What it means to stand in front of people? What does it mean to influence?

https://aeon.co/essays/you-don-t-have-to-be-stupid-to-work-here-but-it-helps ”A culture of unflappable positivity is also popular with many companies. In an IT consultancy we studied, employees were constantly told: ‘Don’t bring us problems, only bring us solutions.’ This upbeat message aimed to create a happy workplace. ””In a world where stupidity dominates, looking good is more important than being right. Advanced practitioners of corporate stupidity often spend less time on the content of their work and more on its presentation. They know that a decision-maker sees only the PowerPoint show and reads just the executive summary (if they’re lucky).” 

 

Finally somebody says it out loud which has been the most obvious repetitious pressuring panicking mistake and sin too long: the way to present ideas and speeches for people who are Power Pointed to the assumed perfection which cannot be altered and done differently. To think that flawlessness means perfection is the first mistake. Pay attention to what is said instead of always focusing on HOW it is presented!!!! To do like everybody does is the second mistake. This is the business fail that repeats. Business codes mold the whole society and culture: Is it likable? It must be likable and cool to look cool and professional, for everybody to witness professional way of interacting. Repetition is professional and creative? Maybe at some circles. Rehearsed ways of saying nice things that everybody likes to hear, expect to hear, expect to see and things that fit the flow of the same old same old. Practices that persist that are almost impossible to change because we endorse the way how business molds our behaviour and thinking, one can ask why so. How does it do that and why are we so drawn to plastic repetition? Looks good but says or changes nothing. That is a true puzzle.

 

Of course presentation techniques matter. Sure I like to understand the point. There are a lot of people who want to speak up and be heard but how do they do it their way and would be adding something without the pressure of fitting in?  Thing is to know what is listened to, who are paid attention to and what kinds of people and issues rise up from the multitude of issues and people. It is still more interesting to be personal, different, original and clear than fun, cracking jokes in the right spots being part of the mass I think.

 

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Every Finn has a relationship to Russia. (Sadist at work. What’s not to love.)

All the things that Russia is inspire me. To understand this is probably difficult but I guess my feelings and thoughts are normal considering in part I am from Russia and anything Russian was present in Finland in my childhood. As Russia was in the News all the time, an influence via the media given for us. It is of course like all big nations are a constant puzzle and cause of chaos, all the time. I am almost obsessed partly because we are neighbors, because the country is dangerous and the influence we have had from Russia is mighty huge in many ways. Partly because the amount of grandiose, contradictions, sheer lunacy and wildness are beyond anything else. Dark mystery of Russian mind or mysticism, an abysmal depth, and violence that scare both the shit out of me, a history to sink into, a turmoil that is a nonstop mess politically, socially and culturally, painful and bloody for the most part and to follow the soap opera is to realize that this all is happening. The whole of Russia is an explosive entity that excites me as a place and state of mind and has done so always. The question is why the threat Russia likes to embody and keep alive? Russia, the scare and secrets it holds, which mystery it still is for Finland as we wonder what will Russia do next, a criminal for the rest of the world but something we are related to. Criminal is what it politically enjoys being. Such monstrous fear justifies warring just to keep fear alive and well, justifies inequality and bullying because big guys do so, not mentally mature though. Russia enjoys it grandiose and megalomaniac attacks. Its war history is such a big part of the image and character of Russia that warring is something it seems to do naturally. Amount of veterans and problems caused by wars inside the country are also gigantic. It is at constant war also with its own people. Therefore to be peaceful and start building an equal and peaceful country that does not threat its neighbors and the US is a faraway dream country, unthinkable almost to achieve but lovely to hate. How to change something that is historically and organically a law and a habit, violent macho culture? The way things are, ways people think and what things are unthinkable, unimaginable, out of reach. To keep decades long feuds going deserves a prize.

Russia could, if it was in its interest, change Russia completely for the better, meaning better for all Russians and its neighbors. Nevertheless violence and the attraction to deadly games and sadism is unescapable. I adore Russia for its culture and because it is so different to Finland, the sterile cubical Finland. I adore beauty of Russia, naturally, which beauty makes me melancholic and blue, which wildness/ melancholy/wilderness/unexpectedness is in its people, literature, vodka, food, cities, in its size and in its history. Savages, I love your beauty! Russia is an endless game, un suspicion, that does not change all the time to be a contemporary country among others as history is always present as is the suspicion. The way of thinking is a monolith. Nothing is erased, corrected, hidden or something to be ashamed of, other than the assassinations and hazy businesses might be something to rethink. But Russia is moving ahead in someways, rolling ahead and changing maybe visually, how about culturally? Trying to be cool and being definitely scary is a very special feature.

