It Listens to Your Phone, Smiles at You in Media and Asks You for Money

It Listens to Your Phone, Smiles at You in Media and Asks You for Money

“It listens to your phone, smiles at you in media and asks you for money” is a newspaper that spreads around public space as well as into two simultaneous exhibitions in Gallery Alkovi and Kuvan Kevät 2014 – The Degree Show of the Academy of Fine Arts’ in KUVA/TILA (Exhibition Laboratory).

Prologue:

The material of this newspaper is documented between years 2013- 2014. The documentation has taken place at Sampo bank‘s (the current Danske Bank) office in Hakaniemi, below the landscape of Pielinen in restaurant Eliel (the current Burger King), on a long distance train that has been taken out of service in Turku (demolished), in abandoned shelter underneath the district Kallio, in the tram number 3T and 3B (nowadays 2 and 3), in Stone castle at Ilmala location (partly arsoned), in Kaarti riding hall (the current parking hall), in Kakola’s abandoned prison and other countless places that still perhaps exist in some material form. The texts have been scattered in hundreds of pieces of paper. Also written by ink on the palm of hands. Negatives have been in the archives as an evidence of past times. The material was compiled into one folder, because the data must be passed forward in its official form. The newspaper that you have in your possession is a collection of fragments. The fragments consist of encounters of different personalities. Most importantly, these fragments were born under the influence of Opus. Without him or her, this bulletin and the associated odyssey never would have happened. The newspaper itself is the product of physical and ephemeral. It is placed in Helsinki’s infrastructure and is expected to come discovered by chance. It appears guarded by the statues of Lyhdynkantajat. If you do not get the newspaper physically to yourself in the future you may run into it in folk stories and urban legends. In order to maintain all the information for future generations the newspaper’s content has been sprayed towards distant galaxies in the form of digital hieroglyphs to places where there might still be hope. While you are reading this text the author of this newspaper has climbed on the back of his medallic steed and started his journey somewhere away from the modern technology.

To Opus at Helsinki central railway station, track 11.
Tuesday 22nd of April 2014.
 
The last copy of newspaper “It listens to your phone, smiles at you in media and asks you for money”
Offset print, 430 mm × 280 mm, distribution 2000 copies. Distributed in Helsinki 22.-28.4.2014, Finland.
Installation view from Gallery Alkovi, 30.4-1.6.2014 and KUVA/TILA 9.5-1.6.2014.
Text and images: Sauli Sirviö
Graphic design: Johannes Rantapuska
Video documentation: Kirmo Ekholm