Tag Archives: Art

#democracy too

We all know there is no such thing as normal people or normal actions. No two normals look alike. Your normal looks different from mine.

Still, I feel confident in my statement: Normal is out. We are bombarded by so much information that it takes something beyond our own concept of normal to drag our attention away from our comfy interaction with like-minded people in our chosen information silos; the ones provided by courtesy of the Chinese, Elon Musk, international investors or local media providers.

All too often it takes something negative to catch our interest.

In a media overload world, a happy life is seldom interesting unless it involves a mind-boggling rags-to-riches story or is achieved after serious, preferably health-threatening, setbacks. Great grades and a stellar job record do not a good story make. Ruining your successful career spectacularly – now that is clickworthy. Genders are interesting mainly if there is an internal or external struggle or an equality issue involved. Faith is newsworthy if it involves celebrities or leads to violence or oppression rather than good deeds.

If you want to be heard, make sure you are not too normal, whatever that means in your target group. You can opt for a memorable hair style like Boris Johnson, an interesting age gap marriage like President Macron and his Finnish counterpart, Niinistö, or you can ride the minority van, with skin colour, gender or sexuality as your strength. Unusually good or bad looks never hurt either.

Actually, any of the above alone may not make the cut these days. The world is looking for something more – and more – whatever that is.

Even a fish has to be quite out of the ordinary to grab our attention. Hence my featured image, which also symbolises my take on the effects of social media. It’s an ugly picture.

No wonder everyone is out there riding their own “ism” be it fanaticism, racism, or some other ism. Even Putin and Trump have realised that plain old crazy is not enough; you need to spice it up with wars, conspiracy theories and isms.

Sadly, my favourite news media, Helsingin Sanomat, all too often falls into the trap of letting social media algorithms take the driver’s seat, while HS takes the backseat with its semi-analytical follow-ups on the latest “talk of the town”. It’s the easy way out in search of clicks: Tailgate social media regardless of whether the issues trending on it are truly worth the coverage journalistically. It’s also the way to get caught up in warped agendas driven by social media savvy parties instead of doing your own thinking and legwork.

I am aware that I am crying for journalism as we have known it – and still know it, when my favourite news media is at its best. Things change. Maybe traditional journalism is fated to take the backseat. But why seat yourself there voluntarily?

As far as the Chinese are concerned, the more mindless the TikTok content and its followers become, the better. In China itself, TikTok is not allowed. Elon Musk, in turn, makes no secret that X is now his – to do with as he pleases – and rules do not please him. Social media platforms do not care a jot about fact-checking, good journalistic practices or democracy. They pose as a way to become heard, but their algorithms make sure that not everyone is. Why help them?

Our view of what is to be considered a fact may change as we learn new things. That is as it should be. However, thanks to social media, more and more people seem to be buying into the thought that facts are only a matter of opinion; just pick your own alternative fact and go with it, no proof required. The same trend seems to apply to the rule of law; if it doesn’t “work” for you, just ignore it and do as you wish.

As like finds like by courtesy of social media algorithms, fiction becomes fact to so many that no fact-checking can halt the process. Western democracies are slowly being trained to a life of panem et circences (bread and circuses). With AI in the mix, the stories will only get wilder and wilder and so will probably the voters along with them.

As the lines between possible and impossible, true and false, and right and wrong become blurred, it becomes increasingly tempting to vote for someone, who – ably aided by algorithms- sells you an exciting story and promises you both bread and the full circus experience. It’s such an easy solution: Just jump on the circus wagon, forget your troubles and doubts and hope for the best.

How did billions of people end up being led by their noses without protest? What about free will and independent decision-making? When did we lose this War Over Minds to evil algorithms? Is the damage irreversible? How far are we gone? When all is said and done, will our sense of real and unreal, true and false, right and wrong be totally lost?

The way things are going, we will vote ourselves out of democracy before we know it. For all the wrong reasons – just because we can.

The fight to save Western democracies starts at home. You may not have to risk your life in the physical sense, but you must be ready to make sacrifices that may feel life-changing. Leave your social media accounts – at least the ones that are clearly led by parties beyond all control. You will not beat them by joining them.

