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Digital and media art are one of the strongest and most innovative fields of art in Finland. This is due to many reasons including the fact that Finland is a high-tech country and artists have always been interested in experimenting with the new possibilities of new media. Sometimes there is also interaction between art and enterprises who are directly interested in the discovery of new tools or new ways to use old devices.
There is innovation everyday in this field, it evolves very quickly with the technique as well as with the aesthetic. And it reflects on society, on our way of living, on our identity. In this investigation some of the artists play with technology as a tool to reach something beyond the Human, the Mental Projection of a Digital Self. Sometimes in a playful and joyful way, sometimes in a more introspective and demanding

As Finland does not have a very long tradition of art and there is a sense of freedom among the artists when they create. The same goes for the public too. Most people, especially the younger generations, are rather open minded and tech-savvy and can appreciate the convergence of art and technology very well.

This kind of “mental climate” combined with accessible technology and good venues is fertile ground for interesting digital art. This has also attracted many foreign artists to come to live and work in Finland, enriching the art scene with their knowledge and energy.

The Namastic Art Collective has set out to take Finnish digital art to international festivals also to share the products of this unique culture with the wider world.

Participant artists: Roi Vaara, Maria Tjader-Knight, David Knight, Merja Puustinen, Andy Best, Hannu Karjalainen, Andrew Bentley, Marko Timlin, Merja Nieminen, Jaana Kokko, Egle Oddo,Juha Mäki-Jussila, Adel Abidin, Jani Rusica, Rikard Lassenius, Kristina Frei, Mikko Maasalo, Pekka Sassi, Maurice Blok, Pirjetta Brander, Markus Renvall, Heta Kuchka, Tjader Knight.

Consultancy and advice received by Namastic for Digital Media:
AV ARKKI – Eeva Pirkkala, Hanna Maria Anttila
AVEK – Juha Samola
Taiteen Keskustoimikunta – Seppo Kauhanen
Ministry for Foreign Affairs – Timo Heino, Outi Hakanen, Anna-Maija Aho
FRAME - Marketta Seppälä, Outi Liusvaara, Paula Toppila, Marita Muukkonen.

Namastic Art Collective Contact:

Contact:| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

egodit@gmx.net - +358 50 9294404
virva.sointu@gmail.com – +358 50 3560653
toni.ledentsa@gmail.com – +358 50 5355050

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Egle Oddo

Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 19 C AS 32, 00100 Helsinki

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Marko Timlin and Merja Nieminen: electronic music-video performance

“Deus in machina” or how to put a god into a machine
The project is a collaboration between visual and media artist Merja Nieminen and composer and media artist Marko Timlin. The performance consists of animated screen projections and electronic music. Both projections and music are created and manipulated in real time during the performance. What follows is a dialogue of music and animated projections.
Nieminen/Timlin audiovisual performance seeks answers to how sound can be created from the parameters of animated images and how images can be created from the parameters of sound. It connects music and animated abstract architecture – creating new digital realities by accomplishing an inseparable unity of images and sounds.

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Andy Best and Merja Puustinen: installation

Andy Best was born in the south of England, 1963. Since 1988 he has lived and worked in Helsinki, Finland. Merja Puustinen was born in Hamina, Finland, 1963. They have collaborated since 1993. Both have a background in sculpture, video and installation art. They were amongst the first online web artists, and during the mid to late 1990’s worked with virtual multi-user 3D worlds on the internet. With their company Meet Factory they developed a 3D multi-user community platform and virtual pet or tamagotchi for mobile phones. They now concentrate their artistic activities on large scale installations and interactive works. Best and Puustinen also run the Digital Arts degree course at Turku University of Applied Sciences. Merja Puustinen is completing doctoral research at the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki.

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Egle Oddo: video art

Egle Oddo is an Italian visual artist based in Helsinki. In the last two years she started a process of documenting the Helsinki scene of electronic music.
She is part of the organization staff of the festival and she will present there also an artwork: the first chapter of the documentary “ElectroHelsinki”.

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | NAMASTIC Video Program for Digital Media:

Author: Juha Mäki-Jussila --- Title: X-Rayed
Author: Adel Abidin --- Title: Love Song
Author: Jani Rusica --- Title: Beat Box – Alternate Take
Author: Pink Twins --- Title: Pulse +
Author: Egle Oddo --- Title: Neon
Author: Rikard Lassenius --- Title: Elle
Author: Kristina Frei & Marko Timlin --- Title: Bewegung
Author: Mikko Maasalo --- Title: Blue Giraffe
Author: Pekka Sassi --- Title: Seven
Author: Maurice Blok --- Title: The Egg
Author: Oirjetta Brander --- Title: The Burden
Author: Markus Renvall --- Title: The Elicopter
Author: Heta Kuchka --- Title: For Better, For Worse
Author: Tjader Knight --- Title: Caustically Happy

Duration all program: 120 minutes
DVD/PAL/4:3/STEREO
16:9 MATERIAL LETTERBOXED

Realised in Cooperation with AV-ARKKI, Finland