voice of another person's existence in the forest, a bird's flight, a cry, a bush, tree's hum, an airplane. A shared and private experience. Everyone has a heart and its movement determines us being alive. ”(Aino Johansson)
"At the Unipuu-symposium, I experienced the rituals made in nature, such as the porridge-ritual and the common prayer in the cave of Mustavuori very meaningful. That night I felt a strong connection with the earth and all the beings around me. The musical moments in the woods also approached a ritualistic sensation, and tuned us to more carefully to listen to the environment and react to it organically and intuitively. The blindfolding and guiding-exercise also sensitized ears and senses to new levels. ”(Otto Eskelinen)
UNIPUU, a multidisciplinary forest symposium, was held in Nuuksio in August 2018 with the participation of ten Finnish and Udmurtian artists. The seed of UNIPUU is in the ethnofuturistic symposiums held in Udmurtia, which have brought fennougric artists from different fields together on ten summers and several winters. The venue has changed place from udmurtian village to village, and the village community has been strongly present in symposiums.
The name of the 2018 project UNIPUU refers to dreaming and trees. The name crosses old Finno-Ugric forest traditions and the Australian aboriginal dream time. In Udmurtian villages, it is not uncommon nowadays to visit the old sacred groves to sacrifice and pray. In Aboriginal mythology, it was considered the ancestors dreamt the world to its existence in Dreamtime. Perhaps we, the Finno-Ugric people, are dreamt alive by trees, and when we destroy the trees and their dreams, we will eventually disappear ourselves.
In UNIPUU the starting point was to go to the forest together and alone, to listen to the forest and each other, and to eventually bring messages from the forest to the city through performance, music and other forms.
The symposium days consisted of contact- and relaxation exercises, musical exercises with natural materials, spending time and sleeping in the woods, doing various rituals, making performative outfits of natural materials and preparing and shootinging spontaneous video projects.
At the end of the symposium, we went on tour after the Mustavuori cave-happening. In addition to the concert organized on Mustavuori, we also made a porridge ritual and an old udmurtian tree-prayer there. The improvisatorial Etnofuturistic mutant orchestra toured through Rapola's fortress and an old holy grove in Pälkäne to perform in Riihi-iltamat in Jyväskylä, and returned to Helsinki through Astuvansalmi rock paintings. Along the way, local experts were heard and the groups actions moved on both sides of rituals and performance. Some of the rituals lay their roots firmly on the old, still living Udmurtian folk tradition.
After a visit to a recording studio in Helsinki, a small group of us marched in the center of Helsinki carrying the a banderoll stating “Greeting from the forrest”. Listening and sensitization to the forest and our private processes took an an activistic form, culminating in front of the Parliament House.
The exhibition in Asbestos compiles documentation of the symposium and tour and is also a continuation of the process in many directions. There are photos, masks used in performances and video art on display. In addition, musical and other performances will be organized during the event.
Participants of the Symposium: Iida Airasmaa, Otto Eskelinen, Aino Johansson, Erkki Joutseno, Kuchyran Yuri, Jussi Nykänen, Outi Rossi, Zhon-Zhon Sandyr, Solja Temmes ja Ksenia Voronchikhina.