Ptarmigan

Event: AACM seminar week 5: The dawn of the 1980s

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:00:28 +0000

[Eesti]

01. juuli 2013

This is a seminar/class that will meet this summer to explore the evolution of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). The meetings will begin in the mid-late 1960’s and follow the development of the AACM, mainly looking at the Art Ensemble of Chicago as central figures, up through the late 1970s.

Each week we will listen together to AACM recordings, discuss our thoughts and ideas, and share food and drink. The principal text will be George E. Lewis’s book A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music, but we will supplement each meeting with additional readings that span theory, criticism and other themes related to their work. We will explicitly examine the organisational elements of the AACM, as an association that supports artistic research against the grain of commercial pressure, seeking strategies that may be applicable to our creative ventures today. Additionally, we’ll look for parallel developments in non-AACM art and music from these times.

Schedule:

In our final meeting, we will look at how the AACM changes in the late 1970s, responding to the challenges of sustaining continued musical creativity against both the shrinking cultural environment and the organisation’s own institutional nature. We'll check in with the AACM as it exists now, where it has become a storied Chicago institution, and listen to some of the recordings from the late 1970s that hint at the future development of these artists.

This week's listening:

Roscoe Mitchell – Nonaah (1977)
Chico Freeman – Chico (1977)
Art Ensemble of Chicago –Nice Guys (1978)
Air – Open Air Suit, Montreux Suisse (1978)

Event: AACM seminar week 4: The 1970s in America

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 18:53:28 +0000

[Eesti]

24. juuni 2013

This is a seminar/class that will meet several times this summer to explore the evolution of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). The meetings will begin in the mid-late 1960’s and follow the development of the AACM, mainly looking at the Art Ensemble of Chicago as central figures, up through the late 1970s.

Schedule:

Back in America, the Art Ensemble added Don Moye as drummer and cemented the lineup that would continue until Bowie’s death. Meanwhile, other AACM musicians were moving to New York and expanding their circles, while the AACM approached ten years of existence.

This week's listening:

Art Ensemble of Chicago – Live at Mandel Hall (1972) , Fanfare for the Warriors (1973)
Creative Construction Company Volume 2 (1971)
Anthony Braxton – New York, Fall 1974 (1975)

Event: AACM seminar week 3: A brain for the Seine

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 18:36:51 +0000

[Eesti]

17. juuni 2013

Schedule:

Some AACM musicians traveled to Paris in 1969, where the Art Ensemble of Chicago solidified, and they underwent their most fruitful period of musical exploration. Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Leo Smith and Steve McCall also worked in Paris at this time, playing in various group formations, and with Paris-based musicians. In France, their music was enthusiastically appreciated, though the reception of black American art in Europe was often problematic, tinged with an artificial exoticism.

This week's listening:

Art Ensemble of Chicago – A Message To Our Folks, A Jackson in Your House, People in Sorrow (1969)
Art Ensemble of Chicago – The Paris Sessions, Les Stances a Sophie, Live in Paris (1970/71)

Event: AACM seminar week 2: The new sound of Chicago

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 18:04:11 +0000

[Eesti]

10. juuni 2013

Schedule:

This week we'll look at some more early AACM recordings, specifically the debut of a young composer named Anhony Braxton. While the Art Ensemble of Chicago was not yet named, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors were performing under various group names. Like a “super group” of Chicago-based musicians, these four were united in their distinct approach to creating “black music”. At once jazz and not-jazz, this music created a new form of sound expression that did not abandon the roots of jazz, Negro spirituals, and African tribal music yet was distinctly avant-garde and open in form.

This week we'll listen to:

Anthony Braxton – 3 Compositions of New Jazz (1968)
Maurice McIntyre – Humility in the Light of Creator (1969)
Art Ensemble – selections from the 67/68 box set

Event: Fake It Till You Make It, June 2013

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:59:10 +0000

[Eesti]

04. juuni 2013

Fake It Till You Make It returns on Tuesday, 4 June.

All are welcome, and remember, it's always nice to register so Justin knows roughly how many people are coming.

About FITYMI
Fake It Till You Make It is a workshop/working group for those curious individuals looking to broaden their experience and skill-set. Each session of FITYMI will be on a different subject which could fall under areas of expertise such as construction, making, baking, electronics, mechanics, cooking, jewelry, physics, plants, and whatever else can be imagined. It is the purpose of the workshop to learn new things for the sake of learning and it is for this reason that participants will only discover the subject of each session upon arriving to the workshop. During each meeting there is a short talk about the subject and how to accomplish the objective of the FITYMI session followed by participants choosing how to proceed (experimenting with materials, accomplishing a project, discussion and/or playing) with food available at some point during the workshop.