I cannot erase the image of Brezhnev’s funeral from my mind as the occasion was shown on Finnish TV in the 80’s or the nuclear threat or the possibility that Russia any day might do the same as it did 1939 attacking Finland. Somehow possibility of revolution seems impossible, that Russian people would or could overthrow Putin, never. So far we are friends. It is a strange friendship, honest and dishonest at the same time. Something that one can only have with Russians.

Here are some of photographs I took in Kronstadt 2001. Haven’t Photoshopped them, so there is dust.

How a face moves

Untitled photos of women

How does it feel to have your clitoris cut? All the pain there is in the world put in one act, in between legs of women and girls and a knife.

Can you imagine the pain? The situation of cutting little girls for modesty and respectability without anesthesia? It freaks me out to think about it and I intuitively cross my legs and hope there will be sense enough to stop this madness. The amount of bleeding and pain must be enough to cause shock and death. Wound is also very likely to infect. Cut heals slowly not to mention mental trauma caused by the act of violence and brutal force by people that should be trustworthy. Can we imagine the pain and will we imagine it? I think we must. It is invasion where trust dies and failure which women must feel they are because they are not allowed to feel pleasure but pain. To be a woman is a sin, so women are shrunken into beings that cannot do much but accept this rule. Women are not allowed to live as fully as men and boys. They will reveal their sinful nature if they are not punished in advance. Paranoia over women’s bad influence on society, that women corrupt men if they are not tied down, is ancient holding on strongly today.

 

 

I am told I am not critical enough. Does it mean I am not analytical enough or analytical in a right way, meaning my point is too light not as heavyweight as it could be? Is there an edge missing that I as a woman, artist and a thinker do not have? It is always wrong. Has my edge been cut out or is it denied from me or do I not have it in the first place because of my gender? I should be careful but I won’t be.

To be a woman is a constant unsafe situation. There is my edge, in pain and hurt. Who hurts most, who are the most vulnerable of all people. Not being safe anywhere ever and making this state of things visible.
Mutilation is a scare, a reminder and the pathway girls must go to be honorable. It is silencing. I feel women are cut in to smaller pieces to be easier to handle, everybody knows, for everything to stay unchanged and women in their place not making demands but serving others. There is the order of things which demands of women to be quiet and scared, many are because there is too much to lose. In that same process women are cut out from having freedom of expression and humanity, processed to be human only in part. The only serious issue for women seems to be protecting honor and a loud resistant woman is not honorable anywhere.

Reactions to emotions: endless production.

Untitled photos of women.

Untitled photos of women.

Maisemointi ihmisen kuvana. Millainen mieli, sellainen maisema?

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Leikkipuistojen liukumäet ovat kaikki yhtä lyhyitä eli ei vaaraa putoamisesta, lelut eivät kovasti poikkea toisistaan. Suomessa todella tietää mitä saa. Yllätyksiä ei juurikaan ole luvassa. Hämmästyttävää sinänsä, koska ajatus suomalaisuuden ja suomalaisten erinomaisuudesta on omaleimaisuudessa. Sama kaikille-ajatus on ajatus tasa-arvosta ja jokaiselle suomalaiselle saman verran eväitä, joka ajatus on erinomainen, mutta voiko se toimia itseänsä eli meitä vastaan eli eväitä ei ole tarpeeksi kun ryhdytään uudistumaan ja tekemään jotakin uutta? Kuva on tasapäistämisestä ja turvallisuudesta, josta suomalaista peruskoulutusta erityisesti soimataan, ajatus joka saa meidät pelkäämään erikoisuutta, erilaisuutta ja poikkeavuutta? Ei saa olla erityisen hyvä, koska opettaja ei tiedä mitä sellaisen kanssa tehdään, ei saa olla erityisen poikkeava, koska ei sellaisenkaan kanssa tiedä mitä tehdä. Loppuuko luovuus samankaltaisuuden ja turvallisuuden vaatimuksessa?

