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EDITORIAL E
urope is once again turning its attention towards the yearly celebration of everything camp. In Finland, the competition for the next song to be presented in the Eurovision song contest, this year held in Austria, is well underway and the masses have been once again subjected to performances that vary from the “why am I watching this” to the “I actually like this for some reason”. The Eurovision song contest is something of an oddity in that most of the performances are good exactly because they are bad, no, they are camp. Every year different countries parade a variety of performers, some of which are all about having fun and perhaps even making fun, of the show, the performer, and the contest. And then you of course have the ballads, and the cliched songs about love and world peace that make you gag a bit. But just a bit, because when it’s in the Eurovision, it’s allowed to be weird, cliche, bad even. Just as long as it’s not a ballad, because there have been enough of those. If you go to the Eurovision seriously, you should take a good look in the mirror, because it is the last thing on Earth that should be taken seriously. It is the spectacle of camp, that brief moment when it is okay to lower your standards and enjoy the good, the bad and the ugly. But how camp are you allowed to go? Is there such a thing as too camp and if there is, is it even possible to go that far? Personally, I feel that when a song is good without the context of Eurovision and it sounds like something I could listen to from an album, it should not be there. Eurovision should be shameless.
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or some reason, Australia is a fan of Eurovision, so much so that they are competing this year, creating a weird hybrid of AustEurovision in the process, something that should not be confused with the brilliant innovation of Scandestonia. Perhaps my confusion at Australia’s desire to compete is because of the fact that I have always taken the whole show for granted. I have never felt anything besides a decent amount of disdain for the whole thing, but still I have watched as Fin-
land’s competitors get trampled on when they announce the points. “Finland, 0 points”, as the joke goes in Finland. We never even came close to winning until we paraded a pack of monsters and let them put on a show that was something else than what we were used to. And I have to admit, Hardrock Hallelujah was quite the earworm. Also, the show was about as camp as you could get.
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ne thing is certain: The Eurovision will be sure to parade extravagance, skimpy clothing and cliches and everyone will love it, because when you watch the huge crowds that have bought their tickets to get to where the main event is taking place, they are about the happiest people you will ever see. You cannot be overly critical about something that seems to give people so much, no matter the taste the whole thing leaves to the back of your mouth.
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ne other thing the contest has been doing, especially with last year being the celebration of difference with the drag artist Conchita Wurst winning the show. It is the celebration, not merely acceptance, of difference that has to be the greatest feat of the entire competition. At the moment of writing, the crowd favorite in Finland is a punk band, Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, whose members are disabled, which shows that people are more than willing to welcome difference on stage and cheer it on. So this year I will once again lower my standards and sit myself down in front of the screen and think to myself the entire evening: Why am I watching this again? And that is something I encourage you to do as well.
FEBRUARY EDITORIAL 2 AMBIENT TEMPERATURE 4 POEM OF THE MONTH Jessica Laasonen 5 COLUMN Fanny Grazzo 7 COLUMN Juha Heikkinen 8 REVIEW Guggenheim Helsinki 10 THE NEWMAN DAY 18 SHORT STORY Saara Henriksson 28
ESSAY Ville Koski 31 THE ARTISTS Inka salmirinne 38 ELINA PEIPPO 48 TEATTERI TOIVO 54 LISTINGS 60 BATHROOM WALL 61 RUFUS 62 LAST PAGE 63
This February issue of Godartet is dedicated to the memory of
DAVE DUNNE (30.9.1974 - 19.1.2015) Though he never contributed directly to Godartet, being once able to witness Dave’s example in journalism and in general awesomeness was among the many seeds that eventually lead to the inspiration and founding of Godartet. Our condolences to his friends and family in Ireland and Finland.
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AMBIENT TEMPERATURE A NORWEGIAN HIPSTER GIG KRAKOW
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DOCPOINT FILM FESTIVAL
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rying to make the most of the fact that I live in Krakow, Poland, a strongly non-Scandestonian city, I jumped at the opportunity to go listen to Koèju, an electric band whose one member happens to be Norwegian. Having no real expertise in music, let alone electrical music, I decided I would have to observe the crowd, the feel of the gig and how I felt about the show. The venue was a club called Alchemia in the trendy area of Kazimierz. The band played downstairs, where I was immediately impressed by the feel of the place. It was cool, people were smoking even though it was not allowed, there were a lot of people, which made the temperature rise quite a bit. When the band started playing, everyone of us was really into it. After some time however, the big problem of this kind of electrical, I dare say, lounge type music, was the fact that it all sounded pretty much the same to me. I’m sure the guys knew what they were doing and observing their energy and what seemed like confident performance, I wanted to enjoy myself thoroughly and be able to provide you with a thorough report. However, for the remainTEMPER der of the show I could just observe these guys nod their heads up and down to the T A N coolest beats they probably ever made, which to me sounded the same the whole way through. Even though the performance did not manage to keep my attention for the duration of the gig, I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of the club.
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ue to Godartets busy schedule, including such monstrosities as living in Poland and working a day job in shifts, the Godartet crew only had time to see one film in this years DocPoint. And not even that was a Scandestonian documentary… But still, the film (My Name Is Salt) was brilliant and the festival itself once again proved to be great. Because even though we merely watched the festival from the sidelines, the good feeling of the event spreaded all around. Our social media sites were filled with people going to DocPoint and talking about the documentaries they saw every day and, perhaps the coolest thing for us, some Belgian director contacted Godartet on Twitter and wanted to talk about his film. Unfortunately, that interview never happened due to work (we really, really, hated E M P E Ro u r T day-job that day), but just the spontaneous A NT contact itself was amazing; something that can only happen in a healthy, truly vivid festival such as DocPoint. The director was Kristof Bilsen, by the way, and his film Elephant’s Dream was among the festivals screenings. Go check it out if you can!
POEM OF THE MONTH Jessica Laasonen
KEEP REACHING FOR THE SUN I am a stone. I am a sinking stone. All I know is gravity, the descent of my bones. A memory of a memory of distorted smiling faces, of unfamiliar places, of the life I used to know. Birthday songs and tricycles, my father catching my fall. Newfound grief, awareness, now most of them are gone. I longed to be the one who stands taller than the rest. Humble daughter of a proud mother, the most, the realest, the best. If these bones were made of feather they’d pull me back to the sun. A memory of a memory, that’s all life ever was.
Jessica is a Helsinki-based writer who lived in Pennsylvania for six years and returned to her homeland Finland in 2012. She is currently working on a personal screenwriting project.
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LIKE COFFEE?
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o Do We! This and more coffee-related, disturbing material can be found on our YouTube-channel!
or older issues of Godartet, seek out to Issuu.com/ Godartet and find all we have ever published!
nd for an inside-look, check out our blog at godartetmagazine.ccom, where we sometimes fart out weird thoughts and experiences on making the magazine.
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his little ad was put here because Ville screwed up the lay-out and this page was about be left blank!
Apparently this Grazzo-person is also a monthly nightmare. We have no idea where this monstrosity comes from, but if you happen to know this person, please make him stop.
COLUMN
Fanny Grazzo
FEBRUARY STARS
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ello again and welcome to the adventure of ME!
h February, February, February! Such a dark and utterly depressive time of the year wherever you’re reading this, but such a sunny moment in time where I sit. It feels as it was just a month ago when I last wrote words into my own column, but here we are again, lost in time, just as we were with poor old Charles Heidsieck, or Zappidy-Charlum, as we used to call him. Oh what nights they were! Now him I could not keep up with, simply impossible. When you meet your winner, you admit it. But anyhow, that’s the way we roll and with him gone in the dust for some time now, we can all say that I am the man of the planet these days.
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till, it’s February! And you know what that means, right? The international polar bear day! At least I think so. I remember, back in the day, when all of Scandestonia was filled with them, wherever you looked you’d go “oh look, a polar bear” or “holy moly, that’s some polar bear” or “and what about this sunrise? Simply marvellous!” that was crazy, I know. But if you ever happen to meet a polar bear again, do not try to motorboat it, they don’t like it and they can be some mean bastards bears when they want to. And don’t ever say that your mother did not teach it to you. She did. You just were not paying attention. But all this happened before all Scandestonian polar bears started to lower their contrast, so I believe this may just be irrelevant to you youngsters.
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ut enough of your mother (some laces, by the way!), because all these polar bears are making me thirsty. Did I ever tell you about Steve? I think I first met him at the opening night of Carmen, back when good old Georgie-boy was still conducting it himself. Well, as we were watching it, everyone hated the show. But during the intermission, Steve took his Jack and Coke, raised his glass and shouted “my hat is in the cloak room!”. That was the first and last time I have been silenced by anyone. I made damn well sure that wouldn’t happen again, as the experience simply scarred me. For life, I tell you, for life!
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must be off once again, like the wind that I am. Be sure to give these boys the attention they deserve.They truly are talented, marvellous chaps. And handsome too. In their own way, I guess… Well, time flies and so must I. Cheerio!
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In this column monthly Ville and Juha take turns in commenting on issues they find interesting, relevant and worth discussing in more depth.