To cover the expenses of materials and food for the workshop participants are asked to ‘pay what you can’. We'll have food to share at the end while we reflect on what we made.

Running/organizing the workshop is Justin Tyler Tate who instructs other workshops such as 'Fast and Raw' - Intermediate sushi and 'Under Your Skin' (Tattooing Workshop). Tate has a Bachelors degree in Fine Art, a Doctorate in electronics and has an insatiable curiosity for new materials, techniques and ways of making.

Event: AACM seminar week 1: Before the Art Ensemble

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:50:14 +0000

[Eesti]

03. juuni 2013

Schedule:

At our first meeting. we'll begin our investigation in the mid-1960s by looking at movements of black American artists uniting in formal organisations. We’ll look at the Black Arts Movement in New York, which formed around writing and poetry, as an influence on and precursor to the AACM (which was founded in 1965). Recordings from this period will span 1967-1968, specifically the work of prominent members of the yet-unformed Art Ensemble of Chicago, then working in different groups; and Muhal Richard Abrams, whose Experimental Band is considered the genesis of the AACM.

Listening:

Roscoe Mitchell – Sound, Old/Quartet (1967-68)
Joseph Jarman – Song For, As If It Were the Seasons (1967/68)
Muhal Richard Abrams – Levels and Degrees of Light (1967)

Let us know if you are coming and feel free to bring food and drink to share!

Event: Unfinished Screenings 4 (Open Screen)

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:25:12 +0000

[Eesti]

27. mai 2013

Unfinished may be treated as finished. On Monday, 27 May 2013, Done Lab will be screening raw film and video footage collected from our open call. If you are bored by fancy post-production, tired of trendy special effects, and/or uninterested in obvious plots, then come and enjoy this nonlinear, rugged experience.

A detailed program will be published soon after the raw footage submission deadline of 19 May 2013.

Event: Unfinished Screenings 3 (Documentaries)

Sat, 04 May 2013 18:41:41 +0000

[Eesti]

20. mai 2013

There is no end to the description of reality. On Monday, 20 May 2013 at 18:00 Done Lab invites you for the marathon of unfinished documentaries by Eisenstein (Que Viva Mexico, 1931), Godard, Leacock, Pennebaker (1pm.,1968) and Ghatak (Ramkinkar Baij, 1976).

Event: Unfinished Screenings 2 (Bad Movies)

Sun, 05 May 2013 08:12:58 +0000

[Eesti]

13. mai 2013

Bad ideas shouldn't be finalized. On Monday, 13 May 2013 at 19:00 Done Lab invites you for the marathon of terrible, incomplete movies by Leder, Hope, Sholem (Doomsday Machine, 1972), Lorinz (Swirly, 2000) and Sheldon (Grizzly II: The Predator, 1987).

Event: Clip Kino: Unfinished Screenings 1 (Film Icons)

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:09:27 +0000

[Eesti]

06. mai 2013

Film icons also struggle with undone. On Monday, 6 May 2013 at 19:00 Done Lab in conjunction with Clip Kino invites you for the screening of unfinished movies (starring Charlie Caplin, Marilyn Monroe and Bruce Lee).

Clip Kino events are self-organised screening events of short video clips & documentaries found online. It aims to drag aspects of normalised 'private' activity - of viewing downloaded content on one's own computer - into public space for screening, appreciation and debate.

Post: Open call: Axis of Praxis residency (Mooste and Tallinn)

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:54:29 +0000

[Eesti]

This is an open call for a joint residency between MoKS (Mooste) and Ptarmigan (Tallinn). The Axis of Praxis residency programme will offer the possibility to research and develop work in and between two distinctly different contexts within Estonia. MoKS is located in a village in rural south Estonia and Ptarmigan in the capital city of Tallinn. MoKS is an organisation run by artists and researchers, with experience in organising a diverse program of residencies, art symposia, projects, workshops and more. Ptarmigan is an event-driven organisation that focuses on trans-disciplinary projects, building participatory culture and social practices. Within the Axis of Praxis residency there is a possibility to organise joint events between the two centres.