Let the fight begin #democracy too!

Wait – I realise I am not on TikTok, X, Instagram or Facebook. No algorithms will push this message forward. Then again, even if I was, would they really push it? You can see where this is going. It is, indeed, an ugly picture.

Madrid and the silent stowaway

Sometimes you just get tired of being careful. Life passes by and you feel like an outsider – you are not participating. This is how two grandmothers – myself included – and their teenage granddaughters ended up in Madrid for three very full days when Fall leave began.

Of course, we knew that coronavirus case numbers were on the rise. But who has the time and inclination to worry about this when your plane lands in sunny Madrid?

Our group would have been fine with me walking around in a mask all day. Yet it felt weird to do so, when (almost) nobody else was wearing one. Masks were obligatory only when using public transportation.

Peer pressure is a funny thing. Even when there is no actual pressure, you can create it yourself. A mask tends to set you slightly aside if others are not wearing one too. You feel different whether others treat you as such or not. Unless you are into being aloof, it is not a fun feeling; which is why I chose to join the majority.

As always – this was not our first trip abroad as a group – our trip was a thoroughly positive experience. This time, however, it was a little too much so. Thanks to my silent stowaway, the coronavirus, I tested corona positive upon my return. Still, I have no regrets. I thoroughly enjoyed our maskless foray into Spanish culture at its richest.

However, looking back at our carefree days in Madrid, I can’t help wondering when I picked up my passenger. I guess we all do that once we test positive.

Was it at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum where we saw the great Picasso/Chanel exhibition?

Maybe it was when I was scolded by a museum guard for photographing Picasso’s Guernica in the Reina Sofia Museum?

Here I feel the need to defend myself. The museum’s “No photos” sign read as if it referred only to the room that Guernica was in, while I was taking my photo from the next room. In addition, photos are allowed in other areas of the Reina Sofia Museum as proven by the auditorium photo below, which we specifically asked permission for. Immersive art at its best.

Going back to my new companion, did the stowaway hop aboard as we were enjoying the views on the top floor of Riu Plaza Espana? We missed a visit to the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Prado Museum this time, but at least we got a glimpse of the former from the roof top.

Then again, my stowaway may have caught up with me when the girls were shopping through their shortlist of environmentally friendly brands – or on the hop on hop off bus, while I was commenting on the fact that even head post offices look like palaces in Madrid.

Many would consider the flamenco restaurant we visited the most probable breeding ground for stowaways. It was packed, and the tickets cost enough for people to disregard a slight cough or cold instead of foregoing the flamenco experience. An experience that was unanimously voted “best experience of our trip” by the teenagers.

The Picasso/Chanel exhibition and Guernica ended up tied for second position even though Retiro Park was close behind.

The downstairs delicatessen “made our day” each afternoon as we returned to our airbnb for a short recharge. There is no way the virus embedded itself in my cookie! Nothing would be right in this world if that could happen.

However, if I had to bet on where I picked up my silent stowaway, my bet would be on the waitress who managed to sneeze directly at me as we were having lunch in a well-known restaurant. Looking back, there is something so familiar about that sneeze. I found myself re-enacting it – albeit handkerchief at hand – a few days later.

This is how the virus travels. We have to work for a living, we get frustrated with tight rules and regulations, we want to live and experience things together as we used to with friends and family. The virus is betting on us acting as we do and adapting to our ways. The less deadly it is, the more probably we will allow it near us. Silent stowaways are all around us, just waiting for a ride.

The good thing about this pause in my life is that I have less time to worry about the world now that I have to worry about each new symptom. Is that the same headache my sister-in-law suffered from creeping up on me? Do I feel extra tired like many say they did? Definitely – at least, when it’s my turn to empty the dishwasher. Am I loosing my voice like my friend did? Why am I not feeling worse? Can this really be over in a few days? What about long Covid? Is the virus just sitting there, planning a new attack?

There are now two of us. My silent stowaway, who managed to disrupt the world together with its very extended family, and I. Life continues. We will both move on to business as usual, whatever that is, once our quarantine is over.

