Sound Development City Artist Expedition (2016)
Sound Development City Expedition took 12 artist for a 3 week residency situated in Madrid Spain and Casablanca Marocco, and journey in between done by slow traveling. During 3 weeks each artist focused on their individual projects and organised public events and interventions.
I build myself a wooden friend with a loudspeaker head. Our mission was to walk slowly in the city and explore together as much as we can the topic of doing nothing. Very soon the research transformed into an exploration of friendship. I was giving my body for my wooden friend, Amigo, for it to walk and in return Amigo helped me to slow down and gave me ideas. Amigo was helping me to think.
We were walking, sitting, writing, recording audio and interacting with public on the street ending up collecting a vast amount of voices that were resonating with the topics that we had curiosity of. The project didn't have any specific outcome, but significantly directed my personal artistic practice towards future sound artworks like L=10 from 2019.
This page contains photographs of the events, audio recordings, video documentation and screen captures of the publication about the Sound Development City 2016 Expedition.
I am Helping My Friend to Think / My Friend Is Helping Me to Idle
Time, slowness, devotion to idleness and friendship
The artist, a bit of a restless guy, and his calm Friend with a loudspeaker head, sound recorder ears and heart, intervene the fast rhythm of the big city with their slow actions and devotion to idleness.
They explore the city, find places that provide time and space for being idle in the eye of the metropolis, and help each other to stop and ponder the question 'What to do with all this idle time we have?'. The silent Friend focuses on reaching a state of the total emptiness, while the artist helps to translate his thoughts into reality through text and sound, engaging into a dialogue with the city.
Their mutual exploration searches for positive traits of being idle, even when there is no measurable outcome in their economic or cultural unproductiveness. Might idleness be such a remarkable threat to the predominant way of life that the anxiety of boredom forces us to fill our emptiness with entertainment? What if time is our only true possession and united idleness is a forgotten revolutionary force to liberate it?
Project Description for Sound Development City Artist Expedition 2016 Madrid Casablanca 6.9-25.9.2016
http://sound-development-city.com/
The work was executed in several methods and documentated in various channels
http://sound-development-city.com/520-Ari-Pekka_Leinonen
https://www.instagram.com/amigoismyfriend/
http://amigoismyfriend.tumblr.com/
Sounds, voices and atmospheres gathered during three week expedition from Madrid to Casablanca with the help of great friends! Life is a bricolage of moments that open up from the curiosity.
Art of doing nothing = Art of listening?