Although both cultural centres operate in contrasting environments, we share an interest in exploring and engaging with the places and communities that surround us. Axis of Praxis is a residency opportunity aimed at utilising these similarities and distinctions, as well as helping to build connections between the two organisations. Preference is given to proposals of a social nature and/or including open-form collaborations. We are also looking for creative methods and forms of learning as a model for culture building.

Who we are looking for
Artists, organisers, curators and researchers of all artistic and creative disciplines. While our residency program is orientated towards contextual work with environmental or socially- engaged practices, we also offer a comfortable concentrated atmosphere suitable for focused work, writing or research.

This is a two month split residency: one month in MoKS, one month in Ptarmigan. The order does not matter. The residency times available are from August - December 2013.

Number of residencies offered: 3

Who is eligible
These residencies are being offered for residents of Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Aland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The residency is supported by the Kulturkontakt Nord Nordic-Baltic mobility programme.

What we offer

cover of travel costs to and from your home, and between Tallinn and Mooste
a monthly stipend of 700 € (1400€ total). (To receive stipend and travel costs the artist must stay in the residency a minimum 85% of agreed time)
working and living space
access to MoKS and Ptarmigan facilities and assistance for realisation of project.

Description of residency facilities

How to apply
Applications must be submitted electronically via our online proposal form.

The deadline for applications is 15 June 2013.

Post: Open call: Ptarmigan residency programme in Tallinn

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:39:19 +0000

[Eesti]

Ptarmigan seeks creative projects from the Nordic and Baltic regions for two-month residencies in Tallinn, Estonia. These residencies are supported by the Kulturkontakt Nord Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme.

Ptarmigan is a multi-disciplinary cultural platform operating in both Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland. For five years, Ptarmigan has organised events, residencies, workshops, performances and other projects that span across various spheres of art, music, performance, humanities, and other more nebulous fields. Our focus is on participatory and event-driven cultural production that’s simultaneously inclusive and unusual.

Who is eligible
Any legal resident of the Nordic or Baltic countries, excluding Estonia. This means: Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, the Åland Islands, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania.

What we are looking for
Your residency is a project; your proposal should clearly describe what you hope to do with two months in Tallinn. We look to produce projects that excite us and occupy unique cultural space. We like to see things that are active and lively, and fit in well with what we do. At Ptarmigan, the joy is in collaboration, being together, and expanding perspectives. We’re inclined towards ideas that offer some sort of educational component, and a chance for the public to be involved, while being experimental in nature.

What you get
If chosen, your travel to and from Tallinn will be paid for (up to €400). You will be provided with accommodation and studio space. In addition to this you will receive a stipend of 1400€ for your two months stay, pending requirements (see below). All of your costs (food, materials, etc.) will come from this stipend (or your own funds).. There is an option that you may visit Helsinki at least once to present, perform, or otherwise engage with our Finnish network - ferry travel and accommodation will be covered for this trip.

Ptarmigan is an artist-run space that is all volunteer based. We're pleased to help you with your project and treat you as an inherent but temporary part of our fluctuating team.

Description of the residency facilities

Other requirements
If you are not a legal resident of one of the aforementioned countries, then you are not eligible for this residency, which is funded by KK Nord only for mobility between Nordic and Baltic countries. If you have a good idea for Ptarmigan but are not a resident of these countries, please don’t hesitate to propose it anyway -- but understand that we do not have any financial support beyond the Nordic/Baltic residency programme.

The residency, as required by KK Nord, is for a minimum of two months. We are generally budgeted for exactly that time, though a few extra days over is okay. If you have an idea for a longer project then please describe it in your proposal.

The stipend is broken into two monthly payments of 700€ each. This is intended to cover all living costs and materials. To receive this stipend, you must spend 85% of your stay in Tallinn (though your visit to Helsinki will not count against this).

How to apply
To apply for Ptarmigan’s Nordic/Baltic residency programme, please use our general-purpose proposal form, and choose “Tallinn residencies” as the “existing project”. We prefer that you apply in English.

We will be selecting 2 residencies in 2013 on ongoing basis, with a minimum duration of two-months each with our first residency beginning at the start of June. Please specify clearly on the proposal form when you would be most interested in coming, ex. “June-July”, “November-December”, etc.

Post: Call for raw video footage

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:02:51 +0000

[Eesti]

If you have video recordings still waiting for their final cut, or you've lost all your hope that this is even possible, then this is a call for you.

Done Lab is looking for raw film or video footage to be screened in the frame of UNFINISHED SCREENINGS 4 on 27 May 19.00 at Ptarmigan.

