This spring has been very eventful and it shows on the worsened update frequency on this site. Anyhow one of the better events has been the first Pimp My Passport workshop on 16 May 2009. Remember PMP was first introduced in Riga last autumn but now we actually got hands-on.

Mari and I were invited to Jyväskylä by the media art working group Live Herring. They're currently appointed as "regional artist" which is a radical move in Finnish cultural politics. The workshop was held at the university lobby during the city's "long night of the arts" so there was a lot of buzz and people on the move.

The idea was to facilite a workshop where people could make their own shielded covers for their new RFID passports and in the process discuss and get informed about the issues related to technology, privacy and biometric passports.

We set up our tables at the university lobby which itself is an Alvar Aalto landmar and put up lots of scrap and recycled material including used coffee packets, info sheets about RFID and passports plus a sewing machine. The amount of visitors exceeded all expectations. The first people arrived minutes before the official start and the last participants left at 00:05. During the eight hours the booth was never empty of visitors!

It was also nice to note that people of all ages came by. Young women were the most active group, but seniors and children took part as well. Creative flair was shooting through the roof all the time. At the end we counted some 40+ covers were made.

Press showed some interest to the event, regional newspaper Keskisuomalainen put it on page five where we were pitted against the Ministry of the Interior. Another paper from Turku also took note of the event and concentrate more on the crafting side. Unfortunately none of them checked out the vibes themselves but resorted to phone interviews.

The event night and the afterparty presented Jyväskylä as a very jovial and friendly city. It might well be the "most underrated" city in Finland. A world of thanks also to Soile of Live Herring for her kind efforts and support.

Links:
Gallery on Flickr
DIY instructions (fi)
Article from Keskisuomalainen (pdf, fi)
Blogpost and reaction by Live Herring (fi)
Article on Turun Sanomat (fi)

Greetings from the beach! I'm in Playa del Ingles overcoming tourisim until 10th April with mikroPaliskunta 'The Finnish on Holiday' expedition. Follow us on www.mikroPaliskunta.net

In Berlin, there's the 18th Long Shopping Night instead...

Senior people misusing umbrella bin / Wind-blown people misusing garbage bin.

I haven't been reading enough blogs lately, because I had missed out on the Dynamic Tower of Dubai until the latest issue of National Geographic.

The skyscraper also known as Da Vinci Tower has 80 floors, each of which rotates individually – extending the whole architectural experience into the "fourth dimension of time". It is also wind and solar powered and claimed to be self-sustaining with enough surplus to power up five other similar buildings.

Like much of the spectacular architecture of these days, it is being built in Dubai and should be completed in 2010. The presentation is very pretentious, leaves behind even Khan Shatyr in Astana of Kazakhstan.

I'm curious to see how it works out. Not everyone is convinced of its feasibility.

I created a public profile on Dopplr, so that friends and friendly-minded can keep up with my comings and goings. If you're a user too, just add me as a fellow traveller.

Pictured above is a way to do the dishes with a minimal amount of water using only a sponge and the foam from washing up liquid. A friend of mine learnt this from an Israeli cook. Considering the water resources of the Holy Land, they must have a good number of methods like this.

Some safe-for-work highlights from the past year.

January

• Attended French philosopher Alain Badiou lecture, but don't remember a thing

February

• Did the right thing on Leave Facebook Day.
• Turned 30 and the party was great!

March

• Worked a lot on Powerpoints, I reckon.

April

• Moved to Rykestr. to the coolest house in the block.
• MikroPaliskunta brunch and presentation in Wonderbar.

May

• Demonstration with the 14th Dalai Lama at the Brandenburg Gate.

June

• Attended a proper Midsummer wedding in Helsinki. If you watched the news carefully, you could have spotted me wearing a suit. Then, there was a memorable spontaneus group percussion session in the sauna.

July

• Joined 200,000 others to see Barack Obama talk in Tiergarten.
• Got new spectacles (Oliver Peoples).

August

• Visited Finland for a couple of weeks. Heard of International Smoke Sauna Club's trip to Russia just in time to get the visa sorted out. One of the best travels I've ever made.

September

• Went to a presentation by Erich von Däniken.
• Hosted an end-of-summer shashlik party in the backyard. Good bunch of nice people showed up.

October

• Presented 'Pimp My Passport' with Mari at Spectropia festival in Riga.
• Joined Gold's Gym. Results are pending.

November

• Mostly engaged in work.
• Field trips to Harz mountains and deep Brandenburg.

December

• Sooner or later every Finn gets their shot as Santa Claus.
• Another excellent field trip to Berchtesgadener Alps further broadened my impressions of Germany.
• Tried vegetarian diet for a week with encouraging results.

In general, as a rising trend I got to see quite a lot of theatre.

Finland: Hildegard Knef (Koko), Köyhyysballadi Leipäjonoballadi (Takomo), Seitsemän veljestä (TTT), Tuntematon sotilas (Kans.)

Berlin: Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui (BE), Darwin-win (VB), Die Dreigroschenoper (BE), Ein Sommernachtstraum (SB), Die Möwe (DT/VB), Ubukönig (VB), Winterreise (DT)

It is intersting to see what's going to emerge this year...

Thank you for your love and support – I wish everyone a happy new year!