Hembygdsfönster/Kotiseutuikkuna/Districtwindow
A project by Twotoo - Kaksinainen
From May to June
Svenska kulturfonden and Pargas stad
What do you think
touches us? What does it mean ”to be touched”?
It happens to us
all:
that we are
connected, in dialogue. That we get responses on our ”being there”,
resonating within the surrounding we live in.
The moment we get in
deep contact with our authentic identity, that means with the person
we really want to be and agree with, this moment evokes a warm and
satisfying feeling in us. It cannot be experienced in exactly the
same way ever again, thus the feeling possibly occurs in many other
moments within different contextes . Any impuls is unique, though as
far as we have learned to open up for resonating towards the world,
we might feel repetition in impuls and reaction.
We dont need to
react or feel touched. Anybody but ourself decides, if we get into
dialogue with the situation or not.
Music, movements,
architecture, landscapes, relations, physical action, words, forms,
accidents, sensations of any kind: these are possible impulses to
react on.
Stories of another
person can lead us onto the path towards our own story.
If both , the
storyteller and the receiver commit to the whole situation, in
context and outer setting, they can become linked in a wonderful way.
While one story is on its path of construction, a whole puzzle of
memories, links, historical facts and personal data is set out. While
listening, another level of own memories and stories, a parallel
world in the same universe, is appearing. The space is resonating of
the people breathing in it and vice versa, the people are moved
innerly by reacting on outer action.
That is what happens
to me, doing Performance with body and mind at place. They are mostly
framed actions and improvised reactions, that are composed in the
moment.
That is what
happened to me, when I was meeting Liisa Ake-Helariutta together with
Arja Maarit Puhakka as Twotoo-Kaksinainen in the process of the
Perrformance project Hembygdsfönster/ Kotiseutuikkuna/
Districtwindow on Thursday 14th May 2015.
We put the window on
place, walked across the park towards her flat and rang the doorbell.
Warmly welcomed with
a hug and sunshine coming in from a huge balcony window behind, we sat down
to explain how we put the frame and to state that her personal
Hembygdsfönster is now there to invite people taking over her
perspective for a while.
This is what happened then:
During the time I listened to her stories, I
saw my family sitting in my grandparents kitchen, blue white porcelan
and fresh bread on the breakfast table. My grandmother and aunt tried
to hide tears, while my grandfather spoke out, to me, a ten years old
german girl in 1982: ”ja ja, there is nothing to talk about the past .
Nothing for you my child to listen to. Terrible, ja ja. So who wants
a piece of bread?” A paradox situation. The words totally opposite
to the bodies , gestures and faces, sitting there with me at the
kitchen table. I knew that my grandfather was 7 years in prison in
Russia, during and after World War II. He managed to escape, one day
appearing at my grandmothers door, being only a skeleton of a person.
A mirracle, that forbid any story telling until the death of my
beloved grandfather. A man, who was great in making marmelade and
juice, a carpenter with a strict mathematic brain, a clown, counting
numbers in Russian language and singing out loud ”Jodel songs ”in
the woods. My grandfather and his strict and a bit cold wife, my
grandmother, were with us while we were sitting in Pargas , looking
through Liisas windowframe on a time far away from now and yet, so
close.
That is what is one
of Hembygdsfönster's intensions. A windowframe put to evoke
dialogue, confrontation and resonating hearts and minds.
The action we ask
for is in our days of 2015 not such a usual one:
TAKE SOME TIME, WALK
TO A CERTAIN PLACE, SETTLE DOWN, TAKE MORE TIME, LOOK, LET IT RESONATE
TO YOUR OWN BODY AND MIND, LISTEN TO STORIES, ACCEPT THE PERSPECTIVE
OF SOMEBODY ELSE, STAY CRITICAL, GET ACCESS TO YOURSELF.
I have developed a
wish in the last days:
Let us bring the
Hembygdsfönster closer to the youth!
How does a window
resonate in us, put by a 13/14 years old? What story does it tell?
How lovely to be
able to switch again into the perspective of youth. Or will it be
strange for us, parents and grown ups?
Be invited to ask
your kids to propose places for Hembygdsfönster/ Kotiseutuikkuna.
Only the discussion at home, maybe followed by a walk through town,
might be a fruitful way of spending time together.
For my part I am
full of memories these days, wondering how easy it is to allow touch
and how much we can motivate each other to see, what is.
Remember to contact
us , in case you want to share this project with us.
Thank you
Susanne
