Plan B - Juha Huuskonen
"I see the concept of art in very broad terms. On the other hand, if you sub-scribe to a narrow definition of art, I do many other things besides art. In the last ten years, I have worked in an area somewhere between the engineering world and the art world," says Juha Huuskonen, known for his projects that explore the relationship between technology and art.
"Besides art, other areas I follow quite closely are design, media and civic activism. The computer is just a tool for me, I'm certain I could work with other tools just as well. The important thing is to challenge technology, that is something that has not changed over the years. Media criticism is another major area of my work. This is particularly apparent in my coming project Plan*B for Arkadianmäki and The Moment of Long Now, now on show in the Kontti in Kiasma.
I want to encourage people to take a critical view of the media and technology. Although the critical attitude can take the form of concrete action, my main aim is to encourage people to be creative in different ways by showing them the kinds of things you can do with technology.
In the talks and workshops of the Pixel-Ache festival we have told people about all kinds of exciting, free tools and sub-cultures you can find on the Internet.
Subcultures often revolve around gener-ally available tools; it is not some kind of esoteric technology. They work over the Internet, where you can find people and information and where you can join in the action. Finding such subcultures can be very hard work, however. My own activities aim to help people find things that may at first seem odd or exotic.
I read the other day that the curricula in primary and secondary schools will in the future include material designed to develop the pupils' media skills, linking communication technology to the school subjects. For me, such education is of paramount importance. There has been a great demand lately for an understanding of culture and art, as well as for an understanding of technology. Decisions are being made all the time, technology is advancing, but there has been insufficient time to deal with these things or criticise them from the cultural viewpoint.
Many of my projects start from some small thing, such as PixelAche that began with the English word itself, coined to denote the predicted overdose of monotonous media content in the future. Plan*B began from my thoughts about a contradiction that is inherent in the Parliament building in Helsinki. The building is the seat of democracy, yet its architecture is totally forbidding. An interactive, projected House of Parliament seemed like an interesting idea, which then had to be challenged, of course. More people will get involved in the project at this stage, and the end result will be the sum of the good ideas of a great many individuals. The third stage is to do something in concrete terms.
This 'to do something' has been the most important slogan for me over the past ten years. Things can be mulled over endlessly, it's a totally different thing to make those visions come true and place the results for the public to see.
There is often talk in the media about whether a referendum should be held over some question or other. That is one way we can make our views known, a tangible form of public opinion. I have invited seven groups to join in the Plan*B for Arkadianmäki project. Each of the groups has addressed things like democracy, constitution and public opinion in the field of art or culture. I offered them an opportunity to ask any question they like of the nation. Anyone can propose an eighth topic, and then there's a vote. The poll will differ from a traditional referendum in that the responses will be more complex that a mere yea or nay."
