Keywords: Jaakko Autio, narva identiteetti, suomi, viro, venäjä geo-politiikka, ääni-installaatio, äänitaide, identiteetti, immersio, katharsis, NomadVocals, Nart residenssi, Tallinnan musiikkiviikko, Kreenholmin tehdas.
Jaakko Autio’s sound installation “On The Border / Rajalla” in Kreenholm, Narva 6-8.5.2022 / The installation is made as collaboration with four choirs: Narva music school girls choir (EE), Narva Estonian language house Tandem choir (EE), Narva museum folk ensemble “Suprjadki” (EE) and Nomad Vocals Choir (FI) / Music composer: Jussi Mattila (Original “Maamme laulu/Mu Isamaa by Fredrik Pacius 1847)
The name of the installation “On the border” can mean the actual Estonian-Russian border, or the interpersonal border in relation to another. In this installation, we cross the border into shared aesthetic experience.
“On The Border” contemplates the question “Who am i” in a world fragmented by geopolitics. The work was born on the Russian-Estonian border in Narva as a part of my three month residency at NART. Narva is the most Russian city in Europe with 96% of the Russian-speaking population. Although the geographical boundary is clearly drawn on the border between Russia and Estonia, the question of the locals’ own identity is a mixture of both, Estonia and Russia. “On the border” installation, 40 singers are heard singing, breathing and speaking together. The singers are Finns, Estonians and Estonian Russians. There are clusters from the melody of Finland’s and Estonians national anthem “Maamme laulu/Mu Isamaa”, which we share in Finland and in Estonia. The visitor can listen to each singer’s individual voice, breathing and singing separately, or listen to the choir as a whole.