Halikonlahti Green Art

FOOD CHAINS 10.9 - 30.10.2011
FERMENTING CHANGE - limpuu and viili as cultural aesthetics 

by Eva Bakkeslett, artist and cultivator

"Alchemy" 20mins

A poetic evocation on the alchemy of bread brings the act of baking the most basic of staples, into a high art form. Here nature and human culture collude. Hands pounding, mixing, kneading and stretching, reveal the choreographed rhythms and movements of bread making. Alchemy is a beautifully executed and lyrical film about an activity once ubiquitous in almost every household.

"AISH - bread as life" (world premiere)

In Arabic the word for bread and life is the same - Aish. In this film life and bread mixes in a small, communal bakery in the medina in Fez, Morocco. Here the ancient tradition of bringing the leavened bread to a woodfired kiln is still alive. There is magic in seeing the skillful art of baking and recognizing the different owners of the bread. 

"Viili -the tracing of an ancient culture"

A visual mapping of this fascinating culture that has deep roots and a long history in Finland. I will collect stories and search for the cultural roots of viili. Through the period I also hope to find an old viili culture that is still kept alive somewhere deep in the Finnish forest! This is a collective work so contributions from the public are welcome in form of stories, pictures or anything else of relevance. A public blog is started for the project: http://viiliculture.wordpress.com

Workshops, talks and performances:

Friday the 9^th of September:

A Limppu starter dough performance.

Reccomended for participants in the workshop on Saturday the 10th

Saturday the 10th of September: 

Limppu Limppu!

12.00-16.00 (flexible timing)

Workshop - practical baking and stories of Finnish bread-culture. 

“The poetics of bread- Finnish limppu-baking” with Eva Bakkeslett and Mikko Kivelä

This is a workshop that melts bread-making into art. We will sculpt our bread with passion and presence and while the dough rises we will watch films and share stories of bread-culture collected into a bread-book.

Limited to 10 participants but viewing open to the public. Open to all ages. 

17-18 Performance talk: 

"Bread as social sculpture - how bread becomes the art of the every day" (in english).

Sunday the 11th of September: 

Viili viili!

12.00-12.45 Lunchtalk: "Living cultures - from counteraction to fermentation" (in english).

A story about how human and microbial cultures have a lot in common and how viili can teach us important lessons!

14-15 Viili workshop. 

Practical and aesthetic workshop of how to make viili. 

Open to public of all ages.