COLUMN
Juha Heikkinen
WORD PLAY IS THE NAME OF THE DAY
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UNS, poor humor invented by poor minds or simply genius at work? Play on words and you will have someone laughing – with you or at you. Being a sayer of puns, a PUNdit, if you will, is somewhat a genius form of humor because it requires the punner to make sure that the punnee understands the ironic implications of the joke. Otherwise the joke is lost altogether and the punner is left looking stupid. It is exactly this stupidity that must be made clear or rather the intention of it. Intention raises another issue: Is intention required of the punner to make a pun? Is a pun truly a pun if it is PUNintentional? Well, we could discuss this to no end and still end up with an answer that would be rather inconsequential or should I say BINconsequential! Get it? Because it’s rubbish, it should go to the... well, never mind. Anyway, what is important is that puns or word play in general is a beautiful way to give into stupidity, the dark side. Because no matter how clever your pun, the usual response is an annoyed smirk at best. Unless you have found someone to laugh at your stupid jokes no matter how bad and that person is what we in the poor joke business call a keeper.
hy have I turned into a defender of those who find the twist in every word and turn it around, to everyone else’s annoyance? Because, at least to a degree, I am one of them. My natural instinct is to play with language, play with words and have a laugh with what we all use every day and not necessarily with great results. Now that you know what a pun actually is, you can start forming them on your own. Be warned, thinking too much is the worst way to go about it. Somewhere in that witty-gritty mind of yours you have the tools to something fantastically dumb. Just have a beer or four and relax, and your brain will start farting so much you don’t know what to do with yourself. That is all I can teach you, young one. You are on your own now.
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ell then, what exactly makes a pun? According to Merriam-Webster, the ever-so reliable sounding source of all things language, it is the humorous use of words in order to imply more than one meaning. If we are to follow this definition, to form a pun you should of course be aware of the different meanings of words. This in turn comes naturally through the use and consumption of everything language. It is quite difficult if not impossible to form a formula for word play. This
time we are left on our own, forced to trust our own intuition. We should just let our mind associate on its own and marvel at its creation, as it is this free flow of the mind that truly allows us to come up with things that are new even to ourselves. Humor is not a tumor, therefore it should be allowed to grow and come to fruition on its own.
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ot to make it all about puns, I wish to discuss other types of word play. To do this, I did some research about the types of word play there are. I stumbled upon a list of different types, some of the names of which were unclear at best for the uninitiated, meaning pretty much everyone. No doubt everyone has misunderstood song lyrics dozens of times and have actually been disappointed after hearing what the actual lyrics are. Well, the obvious term for misheard lyrics is Mondegreen, which
apparently was coined by writer Sylvia Wright after having misheard the lyrics of a Scottish Ballad The Bonny Earl of Murray. Lady Mondegreen was in fact Wright’s own misinterpretation of a part of the lyrics. Fitting, I would say. Another wellknown case of word play is the anagram, where the letters in a person’s name are rearranged to create whimsical sentences. Frankly, I never really understood the appeal of anagrams and won’t discuss them any further. Cheap jokes are my game, because at least somebody finds them funny. Yeah, I’m looking at you, anagram-nerd. One more noteworthy form of wordplay is malapropism, which refers to the misuse of a word by a user that does not realize the mistake they are making. Here we are again facing the issue of intent: If I in my daily life misuse a word in the attempt of sounding clever (something that must happen quite often) am I using a malapropism or is it only the person who is imitating my speech, consciously misusing the word, who is actually doing the malapropising? At least some online sources give the explanation that it is the unintentional misuse of a word that makes a malapropism, which would mean that you don’t need the imitator. You’re perfectly fine messing up words on your own.
one might argue that I have run out of arguments and am forced to resort to name dropping in order to prove my point. But then again, isn’t every good idea built on the ideas of others and isn’t every defence of a good idea based on big names that wisper ”Shut up, fool!” and crush the opponent?
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t is a beautiful thing, language, and we are lucky to have created it, shaped it and taken it as our own. You could say that word play is a snapshot, the attempt to immortalize a moment in language so that we could always look back and see how our own creation has acted and how its rules and boundaries have been shaped by poking at the sides of those who would not wish to see their precious rules of grammar broken. Of course there will always be those who do not take kindly to others messing with the preset rules, but I for one will keep being the prick in the grammarian’s side, saying things that should not be said, at least the way I say them. It is nice here on the dark side where everything goes. If you wish to be like us, do join us. We have cookies.
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anguage is such a multilayered phenomenon and we shouldn’t be restricted to only using it to deal with the mundane issues of everyday life. Let’s face it: Work, bills, groceries and the like are not all that language and we as users of at least one language are capable of. We should use language to our enjoyment, because something that we have created ourselves and have continued to develop into a carrier of thoughts, ideas and emotions, shouldn’t be bound and chained. Not to say that the only thing language should be used for is a cheap laugh at the fact that buns can have different meanings but if language allows us cheap laughs, why not enjoy them? Why not own them and try to come up with the cheapest laughs possible? The world is serious enough without people censoring themselves. If puns were good enough for Oscar Wilde who was, as the meme goes, Born to be Wilde, they are good enough for me. For example, the title of his play The Importance of Being Earnest is one big pun and the play dances around that pun until the very end. At this point
Juha is a senior editor at Godartet, which is not a PUNy job. He lives in Krakow, Poland where he listens to music just to misinterpret the lyrics.
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REVIEW
Guggenheim Helsinki Finalists
VILLE KOSKI
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irst off the bat I have to admit that I’m not a professional architect and my knowledge on the subject is limited to mostly admiring the artistic value of beautiful buildings. So, with this in mind, I grabbed a copy of Leonardo Da Vinci’s work diaries to read some of the basics about what makes for good architecture. In short, Da Vinci seems to value the balance of scale in architecture, demands that a palace must always have a square before it and that church’s roof should never be seen. Also, according to Da Vinci, buildings should always stand separate from other buildings and small rooms foster intelligence and big halls make the mind wonder. With these in mind, accompanied with Guggenheim Design Competition’s own official guidelines such as originality, sensitivity to historical setting, sustainability and Nordic ideals, I was on my way to review the six finalist works. Personally, I believe that the first impression has a huge value in architecture, especially in a place like the harbour, so I added my first thoughts in quotes in the beginning of the review of each work. As we consider architecture as a form of art here at Godartet and believe that art/artists should never explain itself/their art in any ways and that the piece of art must just stand on its own, I did not read a word of the explanatory texts that were included in the propositions. As the editor-in-chief of Godartet, I’m here to lead, not to read. Lastly, it’s probably worth mentioning that I had no idea who these architects were or where they were from at the time of reviewing them. But now, with all this in mind, to infinity, and beyond! Note: All photos in this article are the courtesy of Malcolm Reading Consultants unless credited otherwise.
GH-04380895 “Where is it?”
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ow, I may not know much about architecture, but if you have to cover even your concept art into photoshopped fog, your work probably needs some work. However, after the first picture of a tower of Sauron in the middle of fog, the work is a set of pavilion-type buildings alongside the tower. The concept is actually pretty neat at a closer look; the skyline is clear but interesting, it seems like a small village next to a lighthouse. It doesn’t block the view to the beautiful city behind it and it fits surprisingly well to the waterfront on the other side.
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he insides of the pavilions are small (fostering intelligence!) and the tower part seems like a basic museum. Lots of glass and wood is used around the place, but the illustrations end up giving a really dull, sterile image. The design also doesn’t exactly scream Nordic ideals; even though it doesn’t overwhelm the historical venue around it, it could easily be set anywhere else and it would still be safe, generic design. Lack of character seems to be the biggest problem. Another thing is that the plan is extremely complicated, with just the exhibition part spreading to 4 different buildings and apparently requiring some walking outside. This is a clear signal that the designers have no idea what’s the meaning of being outside at Kauppatori area during winter. Nobody wants that. And just what the hell is that massive spider overlooking it all?
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wood, which surprisingly manages to look quite bad in the drafts. Overall the draft isn’t exactly bad, but mostly boring. It doesn’t do anything particularly wrong with the small squares near it and wood used in the covers, but it seems like something that could easily be used as a real harbor terminal or anything else. The presentation uses fancy words and quotes Foucault, but the plan itself plays it way too safe.
GH-1128435973 “Oh look, seagulls over the terminal! I mean the museum…. Apparently.”
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pparently architects these days don’t value the first impression very much. The previous had smog all over the picture and this one decides to make its building unrecognizable from an average passenger terminal and to include a flock of seagulls in the golden line of the picture (that’s where the eye hits first when you look at a picture). Anyhow, on closer inspection you’ll see that the terminal is actually something else, from afar, apparently golden. The good thing about this design is that it actually acknowledges its surrounding as a harbor, the bad thing is that it also includes all the negative sides of the area as well. The proposition sets the museum on two levels, one in the existing old terminal and the other in a new building that stands on its own legs, thus making it less vulnerable for possible flooding. The building doesn’t block the view altogether and actually fits into the scene, maybe even too well as people may not recognize it as a museum but rather as a terminal. The harbour-like feel also takes a turn for the negative as they have connected the nearby park, the Tähtitorninmäki park, with the museum with a closed tube. This is probably a nod to the spirit of the harbor, but why on earth would they use the worst possible part of the harbor? Nobody likes walking through those halls when boarding a ship and now we’re treated to it even without the joy of cruising! The plating of the building I misunderstood as gold is actually light
GH-121371443 “On a smoothness scale of 1 to 10, that’s Lionel Richie!”
