Money Comes From Nothing. Energy Comes From Something.
At Konsthall C we investigated, from an artistic standpoint, energy, radiation, money, communities, the connection
between city and countryside and the effects on economy for the people who live in areas that is in focus of city
development in terms of sustainability.
In this context, in 2014 we invited Mustarinda Association to Konsthall C. In spring 2015 Mustarinda then invited us to be part of a network meeting for the ARARAT project in Stockholm, since we had mutual concerns and interests.
Summer of 2015 Mustarinda Association invited us (akcg) to be artists in residence in Hyrynsalmi and to further develop the ARARAT thematic with Mustarinda for a longer period beyond the ARART network meetings.
The infrastructure of art has made it possible for us to travel and with our own minds and bodies see and experience what the consequences of unregulated finance based capitalism leads to. Human ties have been cut to push for an urbanization that favours only those who already have. Disasters follow one after another in the capital’s rampage. Climate change and war are directly linked to the system we live in. The fossil fuel driven capitalism, which accelerated in the early 1800s, was topped when the neoliberal logic kicked in at the beginning of the 1970s. More and more people want another world – a just world, we can actually breathe in.
The original Ararat was according to our interpretation, an examination of the economic system and its consequences for real but also a project typical for its time. Based on this, for good and bad, we wanted to take the discussion further and focus on economy, (from gr. Oikos, ”house,” and nomos, ”law”). What would production based on need instead of profit really mean? After the ARARAT seminar in September on Mustarinda and our following residency period there, we have tried to immerse ourselves in the subject based on an assumption that Mustarinda had formulated prior to the seminar: Money comes from nothing. Energy comes from something.
An attempt to think through and explore what a change of system would entail. How do we create the conditions for a life based on values other than those that create the dangerous and in all ways untenable situation for the vast majority on the Earth, all life forms. A system that creates depression on all levels. How can we reinvent another approach, a slowing down instead of acceleration and a lifestyle beyond consumerist desires? At Mustarinda as a place and concept we found a place where it is possible to get enough peace and quiet to feel, think through and in the practical doings, create this space were other logics can take place. Where other thoughts can arise. Even though we are from ready with examining what – Money comes from nothing. Energy comes from something – really means the forest and the mere knowledge and presence of the forest preserve added other perspectives on the subject, as well as Mustarinda Association’s way of working on the residency level did. We also started out a new process in our practice where we paint, draw and use paper to slow down our own pace.
