Yö ry's Videotaiteenilta Vol 3 presents works of Marja Viitahuhta: the Cannes awarded 99 years of My Life and a compilation of Ánnámáret music videos.
After the screening there will be a Q&A with the artists and the audience, where Ánnámáret will be present online to take part in the discussion.
21.11.2022
19-21
99 years of My Life
(99 vuotta elämästäni)
Language: english
(33 min, 2003)
The evening begins with a retrospective look at collaboration. This is an early film by Marja Viitahuhta, made in collaboration with filmmaker Sini Liimatainen and media artist Azar Saiyar plus so many other artists, who helped in realizing and creating this film -originally a student graduation film for a performance art course.
This fictional autobiography playfully combines autofiction to documentary. It is based on the lives and memories of four women of different age, the author as well as Anja Saiyar, Irma Truhponen and Lahja Tuominen. Each year in the film is reduced to three sentences, forming a list that runs from 0 to 99. This narration is illustrated via a variety of cinematographic styles and media: archive footage, home video, still photography, animation, film noir-styled scenes and performance documentation. The film was awarded at several film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival and it is included in the collections of MoMA (New York) and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art (Helsinki).
"Recently several colleagues showed an interest to this film, made nearly 20 years ago, and therefore I decided to screen it at Yö galleria. The screening also celebrates the film's anniversary next year.
In addition to the women I interviewed, I'd like to thank for their contributions to the film these people: Maija Hirvanen, Essi Kausalainen, Joonas Kiviharju, Aapo Korkeaoja, Anne Lakanen, Sakari Luhtala, Veera Luhtala, Hanna Oksanen, Ronja Oksanen, Suvi Parrilla, Katri Sipiläinen, Tuomo Truhponen, Jussi Vuola, Lars Wingård and Topi Äikäs.
I would also like to thank fellow students and teachers in the Crossing Borders in Performing Arts of the Turku Art Academy."
Ánnámáret music video compilation
(2021, 24 min)
For several years we have collaborated with the sami musician Ánnámáret as well as Ilkka Heinonen (jouhikko aka finnish bowed lyre) and Turkka Inkilä (electronics, shakuhachi). We have been looking for ways to express the many layers of Ánnámáret's yoiks and to create dialogue between the music and the visual expression. Our collaboration has been presented in live concerts, where the video works accompany the music, as well as in the form of video works that have been screened in both art context and film festivals. This compilation of videos presents some of the tracks from the album Ánnámáret: Nieguid duovdagat.
The tracks and videos in the compilation are:
Sirdda
Aski
Dološ niegut
Dolat
Mánnu
Nieguid duovdagat
Marja Viitahuhta is a media artist and filmmaker whose works range from films, performances and installations to photography and collage. She holds a BA degree in performance art from the Turku Polytechnic Arts Academy and an MFA degree from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. She has been awarded internationally at Cannes (Cinéfondation), Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Mediawave and L'Alternativa film festivals.
In addition to film festivals and exhibition spaces, her works have been presented as site-specific works, in public urban spaces, theater spaces and on concert stages. For the last few years, she has collaborated with the indigenous sámi musician Ánnámáret as well as her band members Ilkka Heinonen and Turkka Inkilä. In addition to her artistic work, Viitahuhta has worked as an art teacher and lecturer, e.g. since 2006 at Aalto University.