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t least the first impression is finally quite nice! Photo taken in sunset, there’s a dimly glowing brick that looks like something between a nice lamp and folding textile. The only negative thing is the headless, running dude sculpture on the left. Further examination of this design’s plans prove it to be the most solid so far. It stands clearly away from anything else around it, doesn’t completely block the view and doesn’t try to forcefully make contact with the nearby park as did the first two proposals. It’s simple, yet interesting, and fits really well into the concept of Scandinavian design. Outer parts are glass, which is a nice touch, but will probably cause issues with the ventilation in the future. All of the indoor pictures indicate that the spaces are high and wide, which isn’t exactly thrilling (wandering mind!) However, even though the building is nice and
smooth in the mellow summer evening of the first picture, the other concepts show another part of the design’s character; it’s freaking terrifying! Apparently
a nice museum in Helsinki, it’s the Wall from Game of Thrones, and the nice elderly couple walking past it are just about to be ripped to pieces by White Walkers. The second photos show this monstrosity from the sea-view, thus proving that whoever made this concept believes Helsinki is a frozen hell that is only lacking this massive ice palace of evil guarding it and warning all sailors far and wide of never stepping foot in this harbor of everlasting ice. However, it is interesting to see how much the color of a building’s light affects the effect it gives!
there is an option of lighting the house with the nice, warm yellow light, but also with cold, white light. The fourth concept photo of the design isn’t
GH-5059206475 “What… The… Hell?”
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he makers of this design clearly think that actually making a concept that shows what the design is going to look like is more boring than just throwing out a bunch of generic tourist postcard quality dadaism and went with that. Seriously, the whole design has one map, two blueprints that look like they were copy-pasted from some “prints for generic warehouse building” library and a total of nine pictures that were probably made by some first year art school student who had just been introduced to surrealism. My only guess is that the makers of this pile of dung have tried to capture the spirit of the museum in these, but in practice this is unreviewable as an architectural concept.
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GH-5631681770 “Mehh, dull.” The first picture has its sky filled with gray clouds, which is quite accurate for the first impression. The building doesn’t really break any of the rules I set above, it stands as an independent unit, doesn’t block the view, is linear in a Nordic way, but in the end is really quite dull. It doesn’t irritate your eye, but it doesn’t really scream culture either. It could be a fish market, a storage building, a shipyard - or a museum. A bit more colour (it has a gray roof and rusty brown walls) would help with the first impression. The second image, however, turns this innocently dull building into an Orwellian nightmare. Everything is gray concrete, and a guy in the middle of a bustling crow (nobody’s looking at art but mostly worriedly around themselves) is projected onto a big screen like he had just been caught by Big Brother. Other concepts are in line with this horrifying imagery: The halls are vast and high, everything is made out of concrete, bringing imminent flashbacks of the Soviet Union era architecture, and people are photoshopped into low-saturated mass that seem to have no joy. And, bizarrely, to underline this totalitarian effect the only art in this concept is Banksy, the legendary street artist who is famous for fighting the authorities with his graffitis. This is by far the strangest concept so far, but I have to give it some points for actually confusing me and for raising many questions. Do these people want to bring totalitarianism to Helsinki? Do they think it’s fun? And primarily, what do they think about Helsinki, if the first thing they have in mind is this dystopia cast in cement?
GH-76091181 “And now the rain weeps on his halls, with no one there to hear….”
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may have been watching a bit too much Game of Thrones lately, but Castamere is the very first thing coming to mind when seeing this. It’s actually quite grand, like a fortress standing on the waterfront. Also, this is the only one that doesn’t so much go wide than it goes high as a design, which is refreshing. A closer look of the proposition shows that it is a complex of 5 towers that make a circle-shaped composition. It is high and covers some of the view more than the other propositions, but as it’s not as wide as the others, it only covers a small bit and stands high as a part of the waterfront. Apparently the center of the towers is surrounded by glass walls which raises questions about the ventilation and shelter from cold but at least isn’t completely open for the freezing wind to strike you. The exhibition part is divided into the floors of the towers, which may mean problems with the general layout of the exhibition area. It is probably going to be a narrow labyrinth or just a bunch of big halls in different levels. All in all, this one doesn’t have anything really working against it and is the only one with attitude and has none of the cliches the others fell for. The outer walls are apparently wooden, which actually works here as it really looks like a Nordic fortress. The only big question is why on earth did the designers add a flasher in a raincoat looking directly to the camera in that last concept picture?
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ON A RELATED NOTE….
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fter doing the review, I checked some facts and a couple of interesting surprises came up; one was that none of the finalists were Finnish, or even Scandinavian for that matter, which is a bit of a bummer. Of course, the finalists were selected anonymously, so we can’t blame the jury for that, but it may be a bit worrying that Finnish architects can’t survive even with a home advantage as large as this one. The other baffling surprise (which may actually have something to do with the first) is that apparently over half of the final works break the original rules of the competition in terms of being too high or exceeding the lot in which the building is supposed to be. This is odd, considering that some other architects may have had to make compromises or bury some nice ideas of theirs in order to follow the rules, while the jury that set up those very rules doesn’t really care much for following them when picking up the winners. However, after four years of watching the discussion around the Guggenheim Helsinki project, we at Godartet can’t really be surprised that something peculiar like this would happen with the competition.
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ince the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation announced its desire to open a new museum in Helsinki in January 2011, a massive discussion stormed both for and against the museum. Those rooting for Guggenheim have claimed that it would bring more tourism to Helsinki and the city would finally get amazing, world-class art exhibitions, while conveniently forgetting how our present museums such as Kiasma, Ateneum or Emma in Espoo have been having these successfully for years. Those yelling against Guggenheim mostly worry about the money, arguing that building a new museum would take the money away from health care, while conveniently forgetting that funding culture and health care may just be a bit more complicated than that. We at Godartet don’t reject the Guggenheim project just out of principle, but would like to ask why?
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he whole charade surrounding the Guggenheim Helsinki project has been weird from the very beginning. At first, they just announced their plans of coming here, about which the Mayor of Helsin-
ki, Jussi Pajunen, was very optimistic. Then the city council voted against the proposition, but surprisingly Guggenheim’s only response was to inform again the next autumn of their plan of coming to Helsinki. Then they announced this competition for architects while the city of Helsinki gave the permission to use the lot in Senaatintori as the place (in a “well, there’s nothing over there, use that” fashion). But the most baffling part of this all has been Guggenheim’s attitude. For the past few years, the whole project has been a masterclass of horrible PR from Guggenheim’s part, making them look less and less like noble missionaries of art and more like a pretentious group of snobs trying to take over the world, all because of their attitude. You see, when the city council first voted down the proposition of building a Guggenheim museum, the foundation only informed that they will try again next autumn when there’s a new council. That autumn came and Guggenheim hopped back on the table, with some cosmetic changes to the yearly license fee and connections to other museums. Whenever people have questioned the project, Guggenheim has answered with an attitude of someone better; the manager of the foundation left YLE’s interview because of “stupid questions” (when asked what if the city won’t finance it) and when Guggenheim was compared to Cheek, a Finnish rap-artist of questionable quality but a massive fan base, they said Guggenheim is Opera, not rap. Guggenheim makes it seem like the only thing missing is the Ghost of Christmas Future hanging around them.
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owever, even with this obnoxiousness, our main question is still just why? And while we’re definitely with the idea of having a new museum in Helsinki, we can’t really see why it should be Guggenheim. We already have Ateneum, Kiasma, Sinebrychoff and a decent handful of publicly and privately owned Museums that are doing great work in their fields. Amos Anderson museum is currently expanding and just a half an hour bus ride away is Espoo Museum of Modern Art. And while all of these are doing great work as museums, none of them really have too many visitors and each year they have to break their balls to survive financially. So how would Guggenheim survive and what would it do to the visitor flow of existing museums? I’m no fortune teller, but I can’t see anything good about it
either; the worst case scenario is that the Guggenheim would not be profitable at all but still take away visitors from other museums. And when it comes to visitors, those leaning pro-Guggenheim argue that it would bring many, many tourists and their money to Helsinki. This may be true, but leads to our main concern, do we really need Guggenheim? Couldn’t we do it ourselves? Because essentially Guggenheim is the McDonald’s of museums; a massive chain you can find in many important places. Nothing radical or memorable about it, but something to visit if you don’t feel like coming up with anything more interesting to chew. But you don’t go to a city for McDonald’s or you probably brag to your foreign friends how amazing the McDonald’s in your hometown is (unless you do, of course, in which case we’re the first to admit our mistake). No, you probably mention the unique characteristics of places that no other place on earth has. So why can’t the city of Helsin-
ki put the money Guggenheim museum would take and build a museum on its own? Helsinki has a lot of expertise on the subject of curating architecture, we (probably) have people linked to various other museums and art collectors around the world and (apparently) we have the need and the space for it. This way we could do something unique and interesting, which could bring us a lot more tourists than any Guggenheim would (because with Guggenheim, we’re competing against cities like Bilbao, which wins Helsinki 9 months of the year just because of the weather) because it could be something more than just another Guggenheim. Of course, we at Godartet like to be optimistic about things; less so is the horrible implication that seems to run between Guggenheim’s proposing lines that Helsinki isn’t interesting enough to bring tourism without a Guggenheim museum. In that case, nothing can help us.
Ville knows next to nothing about architecture, but likes looking at cool buildings and visiting nice museums.
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THE NEWMAN DAY
DISCLAIMER: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. GODARTET DOES NOT ACCEPT ANY FOOTAGE OF YOUR OWN EXPERIMENT AND DOES NOT CONDONE THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR. THIS EXPERIMENT WAS DONE UNDER STRICT SUPERVISION BY TRAINED PROFESSIONALS.
