PIENIÄ TOSIASIOITA (2024) – site-specific generative sound and poetry installation, Jyväskylä FI

PIENIÄ TOSIASIOITA (2024) is a site-specific, generative sound and poetry installation created for Taavettilan riihi (Taavettila barn) – the oldest building in the Jyväskylä city area and located within the Jyväskylä University Botanical Garden. It was presented as part of the opening weekend of the Art Street Jyväskylä’s autumn season (Jyväskylän Taidekatu), September 6-8.

In the piece (the title translating as “small truths/facts”), texts from nine Jyväskylä-based poets intersect, collide, become pollinated and stratified, disintegrate – and form new, accidental, momentary assemblages. This is accompanied by discreet site-specific music created from the sounds recorded inside and outside the installation space (a “drying barn”). The voices and textual fragments of the poets as well as the musical motifs keep unfolding in a state of constant permutation, quietly self-organising and -changing – like a river that flows, an urban space in motion, or a forest following the seasons.

“Meditative opera” – Riitta Cankoçak

A 10-minute segment of just one of the endless variations of the constantly self-arranging piece:

The existing environmental and architectural condition of the space forms part of the installation’s aesthetic: the space is lit by the natural light coming through the windows, and as the piece keeps unfolding throughout the day, simultaneously the light keeps softly changing, creating a generative experience of its own; similarly, the indeterminate sounds of the environment filtering from outside are accommodated and complemented by the corresponding character of the composition.

The sound-producing technology (speakers, a media player and cables) has been hidden from the view: the emphasis is on the vacant architectural space, transformed by acousmatic sound.

The featured poets:

Olli-Pekka Tennilä
Suvi Valli
Kristian Blomberg
Riikka Simpura
Petri Turunen
Anniina Louhivuori
Niklas Salmi
Riitta Cankoçak
Vesa Lahti