Helmi Kajaste & Mika Taanila & Käärmeniemi: Radiaali Näkemys
Live Cinema perfomance RADIAALI NAKEMYS // A RADIAL VIEW
Language: Finnish
Duration: 25 min
Friday 30.10. 21.00
A crumbling performance about a residential tower and the glow of suburban planning.
Film, spoken word, and radio noise performed by Mika Taanila, Helmi Kajaste, and Käärmeniemi (Tommi Keränen & Antti Setälä).
The site is Pihlajamäki, a suburban area of Helsinki, known for its white minimalist buildings thoughtfully positioned in the natural landscape. It was the first area in Finland to be constructed with prefabricated elements and has been used as a symbol of the future, for example in Risto Jarva’s science fiction film Ruusujen aika (Time of Roses, 1969).
The performance uses Pihlajamäki as a lens through which to explore changing attitudes towards the future and architecture’s role in shaping it. The text spoken in the performance quotes from architect Lauri Silvennoinen’s exhibition catalogue PRE FAB:Industrial building (1966). Silvennoinen was one of the pioneers of prefabricated construction in Finland and one of the architects of Pihlajamäki.
The performance contrasts the declarative yet forward-thinking language of Silvennoinen's 1960s text with the desperation and quiet sadness of the current climate. One calls for action, while the other seems lost and defeated.
We are trying to make our city plans “complete”
— in three dimensions...
When the growth of cities has been understood
as a radial event,
none of our “complete city plans”
have stood the test of time.
All walls are doomed to break
and are breaking.
As | look at these towers today,
| see visionary architecture.
It knew what had to be done.
It knew how to do it.
| myself am not so sure about anything.
Now they are trying to stop building altogether
What would Silvennoinen think of that?
Thank You: Studio GNTY, Ville Walo, Petteri Kalliomaki, Milja Mikkola, Leo Taanila, OMVF / Antti Leimi, Joel Karppanen
︎ https://www.helmikajaste.fi/ ︎︎︎
︎ https://mikataanila.com/ ︎︎︎
All artists ︎︎︎