MAY 13

I had promised myself not to take nor post any photos during my writing residency – simply because the Finnish environment is way too familiar to me – but after three years in Paris I find myself wondering everything anew here. Trees become the benign aliens from the film Arrival, architecture has all the simplicity and functionality of the Arrakeen city (from Dune), and people…people are simply down to Earth. Or from some another green world.

I love the fact that when you walk five minutes in one direction, you are in the centre of a lively small town with people from all walks of life enjoying the spring sunshine; when you walk five minutes in another direction, you find yourself in the middle of a forest, with only the sound of birds, breeze in the branches and a gentle hum of trucks on a distant highway as your company.

And everything here works. Having just today met and talked to some others who have lived abroad, apparently we Finns have a reputation of being a bit “grumpy” – grumbling, critical, negative – when we are in foreign countries, and for a simple and decent reason: in terms of functionality, what is already bleedin’ obvious in Finland is still bleedin’ unobvious (read unnecessarily complicated) everywhere else. 😉 I obviously agree with the statement – I sign it, that’s me – but also with the necessity of having both worlds: the bleedin’ obvious and the bleedin’ unnecessarily complicated.

After the densely built and occupied environment of Paris, the emptiness and openness of this Finnish town invites one to imagine and build new spaces. Trees have just begun to bud and the environment to become green and fragrant. Tonight we had a jam session with local and global musicians (with me playing piano after a long time – I’d wanted to be the guy operating all the electronics but what can you do) at this book launch to accompany this writer, who read from his newly published poetry book about the moon, trains and metaphysics. We are all on our way to somewhere, somehow, all the time.

MAY 27

Exotic. “From another part of the world; foreign.” “Intriguingly unusual or different; excitingly strange.” “Having a strange or bizarre allure, beauty, or quality.” ”Not native; introduced from abroad; foreign.” “Strikingly unusual or strange in effect, appearance, or nature.”

One night in Paris I had a discussion with a dear friend of mine about the word ‘exotic’. While I wanted to revive the word and rescue it from its unfortunate colonial(istic) connotations, my friend felt the word had outlived its time and purpose.

And she was right, of course. But I just don’t know how else to describe in one word the “unusual, different, striking, strange, extraordinary, bizarre, fascinating, curious, mysterious, colourful, glamorous, peculiar, unfamiliar, outlandish” quality and feeling that I keep experiencing here.

It’s nothing dramatic, naturally, everything here remains more or less familiar if not mundane. But there’s a certain ‘exotic’ quality to many things when you observe and encounter them after a while. Philosopher Gilles Deleuze called this “the dawn of the world”, an atmospheric condition of the everyday presenting novel possibilities.

It’s the city festival of the arts – a Nuit Blanche or the Night of the Arts but for three days – and last night I went to see a gig at this legendary countercultural bar where I last set my foot in 25 years ago. Listening to this Ginsbergian slam poetry against Pan Sonic/Velvet Underground/Afrika Bambaataa -esque live music (afterwards I proposed a collaboration – they were so good), together with such a warm and down to earth crowd and the early summer/late evening sun setting behind large windows, I couldn’t help but feel that this Northern small town/cosmopolitan city experience appeared, for lack of a better word, rather exotic.

JUNE 4

A long walk in a light rain, following a lake after a lake after a lake. Exactly how many lakes are there in Finland? As if this was some kind of land of a thousand lakes!

JUNE 12

The Rainforest.

In the middle of this town there’s a nature conservation area, a wild forest with unique flora flourishing in a river valley the size of only three hectares. When you descend the steep stairs into the valley (or cove) at either end of the reserve, you could be forgiven for thinking that you have accidentally taken a wrong turn and arrived in the Amazon rainforest instead – except that there are no signs of illegal mining and logging operations going on here, not even legal ones.

The lush and dense vegetation; the vivid tapestry of bird songs; the invigorating air and scents; the murky and muddy waters of the river; the old wooden bridges shaped and broken by weather, erosion and time; and the near absence of any man-made sound, dampened on one side by the vegetation and deep slopes and on the other by water cascading through rapids…all conspire to create an impression that you are indeed deep in a jungle, alone in the wilderness, free and brave – despite the built environment always being just a few hundred metres away. Perhaps there are caimans in the water, too?

The reserve is much loved by the locals and visitors alike, yet it never gets crowded and you are left to roam this small plot of Eden on your own. Occasionally you might encounter an ornithologist or an ecologist, and they will excitedly tell you what constitutes the plant you are admiring or why a bird is singing in such an intricate or monotonous pattern. You emerge from the forest a lot calmer and more educated.

Next year I will be realising a forest-themed composition and sound installation, and for that this sanctuary has become an invaluable resource, “another green world” of study, contemplation and inspiration. As a curator friend of mine recently said, there’s no more perfect an installation than that of nature…

JUNE 22

Since arriving, I have discovered four rather surprising cities within this town (actually a city but the ‘town’ emphasises its cosy character).

This is:

1) The capital of Finnish hip hop. Even the actual capital city and other bigger cities here look (up) to this town for its sound, wordplay and collaborative spirit. My first reaction was “where are the banlieues? The inner cities and the housing estates?”. But Finnish hip hop doesn’t need urban decay to rap about – a tranquil forest will do!

2) The Athens of Finland. This is “the cradle of the arts and sciences” in the country (the very Finnish words for ‘art’ and ‘science’ were invented here – a great place for inventing new words!); nowadays the epithet also alludes to the town’s role as a major educational and cultural centre. With this local author – who is about to leave for a writing residency in the original Athens – we thought of yet another resemblance: both cities are defined by a hill in the middle!

3) The capital of Alvar Aalto. The eminent Finnish architect spent his formative years, from his early school years to starting his family and career, here. This city of lakes and hills has the largest number of significant building complexes designed by Aalto in the whole world. Alvar Aalto is always in the house!

4) The City of Light – although for slightly different reasons than Paris: the town is a global pioneer in urban lighting, actively investing in energy efficiency, safety and aesthetics in its designs that are unique (site-sensitive) to each area, enhancing their architecture and built environment while minimising light pollution. I’m yet to see their “Light Vision”/“ValoVisio” plan properly in action though, as it’s summer and the sun barely sets. Who knows, with all this Bronx-Athens-Aalto-Paris lineage going on and with all these culture makers active in the city, Jyväskylä could very well become also a city of new enlightenment one day…

Have a beautiful summer!