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o here’s the deal: The late great American actor Paul Newman does not, at least to our knowledge, have connections with Scandestonia. Therefore the reason for trying this challenge was simply intellectual curiosity. And what is this challenge all about, you ask. Newman Day, with debatable connection to Paul Newman, other than his name, is a day of drinking, 24 hours of it to be precise. “24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not”, as the line accredited to the actor goes. And there you have it. Go about your normal day and just enjoy a lager beer every hour, on the hour. Simple enough. Since adult life demands things of you and since Ville was at the time working regular hours, five days a week, we had to minimize the amount of sick days he had to take due to our experiment. This meant starting in the evening after a full day’s work, in an apartment full of chaos brought on by Juha’s move to Poland...
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ille arrived and we picked up our means to an end, the brand of which shall remain a secret. We don’t want the Finnish legislator knocking on our door, complaining about us advertising alcohol.
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t 7 pm, the first can opens. Pssht! What a lovely sound. Mm, beer. This isn’t that bad. Just drink and call it work, that’s the life. Sitting there, sipping beer, we faced a problem: If we just watch Youtube the whole time and have nothing, not even pictures to show for this, it was all a waste of time. How should we spend our time productively? Nothing’s open at night and we were supposed to go to the museum the next day and put up flyers which would at least be something. But what about the darkest hours? Just wait them out? Well, for a while we did just that. Watching the dumbest videos on Youtube, sipping and sipping. It felt like a regular night of drinking, nothing more.
FUN.
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s for the plans for the night, there was one: To carry Juha’s girlfriend’s old kitchen table to Ville’s, who was kind enough to take it under his wing. The possibility of running into the police and having to explain why we were carrying a kitchen table in the middle of the night was, to say the least, an added plus to the experience. “We’re not thieves, we’re investigative journalists! We’re making a magazine!” Considering the distance from Juha’s place to Ville’s and the fact that it was raining outside, we decided that Ville did not need a kitchen table at that very moment. A wise decision, probably the wisest one we had made in a long time. And so we stepped outside into the dark, the rain not quite pouring, but dripping just enough to make our situation uncomfortable. It was now Tuesday and there was almost no one outside. The bars in the area had already closed and we could only rely on each other for company. Tougher men have been broken by less.
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here was a calm on the streets that is only there when everything is closed and everyone has gone to bed. Only the random noises of the city were left behind. And there we were, a part of that quiet collection of sounds, on our little voyage to the other part of town. We did encounter a group of three young guys, who must have been up to something similar to our little experiment, as one of them deliberately bumped into Ville and turned around, saying something we could not make out and were not interested in clarifying. We just kept going and going. And going. And going. Well, perhaps the way was not quite that long, but when the walk is everything you can think of, it tends to stretch forever.
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nd finally there we were, at Ville’s place. If only it were possible to grab some food and go to sleep, like you usually do after a night of drinking. But this wasn’t a regular night. This was something else, mainly because it would be followed by a day of drinking. But hey, if you can’t sleep, eat. And off we were to McDonald’s, a small trip that doesn’t need further discussing, as it did not offer anything new to the experience of walking the streets of a sleeping city. Except that this time, there was a different kind of light at the end of the tunnel. It was a light saturated with fat and sugar.
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o pass the time, we again resorted to Youtube. There we found a disturbingly mezmerising video, where a lady was, well, jumping up and down and the entire show was accompanied by Jingle Bells. We stared at the video for waaay too long.
shoot as much footage as they could so that there would be enough material to edit later. We circled around the park, shooting from every possible angle. After a while the rain wore us out and we decided we had enough material, at least for the time being.
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e arrived back inside, just in time for another refreshing beer. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or just a couple of beers too many, but the beer did not go down smoothly anymore. The hour felt like too short of a time to down a small can. We were in trouble and we were going to have a long day ahead of us.
OR NOT LONG ENOUGH?
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ome time passed and the lack of proper activity still bothered us. We still needed something to show for this - thing we were doing and since we hadn’t bothered to think ahead, we would have to come up with something. And then Ville had an idea: We make a Youtube ad for Godartet! The darkness outside was perfect for getting footage to work on. It was around 5 AM when we went outside, and this time we had a purpose. We walked into the park where the Sibelius monument is located. This monument commemorates the Finnish national composer and it seemed like a fitting place to make an ad, not to mention that it was also conveniently close. As Ville was BEER. GIVING IDEAS LIKE THIS SINCE 4000 BC the one with more of an eye for the visual arts, he had the honor of acting as our director. When he needed Juha to hold the camera, he gave him instructions which Juha would try to follow as closely as possible. The idea was to
As the clock struck six, what we thought beforehand would be the worst was behind us.
anyone noticed a faint smell of beer on us or if we were a bit out of it. At least we knew that this was a stupid idea and we would never do this again. It’s unclear why we got excited about trying it in the first place.
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“I COULD BE LOOKING AT PORN, BUT NO...”
s the hours passed, the sun came up, which really lifted our spirits. We looked out of Ville’s living room window and could see the neighboring playground in the sunlight. People were attempting the everyday life of civilized society with a smile on their faces and here we were, tired and nauseated by the beer we still had to drink for a few hours. The idea of going outside and doing something productive in the open, where everyone could see us seemed impossible. We were tired and just wanted to get this thing over with. So we forgot the doing something part, but we had to go back to Juha’s place, as the rest of the beer was there. So out we went once more and this time the warm sun was shining in our faces. We took the tram a n d wished the trip could be over. It was e m b a rrassing to be like this, on a day like this. We wondered if
hen we finally got to Juha’s place, it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon, which meant we still had a few hours to go, since we would not be able to open our last beers until six. At first Juha kept looking at the clock, pacing around anxiously and wishing that the whole experiment was over. Ville lay on the sofa, not bothering to participate in Juha’s panic, which finally calmed Juha down. He never had been good with staying up late. As a way to pass the time, we decided to watch a film. Browsing through Netflix, we finally decided to watch a film that starred Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone as two old boxers. Since they both are known for their portrayal of a boxer it couldn’t be that bad even though the artistic value of most of the Rockyfilms is up for debate. Well, there are times in a person’s life when they are given the answer to just how wrong they can be and this was one of them. The film was beyond horrible. The writing, the acting, the humor, just everything. Nevertheless, we watched the film in its entirety, Juha struggling to keep his eyes open and Ville not feeling that much better.
THE LAST BEER!
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nd such were the final hours of our experiment, boring and pointless. We were looking at the time and we simply wanted to be rid of this experience. When the clock finally struck six, we opened our last beers, relieved. It took some time to consume the last drinks, because no matter how big of a drinker you are, a slow marathon like this is not easy. We parted ways, relieved. We had something to report and now we could finally go to sleep and let our dreams take us away to a faraway place where no drinking game has ever been accredited to Paul Newman.
Ville grew up watching way too much of the “Once upon a time... Life� series and still believes the human body works like that. Juha just grew up but somehow still pulls stunts like these.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ARTISTS Wish to promote your beautiful work on Godartet? Well then, we congratulate you on making such a brilliant decision! Here are the few easy steps how to do it!
1 HAVE SOME ART MADE From sculptures to stage performances and dadaistic photography, all sorts of visual art goes with us. Choose what you wish to present on our pages and write a small presentation text about yourself.
2 CHOOSE A ROUTE:
3 DO IT FOR ME!
For those who don’t necessarily know or care about technicalities, relax and let us do the work.
4 SEND THE STUFF TO US
On the very basic level, all you need to know is to send us some big-ass pictures (JPEG, PDF or TIFF preferred, no GIFs please!) and the texts with possible instructions regarding the order of photos etc…
3 I’LL DO THE STUFF MYSELF!
For those who may want to do the lay-out themselves and know (probably more than us) about InDesign.
4 SEND THE STUFF FOR US
If you wish to do the layout yourself, make sure your InDesign-profile fits ours in these specifics: Colour profile: sRGB IEC61966-2.1 Page size: 232 x 276 mm Gutter 4,233 mm Margins: 12.7 mm Resolution 72 DPI Font family: Avenir Please make sure that the page size is the same as ours and that you’ll start with a full spread. Pictures can go beyond the margins, but text should stay within the 12.7 mm lines. Even though you may do the lay-out of your own artist pages, we will add a cover page with our lay-out (it’s for continuity!) to the final print. Note that we may do/ask you to do some changes to the text when proofreading the material!
5 EXCHANGE OPINIONS
When the pages are ready in our opinion, we send a version for you to check out and accept. We’ll keep doing this until you are happy and won’t publish anything without your consent.
6 READ AND SHARE!
When the magazine is out, do read it and share with your friends, family and enemies! And if you know more talented people who make art, tip them about us, we’re always open! If you have any more questions or comments, don’t hesitate to ask us at godartetmagazine@gmail.com, we’ll answer all your questions (except math problems, math sucks).
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SHORT STORY Saara Henriksson
THE WALLS
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HE CLAYMAN sits on the window sill. Hamit sits on the floor and looks at it, leans his head on the radiator, the water is gushing through. Ismael and Abdullah are outside, playing football behind the house. There’s just enough room to sit between the beds. Hamit closes his eyes, listening to the sound of the water. He sees the walls, the clay is mud from the river. A bit of color comes out of the clay, it’s on the window sill and on Hamit’s hands.