Kaupunki on mielenmaisema ja kuva siitä mikä on sallittua tai kuinka kaupunkilaiset ajattelevat mitä voi tehdä ja kuinka olla. Mikä on kaupunkimaiseman funktio kun ajattelemme millaisia arvoja järjestämämme ja hallinnoimamme kaupunkinäkymä edustaa? Kaupunki, ainakin teoriassa, edustaa kollektiivisia arvojamme ja elämäntapaamme, entä muuta, orjallisuuttamme ja uskoamme samankaltaisuuden voimaan tai että jokaisella on mahdollisuus hyvinvointiin? Kaupunki näyttää siltä millaisia ihmisiä siellä asuu ja mitä he haluavat, elämältä ja kaupungilta. On edelleen osattava vaatia sellaista kaupunkia joka on asukkaita varten. Suomessa ajatus kaupunki kansalaisille toimii pääasiassa hyvin, silti kyseenalaistaisin edelleen tapoja tehdä edustus edellä ja ajatusta että kaupunki on ulospäin ulkopuoliselle katsojalle jotakin, ei niinkään sille joka on sisällä kaupungissa.

Perusarvojamme ja visioita hyvästä kaupungista vaalimme, etenkin poliittisia, ja inhimillisiä tarpeita jotka ovat kulueriä, mitä niistä. Toimivuutta painotetaan kyllä, etenkin autoilun kannalta, asioita joihin käyttäjänä, kaupunkimaiseman kuvaajana, katsojana ja pohdiskelijana kiinnitän huomiota. Suomalaisessa kaupungissa on ikuisen oloinen tiukka järjestys ja samankaltaisuus, joka taitaa olla lakisääteistä ja kovin rakennuttajien hallussa oleva. Joka kaupungissa toistuu geometrisesti säännöllinen, samankaltainen ajattelun ja tekemisen siisteys, parturoitu ja puhdistettu elämisen ja tekemisen idea tai ideattomuus. Jos maisemoidaan laitetaan ruohikolle suuri kivi ja istutetaan pensaita rajaamaan nurmikkoa. Millaisesta ajattelusta tai ajattelun puutteesta ja ihmiskuvasta toisto kertoo? Jonkunlainen säilömisen tarve ja pelko muutoksesta paistaa läpi. Mitä uudistuminen sitten vaatii että kollektiivisesti tapahtuisi muutos ajattelussa, oppimista miten nähdä toisin ja etenkin luonnollista kiinnostusta ympäröivää kohtaan? Millainen on hyvä kaupunki visuaalisesti on oletus materiaalisesta hyvinvoinnista, säännöllisestä järjestyksestä jossa perusasiat toimivat, ylhäältä määrätystä, joka on luutunut mieliimme, jota ajatusta edustavat materiaalivalinnat, suoruus, suorakulmaisuus jossa todellisuudessa vaikutelma on ideaköyhä toiston vankila. Virkamies joka ei ymmärrä että halpa tulee lopulta kalliiksi. Näkymä on toki tiettyyn pisteeseen asti tarkoituksellinen ja puhdas, häiriötön, särötön ja turvallinenkin kunnes home iskee. Voisiko hajuton ja mauton olla jotakin muuta?

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Uusi koulu- ja nuorisotilarakennus Lielahdessa Tampereella, joka edustaa uutta tapaa rakentaa oppimista varten. Pisteet Tampereelle!

Analysoida jotakin mikä on tehty lähes steriiliksi on kuin ajattelisi jotakin mikä on suunniteltu tyhjäksi, jota eivät käytä ihmiset vaan koneet ilman ihmisten tarpeita. Mistään ei saa kiinni muusta kuin omasta ihmetyksestä toistuvaa tapaa maisemoida hengettömäksi loputtomasti toistuvaksi samaksi ja vaikuttamisen mahdottomuus tekee turraksi että vihaiseksi. Toisto edustaa tietynlaista jatkuvuutta ajatuksellisesti, halvan suunnittelun jatkuvuutta ja muutoksen pelkoa, helppoutta johon pyrimme ja ajattelemisen vaikeutta jota kartamme. Pelkoa ärtymystä ja ihmetystä kohtaan, raivo repeää tuon tuostakin jos jokin muuttuu radikaalisti. Nykyään asiat muuttuvat huonompaan ja kallistuvat vaikka kaikki on helppoa ja jopa halpaa, mikä ristiriita. Vaikeus toki on monen asian yhtäaikainen huomioiminen ja vastuukysymykset, vaikeus ajatella toisin uudella tavalla tai jopa palata vanhaan, lainata vanhasta jota ei arkkitehtuurissa harrasteta on todellinen vaikeus. Vedotaan siihen ettei enää osata. Kun osaaminen katoaa niinkin nopeasti kuin on ilmeisesti tapahtunut, taantuminen vaikuttaisi olevan liian helppoa. Päättelen ettei meillä ole tarpeeksi vastusta että tarvitsisi ajatella vaikeita.

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2014, Nimetön teos penkille