Knots, knits and opinions

We all have opinions, whether we recognise them or voice them. They are there from the day of our birth. Some things we like, some things we don’t. Our opinions can be based on facts or feelings, but they are still opinions: our personal take on what those (perceived) facts or feelings mean.

Which is why it was a day for the history books, when I found myself in such a relaxed state during our summer holiday that I was unable to come up with a single opinion on anything.

My mind just decided to take a break. Not even the sunset (which was beautiful in hindsight) could move me to have an opinion. It was almost startling.

There we sat at our cosy dinner table, my partner in life and I, watching the sun set over “our” lake. We had bought, prepared and eaten early potatoes, all sorts of vegetables, and muikku (a.k.a. vendace, a species of freshwater whitefish); all straight from nearby farms and lakes. We had topped our meal off with delicious, just-picked strawberries. We were well-fed and well-rested.There was no need to think or speak. We just cherished the moment with our minds blank in the best possible way.

The war in Ukraine, climate change, Finland’s entry into Nato, the latest coronavirus news, the rising inflation numbers and interest rates, the promise of a cold winter with insufficient heating due to gas supply issues, recession speculations, rise of populism, not to mention the never-ending power struggle between the superpowers – nothing – not a single opinion on any of these was forthcoming.

Moments like this are as fleeting as butterfly stops. I hope you have had a chance to enjoy a few of them amidst all that is going on in the world.

Reality has a tendency to catch up with you, whether you wish it or not. My favourite newspaper made sure of that. It provided me with an in depth article on all the crises looming in the horizon. The list seemed endless: debt crisis, housing market crisis, commodity crisis (including but not limited to energy crisis), Euro-crisis, China- crisis (political and financial), and a recession for the history books. All of this on top of the war in Ukraine.

Reality even invaded our balcony as we returned to Helsinki from our holiday refuge. Instead of butterflies, we could count helicopters on the deck of USS Kearsage, a 257 m (843 ft) long, nuclear powered Wasp-class amphibious assault ship that slowly slipped past us into the port of Helsinki.

Talking about wasps: I sent one of the photos above to a friend. His answering text said it all: “Not half as scary as Nancy Pelosi”.

To a political outsider Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan looked like she was stirring up a hornet´s nest that might just create the butterfly effect that puts us en route to chaos. There is a time and place for everything. The whys of this particular trip remain obscure.

Pelosi has had an impressive career. Does she really need to top her CV with “Started World War III”? To paraphrase an old saying : With friends like this, who needs enemies to feel unsafe.

To continue with sayings: Life truly is like a box of chocolates. Over and over again you bite into something sugar/chocolate-coated without really knowing what you will find inside. My first taste of Nato tells me that I will probably not love it, but I will still keep it on the menu to ensure that I get enough sustenance to survive.

Chocolates come in many forms. Often the surprises they offer are delightful. While Pelosi was traipsing around Taiwan, we went to Fiskars; a picturesque village in Southern Finland known for combining design, art and architecture in a unique and inspiring way.

Pelosi and reality were once again forgotten, when we browsed the exhibition “U-joints: Knots&Knits”. U-joints is an ongoing research project and exhibition series by Andrea Caputo and Anniina Koivu. The exhibitions examine the functional and aesthetic relevance of this crucial design component.

Knots and Knits is the fourth chapter of the project. The exhibition was a piece of art in itself as well as in its details. It gave the viewer a new perspective on design.

I leave you with this thought: We may have managed to tie our world in knots, but hope still remains that we can continue to knit something beautiful out of it. Just look at all the ingenious things we have designed so far.

The blessings of being ordinary

Good art inspires; it makes you see things differently. I just saw a Frida Kahlo exhibition, and was struck not only by her art, which was inspiring in itself, but by her life story too.

Frida Kahlo was bedridden with polio for nine months when she was six, and limped ever after. As if that was not enough, she barely survived a serious traffic accident in 1925, when she was only eighteen. She had thirty-five operations before she could leave the hospital. She was in pain from that day on. Continue reading →