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he blonde woman has told him to fling the clay on the pedestal first, given him a stick with which he can engrave patterns. The block has softened in his hands, Hamit has molded it, moistened it at times with water when the woman has said so. The woman’s name is ugly and it feels strange in Hamit’s mouth, but in his mind he calls her Leila, just like in the fairytale. The lady Leila has a friendly voice and she has the blondest hair Hamit has ever seen. Leila sits in the office behind a desk, gives a pen and paper and says draw. This morning she has brought clay for moulding. Hamit is focused, he has pursed his lips tightly together. When the old man is ready, Hamit has put it up on the window sill to dry.
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he hum of water fills the entire room. The walls, the green water from the river. Under the water there’s a forgotten city, in the story Leila reads. The city has been torn down, it’s sunk to the river and still Hamit sees it. The alleys are curved, the low houses sit side by side, chimneys tilted. The windows are small and black, behind them you see pale faces. In the middle of the houses a street flows, no two people can walk side by side. People are swarming on the damp market square. The men have black hats and long beards, they are trading with the guests who come to town. The square is in the middle of town, the town is surrounded by walls. Seven gates are closed for the night. Abdullah sticks his head from the door and says something, throws his jacket on Hamit’s bed. Hamit is hungry. He and Abdullah were in the store when the men were shouting at them. These men had big ugly voices and fists, no beard or headdress. Go back, go back. A tired look in Abdullah’s eyes, the look of an old man. Feels bad, bad.
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amit looks at his clay-colored hands. Dull fingertips, chewed fingernails. He picks up an engraving stick and draws a mouth, empty eye sockets, two nostrils on the clayman. It looks angry. He writes an old word on its forehead with a language that is too sacred for him to use like that. Emet, that which is true. Difficult word, a grown up word.
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amit squeezes the stick in his hand. The town, down the slope, swans in the river. A young woman by the river, a black scarf and a black long dress. Her face is narrow, the eyes black holes. On the beach
she dodges the rocks and filth, lifts her gaze. She is beautiful, reminds Hamit of his mother in the photograph. Hamit wants to call to her. The pale woman is rinsing clothes in the water, letting the child breathe the cool air. The baby has gone ill from from the stench of the town but the wall protects, it is not safe outside. People yell, filthy. They gather around their wells when the woman walks by, look angrily, draw their children close.
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o back, go back. They poison the wells, they eat little children. Hamit hides the clayman under the bed. The town isn’t anymore, disappears, all that is left is a white wall. The light of the street lamps from the tall windows is dull and gray. The windows are so high that you can see only a bit of the dirty sky. Sandals are flopping on the cold stone floor. A television roaring at the end of the hallway. The songstress’ smile goes from ear to ear, the earrings glisten. Jalla! Jalla! There’s a line to the shower, the kids are running, slipping in the yellow light of the bathroom. Veiled women talk and scold, rub black soot from the children’s hands with soap, are tired and angry.
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t starts to rain, the windows close. Tobacco, tea. The adults laugh, the small children roam in their feet. Swarming. Hamit is disgusted, he wants to go back to his room, but the old people address him. Old men in their robes, they aren’t busy. Hamit is praised and patted on the head. Good boy, he can read and write, Arabic, Finnish, a bit of Hebrew. Long, difficult word, impossible to pronounce: Immigration center. Show, Hamit, write on paper. Good student, good boy. There is another long word on Leila’s door, social worker. The lights of the office have been turned off, there are huge piles of paper and writing on the papers, things about them. Not all of the adults can read. The thunder roars. Abdullah and Ismael already lay in their beds, Hamit pulls the cover over his head. They can hear the adults, move away, die out. In the end the corridor is quiet, only the rain dripping against the window.
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ust before falling asleep Hamit hears a crack. Something is moving in the room. He lies still, his heart pounding. He hears steps, they lead to the corridor, turn heavy. A low panting, gurgling. Then a crash when the plexiglass shatters. Someone breaks in through the locked door. Hamit gets up, picks a shirt, goes to the end of the corridor. Abdullah and Ismael stay in bed. The door hangs on its hinges, he goes through. The streets of the town open before him.
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he clayman sways down the street, picks up speed and runs. The man bumps into the cramped walls of the street, slips on wet cobblestones, doesn’t run very well. The man is big, almost as tall as the low, wretched houses. Hamit stays behind it, follows the earthen footprints. The clayman rips off cobblestones, banishes the screams in front of him from the nocturnal street. The street lights have been turned off, the windows dark. Hamit yells to the clayman to stop. It doesn’t want to obey but picks up speed. Hamit tastes the night-time air on his lips, it’s cold and damp. The town is his, the shining cobblestones, the low ceilings. The streets that intersect and turn, disappear in the dark. The city hall, the cemetery. Hamit goes around a different route. He knows these labyrinthine streets. He knows where the clayman is going. It can’t stop, it can only go forward, only destroy. Hamit knows the story. The clayman is a protector, from another time. He made it himself. The clayman protects the woman by the river, it protects her also from the ugly shouts, punches. Yet it must be stopped.
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amit steps in front of the clayman, holds out his hand and wipes away a letter from the beginning of the word with his finger. Truth becomes dead, met, difference of one letter. The darkness, the quiet return, the street disappears around them.
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o back, go back.
n the morning light the corridor is empty and dusty. Abdullah and Ismael have gone somewhere where they say go back. Hamit doesn’t know where that is. He doesn’t know if he will someday have to go there. He sits in the room. The boys have already taken their belongings. Leila is nowhere, the attendant carries papers in boxes.
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amit thinks of the lost city, the city of the poor that was torn down to build new apartment buildings. The merchants, fleas and rats have sunk to the bottom of the river. Leila has said that people are looking for it, searching a forgotten world. He has been there. There will be many, seekers, they have money, they search and try to imagine what it has been like. The descendants of those locked inside look for a legend, a protector even though they have clean air, water and food. They don’t see them, those like him, they won’t find the city.
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he eyes of the clayman are dead. Hamit sits, water boils in the coffee pot. Noises coming from the kitchen. The women make porridge, little children whimper, as always. He opens the palm of his hand. The black motion of the night is in his hand, a word half erased.
Saara Henriksson is a Finnish writer, who has published three books as well as numerous stories over the years, this brilliant short story being one of them. We are very grateful that she let us publish this story as we are sure you have enjoyed reading it as much as we have.
ESSAY
Ville Koski OF VIDEO GAMES AND ART
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or the last 4 decades, video games have been steadily making their way as a new interactive art form, starting from the simplest Pong with about 10 pixels of tennis-imitating action to the latest Grand Theft Auto where you play in a city that is literally bigger than many real cities of the world. Along with their technological advancement, many questions have risen when considering video games as a way of spending the evening. In the very beginning and for a long time after, people who played games in the comfort of their homes were considered nerds, who lacked social competence but spent all days with computers. Today, much of that stereotype has crumbled and video games have become a socially acceptable way of spending your time. However, the question of art and video games is still up for debate. Are video games art? Well, if you look at the list of top selling games and pay attention only to the latest Call of Duties, NHLs and FIFAs, you may be inclined to argue that no, they are not. But before making this hasty conclusion, do look at the screening of you nearest Multiplex Cinema and ask yourself, are movies art? I reserve the right to assume that the screening list consists mostly of the latest Transformers or other CGI-packed action films, which would force you to say no, movies are not art, if you would be ignorant of filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Jean Truffaut or Alejandro Jodorowsky. The conclusion would be something like “films can be art, but not necessarily” and that is exactly the deal with video games as well. Can they be art, even though they necessarily are not?
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s we start tackling this issue, we must first find a way to define art. This of course is a never-end-
ing debate that can have no absolute answers, but some guidelines and rules have been established since ancient times when the debate started to take place. For some, art is harmony, for others a desperate attempt to re-create the beauty of reality and for some it is a way to discover and reproduce some truths yet unseen. These ideas tend to mirror the ideas of individual artists or art movements, but the one thing they all agree on is that art must touch you, either positively or negatively, and make you think and feel. Art has only failed when people don’t care about it and have been left cold in front of it. If we accept this as art’s purpose, we can start analyzing the methods videogames use to achieve this. In this essay, I deliberately compare video games’ narrative methods to those of cinema, due to the fact that they both share many of the same pros and cons as a moving image medium. I’m also willing to suggest that films and video games come from the same family tree, and could be seen as relatives in the art field; video games have taken many things from movies and nowadays movies rip inspiration from video games.
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ll narrative art from movies to novels and video games are generally dependent on immersion. Immersion means is the phenomenon in which the subject (viewer) is sucked into the world of the object (narrative) and its characters and can therefore feel for them and lose track of his/her own being. The immersion uses the psychological effect of identification, in which the subject subconsciously finds similarities between him/her and the object and mirrors him-/herself into that object. These similarities can be as shallow as the object’s looks or 31
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speech pattern, or deeper in the way of morality and actions in certain cases. However, dreams and positive self-images can also trigger the identification. In these cases we the spectators see something that we wish we could achieve ourselves and immerse ourselves into that “dream-me” we’re observing. These methods are used often and successfully by the mainstream filmmakers, by creating characters that audiences most likely would relate to and identify with. On the other hand, more artistic films often use immersion and identification in a completely different way: They alienate the viewer by breaking the magical barrier between the subject and the object, thus effectively disrupting the immersion. They do this by making the characters talk straight to the camera (and the viewer), or by creating such images or characters that the viewers are left unable to comprehend them and immerse with them.Talking to the camera is the straightforward way of disrupting the immersion. It breaks the invisible glass between the viewer and the silver screen and acknowledges the viewer as a subject, which also reminds the viewer of his/her own persona and how they are only watching a movie, not actively living in it. The way of disrupting the immersion through imagery is a more complicated matter but just as frequently used. It is used through complex symbolism and often with unbearable violence, things that the average viewer doesn’t want or can’t identify with. It is important to remember that breaking the immersion must always be deliberate and motivated. If a film doesn’t manage to keep the immersion up, it can only be seen as a failure.
