Images from day 2 of 2019 Festival - Breaking the Fifth Wall, words by Steve Maher and photos by Antti Ahonen.

Dear Diary,

Here comes another long overdue archive post of photos from the 2019 Pixelache Festival - Breaking the Fifth Wall. Photos by Antti Ahonen 

The day kicked off with a second vernissage dedicated to long time member Samir Bhomik and his solo show titled Circuit Breaker which took  place in partnership with our friends at Maa-tila project space. This project was made possible with the collaborative support of Krisjanis Rijnieks who worked alongside Bhomik in the months prior to the festival at Aalto Fab-Lab to produce the work.

The Circuit Breaker is a networked participated installation that critiques the culture of constant connectivity. It is complemented by a photo exhibition by the artist about energy, fossil fuels, and energetic landscapes of Helsinki. The installation aims to provoke reflection on the social and energetic impact of our constantly connected digital lives. While harmony between man and machine, body and the network are seen as the primary aspirations of our post-industrial digital society, it has the potential for long-term discord to both natural ecologies and wider implications to local communities. Constant connectivity is not only energy-intensive but could also result in growing dissonance in society at multiple scales: from the social to the political, from resource depletion to climate change. Infrastructures that support connectivity still remain perceived generally as intangible and ethereal just like the ‘Cloud’.

Fresh off a flight back from Taiwan, on commute home to Switzerland, long time friend of Pixelache Marc Dusseiller joins the vernissage, giving a quick demo of his 8bit-mix-tape-neo, which we will assemble later in the week together with festival goers as part of a building workshop. 

Up the hill and over towards Vallila with Pixelache's own Social Tools for the 4th in their 2019 Training Circle sessions, this time held at the then new space Kehä Nolla. 

Session 4 of the series focused on Patterns 3+4: "Distribute care labour" and "Collectively agree on norms and boundaries." In the session, discussions were held on how to make invisible work more visible, as well as how to consider an interesting model of stewardship within a decentralised organisation and assume that common sense doesn't exist.

Our good friends at Keru - Community Fridge once again provided a literal cornucopia saved from the wasteful practices of our consumer society. 

Festival Co-director Vishnu Vardhani Rajan participating in the training circle and letting guest know about the generous bounty of food on offer.

From this point the evening diverged, at Myymälla 2 the festivals sub-festival of performance, Seven of Seven with Liina Kuittinen, unfortunately our incredibly gifted photographer Antti Ahonen does not(currently) have the power of omnipresence.

This night, Antti would instead follow our invited artist, Austrian based Brigitte Kovacs on the first night of her Walking Encounters project, in which the artist and one invited participant attempt to folllow the sun and prolong the day in the form of a dérive. 

Two days done with five more to come, each day as jam packed as the last, all the while the exhibtion continues at Solu in Katajanokka. We all head home to our respective beds, to rest and prepare for the rest. 

Sláinte maith,

Steve Maher (2019 festival producer and co-director).