Thursday, August 7

I have a museokortti and I intend to use it.

The day seems colder than last week but safely dry. I head to the centre. When I emerge from the metro a sudden downpour drenches me. I cross the road and enter Amos Rex.

I go into Staged Circumstances and Piles of Things, a retrospective exhibition by Anna Estarriola, a Catalan-born artist who lives and works in Helsinki.

Many of her works take place over quite long periods of time. Since I have come alone I watch them all. Some have obvious ends and some don’t.

I spend a long time watching a whole cycle of The System in which

Twelve creatures and objects seated behind a long table make their contributions to a panel discussion-like event in their respective abstract languages. The voice of an interpreter provides a translation to their interventions, and engages with the audience. The future, he warns, is under analysis, and a reliable algorithm must be found to determine what it is to come. The System is a study on the esthetics of democracy and the illusion of participation in a democratic structure.

I take some photographs, constrained by the fact that other people all around me also sit, watch and take pictures.