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aturally video games use the same psychological mechanisms of immersion as films in their attempt to create an illusion of reality, but these methods differ in activity. While watching a movie, the subject is a passive spectator while in video games that subject is an active subject, the primus motor of the object’s action. That gives video games huge possibilities in terms of identification. When the player presses the buttons, the characters of the game move and act accordingly, which in many games give the player the illusion of choice. However, this also creates an issue with the narrative as any plot-ridden game has to solve the paradox of the players’ freedom and the story’s progress. Nowadays this is often solved by offering the player multiple, pre-writ-
ten choices on how to advance, which creates an illusion that the narrative is free while it is essentially still passive interaction. This is used mainly in story-based games such as Grand Theft Auto or L.A. Noire. Meanwhile, games without this pre-narrated structure offer another kind of immersion, which can even be deeper than in their story-based siblings: Strategy and simulation games such as Civilization or The Sims present the player player with a world where they are free to play on their own and, despite the natural boundaries limited by technology, bond a new kind of identification between the player and the game; the player feels he/she can truly affect the outcome of the game as the game goes on even if the player didn’t do anything about it. This often creates an immersion that is deeper than in those with a narrative story because of the main issue that interactivity brings to video game immersion. If the player simply doesn’t do anything or fails, it merely causes the game to restart or the player to respawn at an earlier stage in the game, thus breaking the illusion of a living, real world the story and the game has built until that point. However, this is not as destructive as an illusion shatterer as to say, a film reel breaking in the middle of the show, as the player has already in the beginning accepted this rule of virtuality. The subject may lose grasp of the immersion of that specific gameplay, but catches up on a new one soon after respawning to another to give it another try. This way a story-based video game can actually prolong and expand the immersion and identification not only to one session, but to many.
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f course, video games also have many other individual issues of storytelling regarding the mechanics and realism, but counting all these isn’t meaningful for this essay. However, I believe it is safe to say at this point that video games hold enough potential for a narrative medium to be art, which leads us to the following question: How much does it use this potential? The short answer is: Depressingly little. Of course, we can take into account the medium’s relatively young age and the massive leaps in technology that it has taken, but still it feels as though video games are too often considered more as entertainment than anything more ambitious. Partly this is due to money. Video games are already a massive business and business people like to play it safe, which is why such originally
ambitious, story-focused games as Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty have later turned into yearly franchises. The big gaming companies know that they sell because of their name alone, so they don’t have to bring anything new to their original core game, which then again leads to repetition of techniques and ideas. But this is also true in movies, and despite the phenomenon, there are many gems of art in both movies and video games. Games such as Mafia, Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, Operation Flashpoint or the original Max Payne all have brilliant storytelling in a form that managed to renew their respective genre in their day. All these games are and were big hits and making them took years of hard work and a lot of money, which still is a major factor in the question of who can make the game. Most of the greatest creators of our time, Sid Meyer, Will Wright and Peter Molyneux all started back when the first computers were just invented. They learned how to code and made little games for people to play and therefore established their place in the game making world through the years. Nowadays, mobile games and easier coding languages have made it easier for anyone to make at least some kind of a game themselves, which naturally brings many good things along with the freedom, but also many threats when considering video games as art.
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he original Max Payne mentioned earlier was a landmark of the Finnish video game industry. It took the concept of a video game and a cinematic thriller and combined the two into a well-made, unconventional masterpiece that was both a massive hit and critically acclaimed, and if played today, hasn’t lost too much of its appeal over time. It is a prime example of video game immersion in both good and bad: The never-before-seen technique it had was bullet-time, the possibility of slowing down time and personally experience all those amazing slow-motion gunfights seen in movies. The bad side was related to Max Payne’s ambitious story. The idea was to make the subject identify with the main character’s pain and opted in terrible nightmare sequences, which weren’t scary but rather annoying as the player tried to run in a darkened labyrinth, following a small trail of blood and could be forced to start over at any moment. But at least it tried. The way Remedy (the company that produced the game) ended up making the nightmare sequences wasn’t
perfect, but pretty much every other part of the game was. And Max Payne isn’t the only Scandestonian game that has broken the borders; the Norwegian stealth game Project I.G.I. was among the first first-person-shooters to use the game engine of a flight simulator (therefore giving it a massive graphic boost) and Sweden has boasted bringing the world the Europa Universalis series, a series of incredibly indepth strategy games and of course the Battlefield series. And while there hasn’t been anything massive coming out of Estonia since the MS-DOS era (SkyRoads), nowadays Estonia is aiming to truly get things going with many projects supporting indie-game making. And then, of course, there’s Angry Birds.
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hat started out as just a funny little mobile game, has now grown into a massive phenomenon. The makers of the game have successfully branded their birds that seem to be everywhere these days. Of course, during these hard days of economic recession, there is nothing wrong in making money when you can, but mobile gaming has worrying side effects. When we look at Angry Birds, the first and original game, we find a small, simple and addictive little game where you try to break evil pigs’ fortresses by slinging birds at them. The story is irrelevant and the game itself is the main event. One round of the game lasts about 1 minute, so it’s a perfect waste of time when riding the bus or tram or just waiting for one. Another massively well-to-do Finnish mobile game is Clash of Clans, which in 2013 made their makers (Supercell) 519 million euros, which is a lot for a free game. The money comes from the micro transactions inside the game that are not mandatory, but help you achieve things faster. The game itself is an online multiplayer game without a bigger narrative than that you build your village and the other player builds his/hers and then you fight. Both Angry Birds and Clash of Clans are extremely popular and immersive. Anyone can see for themselves how people sit in public transport with their eyes glued to the smartphone screen while tapping to little birds to explode or villagers to fight. They also stand for what I see as the biggest threat in gaming. Firstly, Angry Birds doesn’t have any coherent content. The game is well executed and fun, I admit that, but it doesn’t give the player more than just a nice way to waste some time, some no-brainer minutes to keep you from thinking about 33
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something else. In this respect it is as a perfect mobile game as the society sees mobile games these days as some fun, nothing else. Why I feel this is a threat is because it set video games back to when they weren’t anything more than some fun because of the technical limitations. From that on, it has, little by little, developed into the art form it is today, and now we are falling back to that age of indifference. The problem I have with Clash of Clans is partially the same as with Angry Birds, but added with the immoral payment system. The fact that in order to progress faster you must pay real money is questionable to say the least, but it has already lead many players into an unhealthy addiction and a situation where their credit card bills keep getting bigger and bigger. The worst thing about this is that it’s spreading to the console and computer games as well. Many online role-playing games already have this method of pay-to-win, and too often one can see an average game that is trying to sell you more or less useless in-game additions for a price. Expansion packs and add-ons are acceptable only if they truly give some new, additional quality content to the original game. Video games are already expensive and making them even more expensive can only lead to a narrowing of the audience when only a few have the money to enjoy them. Smaller audiences also lead to narrower content, which eventually leads to generic, monotonous, low-quality content.
I
n the end it is us gamers who have the ball at the moment. Technology is improving every day but it has already reached the point where we as subjects of the video game narratives can dismiss it, like we dismiss filmmaking technology while watching a movie and focus solely on the content. Video games have proven that they can suck us into their world through immersion and that we can actually forget ourselves even on a bus while enjoying the medium. The threats are there, the uninspiring content and the cash-grabbers, but so is the potential for artistry. It is up to us to make the decision. Do we wish to spend the ever-so-valuable moments of our lives in immersing ourselves into mindless junk, or in experiencing something thought-provoking and emotional? If we let the cash-grabbing junk a chance to dictate the video game culture, they will do it and after that we only have bad spots to respawn to.
Ville doesn’t currently have time to play as much as he’d liked to, but when he can, he’s playing Civilization V or the classic Company of Heroes. He has all the GTAs on his phone and considers getting the Last of Us one day.
THE LOST ARCHIVE
A
s we had quite a busy schedule making the first issue, we were forced to leave out some footage taken on the cruise, because we could not develop the film (yes, we use film!) on time. When we finally got the pictures, we felt it would be a damn shame not to use them at all, since some of them (the ones taken by Ville) are actually pretty good.
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THE
ARTISTS
37
INKA “ MY
It’s a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together” -Unknown
PHOTOGRAPHIC passion is extreme sports, especially surfing, freeskiing and snowboarding. All of this I can experience while traveling around and exploring the world. I see great art in those types of sports and I want to show the beauty that I see, the others through my photos. Photographing an object that moves so fast isn’t easy, but I think that’s the reason why I love it so much. Even if the athlete, the place or the day is the same, every single second that I stand behind my camera challenges me. My photography has taken me to wonderful places and I’ve met people that I would probably never had met without it.