If you have material which was planned to be a part of a bigger project, and you wish to show it to a wider audience, please let us know by sending an email with the following info:

Description of planned video/film and why it is not yet finished
Estimated length of the footage which you wish to screen during the event.

Deadline for submissions: 19 May 2013.

Event: Idea Liberation Zone

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 20:17:40 +0000

[Eesti]

07. aprill 2013

Do you have an idea that you know you are never going to actually get around to doing?

Come to the Idea Liberation Zone and present it! The Idea Liberation Zone is a public forum where anyone can present their un-started or unfinished ideas. The stage is yours to tell us about it, or you can just come to listen and enjoy food, drink and music. Your idea will be made “open source” tonight, so you must be comfortable with allowing others to take it and make it fly.

Idea Liberation Zone is the introductory event of Done Lab, a project of resident artist Agnieszka Pokrywka. Done Lab is a temporary, experimental space focused on making undone things done. A series of activities will comprise Done Lab, for anyone who struggles with unfinished letters, art, relationships, projects, writings, crafts, academic work, or other not suitably implemented ideas. Done Lab events will create supportive environments to encourage making new sense out of the unfinished past in the reflective context of the present.

Post: Kontaining project documentation

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 07:31:14 +0000

[Suomi]

During May and June 2012 Ptarmigan orchestrated a two week programme at the art container in the middle of Helsinki in collaboration with the Arts Council of Uusimaa. We have recently compiled a pdf document and a video detailing the events that took place. The Ptarmigan team developing Kontaining was: Amal Laala, James Andean, Marek Pluciennik and Sari tm Kivinen. The artists who participated in Kontaining were: Creative Sustainability students of Aalto University, Karri Kokko, Joséphine A. Garibaldi, Paul Zmolek, Baaba Jakeh, James Andean, Marek Pluciennik, Sari tm Kivinen, Johnny Amore, Hermanni Saarinen, Carlos Llavata, Helsinki Hack- lab, Laura Uusitalo, Christine Langinauer, Otzir Godot, Beniamino Borghi, Marianne Decoster-Taivalkoski, Gaile Griciute, Kirstine Lindemann, Libero Mureddu, Carmelo Nesci, Alejandro Olarte, Linda Priha, Leyla Nasibova, Verónica Bluguermann, Reha Discioglu, Hannah Harkes, Anna Rouhu & Guadalupe López-Íñiguez, P o P _ X & the Nasty Power Bitch, Arlene Tucker, Sari Toivola, Nate Williams, Marko Juhani Roininen, Eero Savela, Il- mari Heikinheimo, Julius Heikkilä, Nicolas Rehn, Madis Katz, Giorgio Convertito, Antonio Alemanno Konkra, Jari Heinonen, FILMVERKSTADEN, and Liina Kuittinen.

click HERE to see the pdf document of kontaining

click HERE to watch the video

Post: Our Cuisine=Our Stories publication launch & performance

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:49:06 +0000

[Suomi]

"Our Cuisine=Our Stories" is a Ptarmigan participatory project facilitated by Amal Laala & Sari Kivinen, in which nine women from diverse cultural and occupational backgrounds living in Helsinki met weekly at Stoa cultural centre during April-May 2012. On Saturday 23.3 the publication of the project was launched alongside a group performance of an interactive cross-cultural food demonstration. The launch and performance was part of the event IRVi - an experimental live arts event hosted by Willem Wilhelmus and presented artists in different fields of experimental arts facing themes of the week against racism at Stoa Cultural Centre. Other artists included: Jimi Tenor & Abdissa "Mamba" Assefa, Baaba Jakeh Chande, and Tomasz Szrama.

Post: Pixelache 2013 Festival in Tallinn

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:57:57 +0000

[Eesti]

Ptarmigan is the official partner of Pixelache Helsinki and will be co-organising the Tallinn side of the festival. In Estonia. This year Pixelache is organised as a dual-city festival (16-19.5.2013) in Helsinki-Tallinn around the overarching theme of ‘Facing North – Facing South'., 'Camp Pixelache’will occur on 17-19 May 2013.

Camp Pixelache is an unconference that will occur on Naissaar (formerly Nargen, Nargö), an island located near Tallinn, 10 km away from the Estonian coast. Camp Pixelache is an unconference; except for the keynote lecture planned in advance, the agenda will be created by the attendees at the beginning of the event. Anyone who wants to initiate a discussion on a given topic can claim a time and a space. Our curated themes for the Festival are emerging as Creative Development (North-South, Tallinn-Helsinki & other relations), Virtuality, Resonance, Anti-disciplinarity, Waste, Techno-ecologies, and Control. Feel free to be inspired by these or to introduce other topics into the Camp!

