Keywords: Jaakko Autio, narva identiteetti, suomi, viro, venäjä geo-politiikka, ääni-installaatio, äänitaide, identiteetti, immersio, katharsis, NomadVocals, Nart residenssi, Tallinnan musiikkiviikko, Kreenholmin tehdas.
ON THE BORDER is Part I of the four-part Border Series, a 40-channel sound installation. It was made in Narva in spring 2022 during a residency at NART, weeks after the war in Ukraine began. Four choirs, forty singers in all, were recorded separately, and each had their own loudspeaker. With Jussi Mattila I composed a wordless version of Maamme laulu (Mu Isamaa). The work does not argue about territory. It listens for what remains in the body after geopolitics has passed through it.
The work has travelled, and its form changed with each space:
Kreenholm Industrial Complex, Narva (Tallinn Music Week), 6-8 May 2022
NART Gallery, Narva, 22 June to 14 August 2022
Kogo Gallery, Tartu, 9 September to 5 November 2022 (voices hovered above a surface of water)
World Cities Culture Summit, Finnish National Opera, Helsinki, 5-7 October 2022
Porvoo Art Factory, 26 November 2022 to 8 January 2023 (the work rose into the height of the space)
Music: Jussi Mattila (Fredrik Pacius, 1848). Light design: Pasi Pehkonen. Producers: Johanna Rannula, Aleksei Ivanov. Choirs: Narva Music School Girls Choir, Tandem, Suprjadki and Nomad Vocals. Support: SKR, Taike, Titanik Gallery.
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pdU6whL_5I and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUIE3vjEx34
Essay The Border Stories (NART): https://www.nart.ee/en/the-border-stories-jaakko-autio/
Documentation: https://jaakkoautio.com/on-the-border/