I
got my first camera when I was eight years old and I’ve enjoyed the art of photography ever since. I’m basically self-taught but I have had amazing mentor who has helped me get to this point, the Finnish photographer Patrick Forsblom. He has been in the background, supporting me and teaching me new things. I started working in the field of sports photography in 2010 and
SALMI after that I knew that it was what I wanted to do with my life. First alpine skiing and Nordic sports, then freestyle skiing, snowboarding and skateboarding and in 2012 I got my first chance to discover the world of surf photography, after which my life changed. I had a new goal and dreams to fulfill and last autumn was “a dream come true” to me when I spent three and a half months in my other home, Indonesia, photographing the local surf life and surfing.
T
he life of a photographer isn’t always easy, which is why my motto is what Steve Martin once said: “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”
IRINNE
(1993) PHOTOGRAPHY
Above: Secret Spot, Bali, Indonesia 2014
Below: Jeffrykun Marata, Bali, Indonesia 2014
Above: Harry Adriyanto, Bali, Indonesia 2014
Below: On The Lip, Bali, Indonesia 2014
Above: Shine, Lombok, Indonesia 2014
Below: Awan Surf, Lombok Indonesia 2014
Above: Blue Barrel, Lombok, Indonesia 2014
Below: Frangipani, Lombok, Indonesia 2014
Above: Kintamani, Bali, Indonesia 2014
Below: Reflection, Lombok Indonesia 2014
Above: Fishermen, Bali, Indonesia 2014
Below: Volcano Footsteps, Lombok, Indonesia 2014
Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia 2014
Last Check, Bali Indonesia 2014
SURFACE DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION
ELIN PEIP
(198
W
HICH COLOR describes you best at the moment?
Dusty rose, milky mint, deep aubergine and intense navy. It’s always been too hard for me to choose the best one.
W
HAT attracts you in pattern design?
Infinite.
NA PPO
88)
IF
your design works were edible, what would they taste like?
Like ginger, honey, cardamom, balsamic vinegar, mellow lips, crisp apples, brisk oranges, lush figs, crunchy nuts, warm winter soup and icy bright spring punch... Just kidding - an endless list of tender aims, pursuits and hopes. I want my designs to taste like your all-time favourite comfort foods as well as the flavours you’ve never experienced before. To spit or to devour more - it’s up to you! I’m attracted by the diversity of responses.
Calm Storm, 2014, Illustration
Hear The Storm, 2014, Illustration
Latex Sea, 2014, Pattern
Surf Fusion, 2015, Pattern
TEATTERI THEATER GROUP
TOIVO
PROMOTIONAL PICTURE OF TEATTERI TOIVO’S PLAY ”SÄNKY” IN 2013.PHOTOGRAPHER: TONI AHOLA, TEATTERI TOIVO
A SHORT HISTORY OF TEATTERI TOIVO JUUSO LIUKKONEN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
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ur theater company, Toivo, was founded in Helsinki in 2007. Being homeless at first, we realised our visions all over Helsinki. In 2012, Toivo found its first premises in Fleminginkatu, located in the Kallio area of Helsinki. After five years, it was time for our ambitious theater to finally take a big step forward. We packed our belongings and moved to Telakkaranta where we set up our beautiful location in an old industrial building. Little by little, the almost 400 square meter, crude, old workshop that was painted completely white became our cozy, warm theater. The unique charisma of the theater has a working class feel to it and its artistic details attract people, events
(bed), “Trauma” or “Seksiä & Propagandaa”. Sara Salmenmäki continues: “When Seksiä & Propagandaa was made, there was an air of guilt in our society. Helsinki City Theater made a youth musical where a girl was raped and she died when having an abortion. The same thing seemed to be happening elsewhere as well. It made us angry, because our generation’s ideas about sex are completely different. Forget the guilt! It’s nice, wonderful and at its best liberating. S & P mirrored how we perceived young adults and it portrayed what it is like to be a young intelligent woman in Helsinki.”
and productions from all walks of life. We also rent the location for different art projects, weddings, parties, corporate events and other life events. TOIVO AS A THEATER
O
ur theater manager Sara Salmenmäki describes Teatter Toivo’s artistic direction like this:
“Stylistically, our theater company walks in the footsteps of the Latvian TEATTERI TOIVO MOVING IN 2013. TOIVO HAD JUST ACQUIRED THIS CRUDE CRADLE OF THE FINNISH Alvis Hermanis. We are interested in DOCK INDUSTRY. PHOTOGRAPHER: UNKNOWN the postdramatic theater of Hermanis and we have developed a natural style of theater e are consciously striving for a communal that is unique in Finland. Our plays do not work environment where everyone is happy underestimate the viewers or hold their hands. and encouraged to boldly try and develop We trust that our plays become clear to them something new. It’s important that people enjoy without unnecessary emphasizing on stage. what they are doing, because then the love of The performances are also visually stunning.” the craft remains, which makes it possible to create amazing things in spite of the fact that it he almost cinemaesque feel of our plays attracts can get very rough at times. Artistically we strive also new friends of theater. The bold and for a professional way of creating theater with unprejudiced handling of taboos is a natural part our quality productions while still remaining loyal of theater and in our past you can find examples to our roots. Communality and cooperation with of this such as “Huippumalli narussa”, (top model people in different fields are the cornerstones of on a leash, wordplay on the Finnish name of the our operation and they continuously motivate us to reality show America’s Next Top model) “Sänky”
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T
THE ELECTRIC CENTER OF THE OLD DOCK BUILDING WHILE MOVING IN 2013. PHOTOGRAPHER: UNKNOWN
take ourselves to a new level. As a community, Teatteri Toivo supports and encourages its own even outside the theater. We are sure many members would describe Toivo as a “support network”. OVER OBSTACLES THROUGH COOPERATION
C
the fall we presented our largest production yet, “Ender’s Game”, which is based on Orson Scott Card’s sci-fi classic from 1985. Our theater manager Sara Salmenmäki directed this amazing space spectacle that was realized using Teatteri Toivo’s own resources with no outside financing. On stage we witnessed 18 youths and their acrobatic moves and finely refined, visually breathtaking scenes. The music for the three-hour-long Ender’s Game was composed from the beginning by Erno Hulkkonen.
I
n 2015, after a small break, our stage will feature another children’s play. Korppi & Kumppanit (the raven and companions) is based on the Kalevi Korppi book series written by Jukka Parkkinen. The monologue play Rommia & Votkaa (Rum & Vodka) and Teatteri Toivo’s Cabaret will in turn continue our theater’s bolder and more mature tradition.
ooperation with different artistic fields is an integral part of our spirit and a natural part of our day-to-day life. As Toivo is fortunate (and crazy) THE PEOPLE BEHIND TEATTERI TOIVO enough to acquire its grand location, our desire is to be an enabler for art of all kinds and do our part he core of our company comprises of in advancing Finnish art. Over the years we have approximately 15 people who are an active part been involved with several projects with dance of the daily activity of Toivo. Sara Salmenmäki, the groups, artists, other theaters and event organizers. experienced theater director, works as the theater During 2014 alone, our stage presented the Helsinki manager, board president and artistic beacon. Gay theater’s Edvard II She is also in charge of and the Ilves Theater’s most of Toivo’s productions. Toiveuni (wishful dream) Ville Haikola works as the only to name a couple. vice-president, director, During the Baltic Circle choreographer, coordinator festival, Kimmo Modig’s of the day-to-day and is, if “COURT OF HELBERG” necessary (always) a general was also seen in Teatteri handyman. Riikka Kruus is the Toivo. We should not costume designer and Juuso forget the Sonya Lindfors Liukkonen is in charge of & Gruppen Fyra’s “Great production issues, which vary Expectations” dance from the rent of the theater performance that we to small everyday chores. showed in October. We The stage designer Juho also took part in the Lindström is often involved Kaikki Alla (wordplay in the productions and his on the Finnish word for handiwork can be seen in everywhere) festivals as the decoration of the theater well as the Lasipalatsi in form of among other Children’s day by TEATTERI TOIVO’S ELECTRIC CENTER IN 2015. THE STAGE DESIGNER JUHO things the large TOIVO light LINDSTRÖM’S HANDIWORK IS VISIBLE IN MANY OF TEATTERI TOIVO’S DETAILS. playing with children. PHOTOGRAPHER:: TONI AHOLA, TEATTERI TOIVO installation. The multi-talented musician and sound designer Erno Hulkkonen has n 2014, we stretched our resources to their often been involved in Teatteri Toivo’s productions. limits. In the spring, the main show Köysissä (on the ropes) was directed by Otto Laitinen and in
T
I
TEATTERI TOIVO’S ENDER’S GAME IN 2014. IN THE PICTURE ENDER WIGGIN (TEEMU TAURULA) PHOTOGRAPHER: MIKAEL KARKKONEN, TEATTERI TOIVO
TEATTERI TOIVO’S ENDER’S GAME ACTORS IN A COMMUNAL PHOTOGRAPH AT THE END OF THE SEASON IN THE FALL OF 2014. PHOTOGRAPHER: MIKAEL KARKKONEN, TEATTERI TOIVO
TEATTERI TOIVO’S ENDER’S GAME BATTLE SCENE. PHOTOGRAPHER: TONI AHOLA, TEATTERI TOIVO
TEATTERI TOIVO’S MOST SIGNIFICANT PRODUCTIONS INCLUDE: Huippumalli narussa (top model on a leash) Elä oikein aikas (live your time right) Fedjasetä, kissa ja koira (Uncle Fedya, His Dog, And His Cat) Elisa-musikaali (Elisa the musical) Sanovat Sitä Ystävyydeksi (they call it friendship) Seksiä & Propagandaa Veronika päättää kuolla (Veronika DeBACKSTAGE PHOTO FROM THE SET OF ”HUIPPUMALLI NARUSSA”. PHOTOGRAPHER: TONI AHOLA, TEATTERI cides To Die) TOIVO Kun Olemme Polttaneet Kaiken (when we have At this time Toivo is entering rehearsals. In the spring burned everything) season of 2015 we will show one children’s play, Hirvi (elk) a monologue play and a cabaret before May Day. Trauma Upcoming productions in 2015: Sänky (bed) Kauppa-Lopo: Extended edition 2013 Rommia & Votkaa (Rum & Vodka) Korppi & Kumppanit (raven & companions) Köysissä (On The Ropes) Teatteri Toivo’s Cabaret Teatteri Toivo’s Ender’s Game
We will continue to develop our operation in Helsinki’s Telakkaranta and we invite everyone who is interested to follow our productions, projects and other endeavours on Facebook, Instagram and especially on location! www.facebook.com/teatteritoivo www.instagram.com/teatteritoivo Teatteri Toivo Telakkakatu 6 00150 Helsinki Building 25
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LISTINGS 16 Feb - 15 May FINLAND AUDITIONS FOR NEW EMY IN HELSINKI
ESTONIA
YORK 18
FILM
ACADFEBRUARY
WORLD
FILM
FESTIVAL
14
MARCH
-
21
MARCH
Interested in acting? Musical theatre? The New York Film Academy is holding auditions and an info for aspiring students in the KILROY office in Helsinki. Go and apply! You may find yourself living on the academy’s campus in New York or Los Angeles! The audition and info are just around the corner, so hurry!
