Page 19 - SKR-annual-report-2022-EN

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Experiencing
human sound

Sound artist Jaakko Autio likes to make the unseen visible. A new installation
came into being near the Russian border in Narva, Estonia.

H uman relations, familiar- Sound artist Jaakko Autio received a grant for artistic work at the NART
ity versus strangeness, residency in Estonia in 2022.
localness, and everyday
culture are themes that happens when the basic needs are met. their mother tongue. The Baroque TEXT AND PHOTO LAURA IISALO
turn into immersive sound installa- I feel better and drift less when I take style Narva was almost completely
tions in the hands of Jaakko Autio. this opportunity”, he says. destroyed during the Second World
He wants to take his art among people, War bombings, and the new, Soviet
which is where it originates from. While sound is Autio’s preferred style city was built in place. The
art form, he likes to include visual Estonian population was substituted
Autio spent a big part of his elements in his installations. In the As with Russians.
childhood in Senegal, Africa, where his Time Sounds II installation, which was
family moved because of his parents’ exhibited at the Mikkeli Art Museum In Narva, Autio prepaded a sound
work. That’s where Autio learned what during the summer of 2021, sounds installation titled Where we are, which he
the local saying “I am because you are” created by Autio made geometric created together with local choirs. It was
means. shapes on the surface of water. The exhibited at the Narva Art Residency,
speakers, which almost resemble and at the Kogo gallery in Tartu.
“In Senegal everything is about human figures, bring a humane touch
mutual relations, and the idea of to whatever space he uses. “The new installation is loosely
privacy differs from the western one. based on the Finnish national anthem,
I got to know local music and culture In spring 2022, Autio lived and which is melodically almost identical
that has been refined throughout worked in Estonia at the Narva Art with the Estonian one. I try to create
centuries, and which brings people Residency for three months, funded an aesthetic experience, which for
together. I witnessed how important by the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s just a moment allows us to recognise
it is to throw oneself out there and to artist in residence programme. It and remember a world not marked by
become visible”, he says. came to him as a surprise that up to hostility and conflicts”, Autio says.
96% of the locals speak Russian as
When Autio was 11 years old, the
family moved to Ylivieska, a town
of about 15 000 inhabitants in the
Northern Ostrobothnia region in
Finland. Autio found it hard to adapt.
He had never worn socks or brushed
his hair and spoke Finnish with a
French accent. Now Autio thinks that
his sense of foreignness has turned
into a strength, which he taps into
when making art.

Autio worked in theatre before
he started to make art on his own
terms. As a sound artist he considers
himself to be a storyteller and a people
gatherer. Autio rarely makes himself
seen but prefers using other people’s
voices in his installations.

“I’m like a social anthropologist
who spots something precious in the
existing culture and makes it visible. It
was my parents’ job to solve everyday
problems; I’m interested in what