May 2019 – loweroi.net

The first Rauma Triennale invites its audience to explore boredom – a phenomenon seemingly to be avoided at all costs in our time, the stimulus-packed era of digitalisation and globalisation. What do we lose if we give up boredom? Does boredom hide something worth holding on to?

The name of the exhibition, In Praise of Boredom, is borrowed from Joseph Brodsky’s essay of the same name. Boredom is present in the works in a number of ways: as a laborious technique, slow-paced contents or an appearance that demands it be explored without hurry. The exhibition is hosted by Rauma Art Museum and Tarvontori, an abandoned shopping centre in the city of Rauma.

The exhibition showcases contemporary art from drawings to photography and from sculpture to video art, featuring works by Nabil Boutros (EG/FR), Emma Jääskeläinen (FI), Hertta Kiiski (FI), Maija Luutonen (FI), Paulien Oltheten (NL), Sari Palosaari (FI), Martha Rosler (US), Jaan Toomik (EE) and Elina Vainio (FI). It is curated by Anna Vihma.

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“As a format, an exhibition is flexible in terms of time. The physical existence of many artworks does not bind them to a certain period of time and, even when it does, the viewer alone decides how long they spend in front of a single work of art, or at the exhibition as a whole. Besides their temporal length, works of art can suggest ponderousness by other means, too. Their form can communicate a long and technically laborious working process involving much repetition and patience, for example. Or their materials or contents can include references to slowness or long periods of time.

Some of the works in In Praise of Boredom are older, while others were produced specifically for the exhibition, but they are all connected to boredom in one way or another. With these works of art, and the exhibition that takes shape around them, we encourage exhibition guests to get in touch with boredom, to take a moment and tolerate the silence, tedium and repetition that causes them to feel bored. Perhaps there is power invested in apathy.
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— Anna Vihma, Exhibition Curator

IMAGE: Paulien Oltheten, La Defence, 2017-2018, still from video

NARRATOR: At the same time, at the library, a certain worm wakes up.

MAISA THE WORM: (Clock ticking) I’m tired and I feel weird. I’ve woken up on the library floor and I’ve been squished. I can barely move. I’m going to slither over to the book and eat it. (Strange noises)

NARRATOR: Somewhere else, Kalle the Earthworm has just woken up.

KALLE THE EARTHWORM: I don’t feel like getting up. Hungry. I wonder what time it is. Surely I haven’t overslept? Is this a school morning? Hot… if I open the window… no, too tired. My bed is all slimy. I should tidy up. Did I have homework? I could go to the library.

NARRATOR: Soon, Kalle the Earthworm is also lying on the library floor eating a book. (Eating sounds)

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The above extract is taken from a radio play created by students from Year 5 at the Freinet School in Rauma. During the spring term, they have looked at the theme of boredom and found ways to express it in writing workshops, discussions, by drawing, and by creating soundscapes of boredom. Based on their ideas, they then recorded a radio play whose title roughly translates as Land of Boredom in an Era of Apathy.

The starting point of the radio play is a world without the internet. It takes place in the Land of Boredom where a group of characters, including Swag-Pörrö, Bored Tiina, Slime and Seppo live. In the conversations the students have written for the characters, boredom becomes fatigue, laziness, sluggishness and lethargy.

To complement the script, the young radio-play makers have made a soundtrack with sounds of boredom, including music and sounds created with Foley sound techniques. They also took turns as sound recordists, capturing lines of dialogue and other audioscapes.

The radio play is created under the supervision of children’s writer and creative writing teacher Karoliina Suoniemi and sound artist Jukka Herva. It is curated by Anna-Kaisa Koski.

Land of Boredom in an Era of Apathy premieres on Radio Ramona (93,3 MHz, 97,3 MHz or online) on Tuesday, June 4, after the 6pm news. It plays all summer at Rauma Art Museum as part of the Triennale.

The language of the radio play is Finnish.

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“The Internet has just turned 30, and touchscreen smartphones have existed for at least 12 years. What does boredom mean to the post-smartphone generation who have no recollection of those timeless times? Do they ever get bored?”

— Anna-Kaisa Koski, curator