A week of anthropology and ethnography films showing in Tartu Uus Teater. Participants come from all around the world and according to the organizer, a total of almost 50 films will be shown. Even Finland’s own son Jani Peltonen will be there on Sunday with his film White Chimney. If you have the chance to go, don’t miss it!
TAMPERE
MARCH
TALLINN WINTER FESTIVAL 9 FEBRUARY - 22 FEBRUARY
The oldest film festival for short films in the Nordic countries offering a range of fact and fiction. Individual ticket prices start from 8 euros and the presale starts on 11 February. The festival has different categories for national and international films. The national competition received 301 entries this year, 37 of which were chosen. The international category received a whopping 3500 films, 63 of which were chosen from 35 different countries. If you have the time to spend some time in Tampere or you already live there, you have to check this out!
The Pille Lill Music fund has been supporting the development of musicians since 2003 by arranging education, performance opportunities and providing much needed exposure. Equipped with the motto “Open your eyes, open your heart”, the Tallinn Winter Festival brings you local talents as well as guest acts, who this year is the Norwegian pianist Aksel Kolstad. This is for a cause that Godartet truly supports. Unfortunately it is already too late to make it to some of the concerts, but if you hurry, you can still get tickets!
SWEDEN
NORWAY
HOUSE
FILM
OF
FESTIVAL
METAL
27
4
MARCH
FEBRUARY
-
28
8
FEBURARY
Aah, there’s nothing cozier in the dark of the winter than putting on the wool socks your grandma made you, making a cup of hot chocolate and cramming yourself among hardcore metalheads to a 2-day indoor heavy metal festival. This year the event’s lineup has such jolly orchestras as Rotten Sound and Finntroll. Dandy! UMEFOLK
FESTIVAL
19
FEBRUARY
-
22
FEBRUARY
A massive three days of folk music madness, bringing musicians with their roots from all around the globe to Umeå. The ticket also buys you an entrance to the festival’s many workshops and seminars, where you can learn both about and how to play some legendary folk tunes.
Rockefeller Record Fair 21 February The biggest record fair in Norway since 1988, the fair is a must for anyone with a serious relationship with vinyls. The Rockefeller Concert hall is also a legendary venue for good music. Oslo International Church Music Festival 6 March - 15 March Yes, February and March are slow event months. But don’t look down on some church music! At least the venues should be interesting as Oslo has some of the finest old churches in the Nordic countries and has music ranging from the 16th century to modern day. And the old stuff tends to have a hell of alot of drama in it.
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One night, Rufus couldn’t sleep. He was anxious. The hollow moon didn’t care about him, the shadows on his walls merely ignored him. He sat alone awake on his mattress and pondered. Rufus didn’t feel content with his life and wanted change.
& The Absurdity of Life “Maybe you should like, read The next day, Rufus met his best friend for life, some philosophy Simeon the Sassy Salor something, amander and told him thinking brings about his problem, asking happiness, dude.” for advice.
“Oh, man, dude, that’s tough and shit.” Simeon said,
“There is only one truly serious philosophical question, and that is suicide. Deciding whether or not life is worth living is to answer the fundamental question in philosophy. All other questions follow from that. We can only live with the absurdity of life knowing that there is meaning to our life but the dualism of knowing that it doesn’t have any meaning is unbearable. However, we are yet unable to create meaning because it is a logical leap and simply evasive. The alternative for killing the absurdity is the killing of its terms, the human being, you. Death, however, is also meaningless so the problem remains. Class dismissed.”
Next week, Rufus went back to the class, hoping to find answers to these questions. Rufus noticed that none of the others were there anymore, which felt strange. Then the teacher came.
Simeon spoke these words stoically and disappeared like a werewolf into the night. Afterwards Rufus was thrilled. He would start studying philosophy and be happy again! That same evening Rufus ran immediately to his local college after work for an evening class and took a seat among the other losers who had the same idea. They waited impatiently for the teacher to bring them the wisdom of happiness, and at last a serious-looking, chain-smoking man appeared in front of the class. He spoke.
After the class, Rufus felt odd. He didn’t feel any happier than before but rather confused. Was his life absurd? Was he absurd? Rufus didn’t feel that way. But if the absurdity was the cause of his problems, how could he get rid of it? Rufus felt a bit scared. “Still here? You’ve failed, get out of here.” The teacher said and left.
Outside in the rain, Rufus felt more depressed than before studying philosophy.
ONE MORE THING, JUST FOR YOU, OUR DEAR
NORWEGIAN/SWEDISH/FINNISH/ESTONIAN READER!
ARE YOU AN ARTIST, OR DO YOU KNOW ANY ARTISTS OR THOUGHTFUL PEOPLE IN SOME OTHER FIELDS? YES? WOW, THAT IS SO COOL! IF YOU OR YOUR FRIENDS WISH TO SEE THEIR NAMES IN THIS MAGAZINE, THAT CAN EASILY BE ARRANGED! HERE’S WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR: WRITERS!
ARTISTS!
Essays, short stories, poems. You name it, we’ll take it! If you have anything in your drawer just waiting to see the light of day, send it to us and we might just publish it. We’re not telling you how to write your stuff, but in essays we’re looking for something that’s related to Nordic arts or culture. Poems and short stories are of course a free-roam, but local point of view is preferred. We don’t have any word or character limitations like those silly professionals, but we hope that you remain in a maximum of 15 A4 pages with some basic size 12 font. Also, no politics, religion, sports or other unrelated boredom!
This is why we do this, to give visibility to amazing artists. Whatever is your medium, from painting to sculpture and photography to textile design, we’re willing to let you promote yourself. In each number we have room for 5 artists and each artist gets a total of 6 spreads to promote themselves (1 spread is a mandatory cover, so 5 is just for art) that you can use any way you wish. Not all of them have to be used, of course. We’ll take care of the lay-out and the end result will always be approved by you before publishing and all the copyrights remain with you.
TIPS!
READERS!
Do you have local knowledge of the best culture events in your town that nobody else knows? Or maybe you have a great idea for a feature story, Gonzo-concept or otherwise great ideas on how to make Godartet a better magazine? If so, do contact us! We’re eager to know what’s happening out there.
If you don’t have anything to contribute, but just like to read our nifty little paper, do share us with the world! We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Issuu, we have our own webpage and a YouTube channel so there are many ways for spreading the word about Godartet. And for this, we salute you! Sharing is daring... Or something like that.
And just for all to know, we can’t compensate for your writings, as Godartet works purely on voluntary work (this includes Ville and Juha). However, we also won’t be charging you for anything, and we hope to help you in any way we can. Also, don’t worry about your English, because Godartet has a professional proofreader, who makes sure your words are solid. Hope to hear from you soon!
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LEGAL INFORMATION GODARTET IS A NON-COMMERCIAL, NON-PROFIT MAGAZINE AIMING TO SUPPORT, SPREAD AND ANALYSE ART AND CULTURE FROM NORWAY, SWEDEN, FINLAND AND ESTONIA. THE MAGAZINE IS BASED IN HELSINKI, FINLAND. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: VILLE KOSKI. SENIOR EDITOR: JUHA HEIKKINEN. EVERYTHING PUBLISHED IN GODARTET IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND ALL OF THE COPYRIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE MAKERS UNLESS SPECIFICALLY MARKED OTHERWISE. DO NOT COPY, ALTER, SHARE OR IN OTHER WAYS USE THE MATERIAL IN GODARTET WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE SPECIFIC COPYRIGHT OWNER, WHOM YOU MAY CONTACT DIRECTLY OR THROUGH GODARTET MAGAZINE. ANYONE BREAKING THESE RULES WILL BE CAUGHT, FOUND AND - FOR YOUR INFORMATION - WE THINK LANNISTER IS THE COOLEST HOUSE IN GAME OF THRONES. ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS CAN BE SENT TO GODARTETMAGAZINE@GMAIL.COM. HAPPY READINGS!