Mika Vainio Listening Room — Evening sessions 9.12.-11.12.
Museum of Sound at Sibelius Museum
The exhibition is open during the opening hours of the museum Wed-Sat 11pm – 3pm until 11th of December. In addition you can book a time in advance for a listening experience for following time slots:
Thu 9.12.
5pm Mika Vainio – Compositions
6pm Mika Vainio – Inspirations
Fri 10.12.
5pm Mika Vainio Compositions
6pm Mika Vainio Inspirations
Sat 11.12.
5pm Mika Vainio Compositions
6pm Mika Vainio Inspirations
To book your listening experience for evening sessions contact johannes.juva@stiftelsenabo.fi.
Tickets 12€. Entrance fee entitles to one visit and lasts 50 minutes. If you wish to book two consecutive sessions on the same date the price is 20€ and lasts roughly 2 hours. The space is designed for 9 people at a time. There will be a small pause between the sets.
Please arrive early and take your covid pass with you. Card payments only.
Mika Vainio had a habit to invite friends to his home and play them
music recordings in silence with full concentration. In the series of
the listening rooms we try to create a similar situation, an empty room
full of sound.
The listening room has an aim to get back to listening as a focused and
prioritised activity, were you do nothing else than listening. Everyone
has a relation to sound and its often very subjective. How can music trigger an emotional response?
The room has few visual elements and is focused just on the act of
listening. With no distractions the listener can create a narrative from
its own connotations. Simply just experience the music.
Turku was one of the places Mika grew up. Several aspects of the city can be seen to have an impact on his work.
The first listening selection is from compositions written and performed
by Mika Vainio. The second listening selection is specifically made for the Sibelius
museum and consists of tiny excerpt of compositions that Mika Vainio
listened to in his own listening room at home.
Mika Vainio program is curated by Rikke Lundgreen and Tommi Grönlund
and Mika’s home record library selection is compiled by Rikke Lundgreen.
Rikke Lundgreen was Mika Vainio’ spouce and is based in Oslo.
Lundgreen is an artist and curator and has worked with sound in various projects.
Mika Vainio’s studio, archive, record and book collection still remains in Oslo where he lived with Lundgreen.
Tommi Grönlund is an artist and runs the record label Sähkö Recordings
which Grönlund started with Mika Vainio in 1993.
The Museum of Sound is nomadic and in flux, it exists in no specific
place and is rooted in the essence of sound and listening. Tommi
Grönlund and Rikke Lundgreen created the initiative while preparing the
exhibition ”Mika Vainio 50Hz” at Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in
Helsinki, Autumn 2020. The Turku edition is in collaboration with the
Sibelius Museum.
Mika Vainio – Compositions
01. Mika Vainio – Ilmanvaihto 7:14
02. Mika Vainio – Give Em Hell Echo Papa 6:05
03. Ø – Helium 6:33
04. Mika Vainio – Secondhand Twilight 5:40
05. Philus – Vitamin A 0:53
06. Ø – Syväys 12:31
07. Ø – Toisaalla 1:06
08. Ø – Halli 5:18
09. Philus – Valo 4:35
10. Ø – Kotiin 2:38
Selection by Rikke Lundgreen and Tommi Grönlund
Mika Vainio – Impressions
01. George Ivanovich Gurdjieff – New York numbers #2 6:10
02. Toru Takemitsu – Accumulations 7:25
03. Morton Feldman – Intermission 3:21
04. Laurence Crane – John White in Berlin 13:44
05. Harold Budd – Ghost Cloud 1:25
06. John Dowland – Semper Dowland Semper Dolens 6:20
07. Alexander Scriabin – Nocturne in F sharp minor 3:05
08. Henry Purcell – O Solitude my sweetest choice 5:32
References selected by Rikke Lundgreen
Mika Vainio
Mika Vainio’s impact on electronic music, both in Finland and around the globe, is indisputable. Mika Vainio (1963–2017) was based in Oslo, but lived in several places like Barcelona and Berlin. He became widely known to fans of electronic music from his time in the duo Pan Sonic with Ilpo Väisänen, founded in 1993 (until 1998 Panasonic). Vainio also produced many solo projects under names such as Ø and Philus.
His compositions were known for its unique physical sound such as deep bass, analogue warmth, and electronic harshness. He worked with a range of genres from electro acoustic, drones, minimal avant techno or noise, and released records on Mute, Sähkö Recordings, Edition Mego, and Touch. He toured extensively around the world throughout his career. Over the years, Vainio collaborated repeatedly with many visual and sound artists and choreographers, such as Carsten Nicolai, Mika Taanila, Charlemagne Palestine, Alan Vega and Cindy Van Acker.