Pixelache will be able to offer some support to cover boat and road trips from: Sweden, Northern/Central Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus & North-West Russia. If you are interested, please contact office [-at-] pixelache.ac

More information about the festival can be found on the Pixelache website. If you would like to participate in Camp Pixelache 2013, plesae contact Ptarmigan.

Event: Our Cuisine=Our Stories publication launch

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 17:53:12 +0000

[Suomi]

23. märts 2013

Join us for the launch of the "Our Cuisine=Our Stories" publication which documents gatherings that took place in east Helsinki during April and May 2012. The launch is part of the event IRVi - one night in the week againts racism, below are details of the evening:

Experimental live arts at Stoa at One Night in the Week Against Racism

An experimental live arts event hosted by Willem Wilhelmus presents some of the most interesting artists in different fields of experimental arts facing themes of the week against racism at Stoa Cultural Centre. Jimi Tenor & Abdissa "Mamba" Assefa create music and sounds on self-designed percussion and wind instruments. Amal Laala, Sari Kivinen and group present a performance of an interactive and cross-cultural food demonstration created in their project Our Cuisine = Our Stories, via preparation of meals and the sharing of stories. Performance artist Baaba Jakeh Chande does something that cannot be told yet. As a desert, screening of a video especially made for the Week Against Racism by performance and video artist Tomasz Szrama.

Club evening, fully licensed bar, the doors open at 18.30.
Organised by Stoa, Catalysti-association & Arts Promotion Centre Finland /Regional Artist on Cultural Diversity.

Sat 23.3.2013 klo 19.00 (the doors open at 18:30), Tickets 5 €, http://www.stoa.fi/lipunmyynti

Stoa
Turunlinnantie 1, Itäkeskus, Helsinki
Map and transport: http://www.stoa.fi/yhteystiedot

Post: New website and other changes

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 12:01:17 +0000

[Eesti]

Things have slowed down a bit here in Tallinn as Miga's residency came to an end and we have several successful events under the (Il)legal Aesthetics banner. We're restructuring now with an aim to support more ongoing projects and creative community uses of our space. We've slightly redesigned our website to reflect more of the history of Ptarmigan while we currently are low on active events.

If you have some ideas for what you'd like to see happen at Ptarmigan, feel free to contact us, or even better, start a discussion on our Facebook page.

Event: Temporary urban circuits: electronic public art

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:39:30 +0000

[Eesti]

10. märts 2013

With the increase in DIY electronics techniques (as information is shared online and participation-based activities, such as the ones we have hosted at Ptarmigan, enable enthusiasts to develop together outside of institutions), the ability to move from the private realm into public space becomes possible. But how can someone use electronics in an expressive, public context? Street art and graffiti most often takes the form of provocative graphic design or tried-and-true genre stereotypes; more elaborate constructions are views as 'public art'. Can there be a space somewhere in-between?

With the cost of electronics constantly falling, it's no longer a crazy idea to invest time and money into something that will end up in a temporary public use. How can "electronics graffiti" build upon a tradition of public intervention (as found in performance art, social practice, relational aesthetics, etc.) in combination with an expressive, production-based art practice?

Australian/UK-based artist Tara Pattenden will lead a 2-day workshop that will bend the idea of public art and electronics. On the first day, she will lead participants through various small projects such as simple noise-making oscillators, LED 'throwies', and similar objects that are inexpensive, easy, and flexible. On Sunday, participants will take to the streets of Tallinn to deploy these objects, documenting where possible, while Ptarmigan remains open for further assistance. Sunday evening, participants will return to present what they have done and discuss their approaches, both technical and philosophical, to the subject.

Tara Pattenden co-founded Ptarmigan in Helsinki, in 2009. She is a visual/media artist whose practice is driven by a working fascination with the excesses of visual culture; that is, with the clutter, framing and generative potential of today’s various electronic communications technologies, broadcast media, advertising design, pop music and film. The interplay of contemporary and traditional ritual in the construction of collective identity is of particular interest to her, as well as the playful manipulation of each process and media’s operational limits. She is one-half of noise duo Kunt and currently resides in Bristol, England. http://www.schmelfhelp.co.uk/

This workshop is part of the (Il)legal Aesthetics series, a project of MIgrating Art Academies, curated by Mindaugas Gapsevicius.