I received a grant from The Finnish Cultural Foundation for artistic work at the Hôtel Chevillon in France from June to September 2017. The time at the residence was, for me, in many ways, important and relevant.
Remarque Gres videostill by Jenni Toikka
The picturesque village and Hôtel Chevillon has attracted artists as early as the 1800s. This history is still emphasized among the people and is very much present This is evident in how the residence is organized, for example, the artists are free to use their time as they choose. When needed, you have your privacy and peace, but the residence also offers you the backing of a community of different artists and researchers.
During my residence, I tried to be as open as I could so as to absorb and pick up environmental influence as a visual means but also to find out special features of this specific area. The residence is located next to vast natural reserves of which the forests, large sandstone blocks and soil fascinated me. I also found out that in the southern extension of the forests there was an architecturally surprising museum of prehistory, where, in my mind, many interesting elements met and became the location of my video work.
During the residency, I visited, among many interesting places, Maison Louis Carré due in part to a joint exhibition I will have with Eeva-Riitta Eerola, to be held there in September 2019.
Jenni Toikka is a Helsinki-based visual artist working predominantly with moving images. She graduated from the Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts in 2012. The topic of her work is often drawn away from its context and handled through visual art and moving image. Toikka ponders what happens when the usual way of thinking of something is changed and, in this way, what kind of new meanings it may be given.
The Castle of Fontainebleau. Pic: Ewald Pollheimer
The Hôtel Chevillon in Grez-sur-Loing near Paris was my working site and home from the beginning of February to the end of April 2018. I was writing my fourth novel, which will be published in the beginning of 2021.
I settled in very quickly. Grez is a little village at the edge of a huge forest, the famous Fontainebleau. It takes about 2 hours to arrive there from Paris, first by train, then by bus, and finally, on foot. To live in, I had an apartment with a kitchenette and a balcony. From the windows, I could see both the river Loing overlooking a big garden, and the Place de la République.
This big blue house was also filled with other residents living and working there. Most of them were from Gothenburg, Sweden, and stayed for shorter periods of time than I. Only one another Finn stayed after me for one month longer. I was the only writer; the others were musicians, AV-artists, painters, journalists and scientists. We would sometimes meet in the kitchen downstairs, go for walks or enjoy dinner and chats together.
I lived a simple, quiet life in Grez. My brain and whole system slowed down. The work could spread out and have more space and air. I was able to listen better again. This ‘listening’, to the text, to the surroundings, to ‘what is’, is in the core of my work, and essential to my way of working.
This quiet and simple life with routines was very healthy, as well. I would go outside twice a day, doing sports or just going for strolls and visiting other villages. Doing sports is often a bit challenging. It is good, because it triggers feelings and inspirations and, at the same time, it is possible to work out stress by moving, so that it does not pile up. But it doesn’t stop here, as a way to deal with stress; it moves on, transforms to whatever energy or matter which can be later seen in the results of the work.
The view from balcony to the river. Pic: Ewald Pollheimer
I went to France because I wanted to experience living in another society other than that which I already knew from living in: Austria, Germany, and Finland among others. I wanted to be able to spend time in other colours, customs, smells, and ways of thinking. I wanted to be listening to my surroundings and to different voices in Europe. And I did. There were a lot of possibilities to do this ”listening”, both in the nature and the villages and city. Like when I missed the last bus in Melun, 30 minutes from Grez, for the third time (!) and had to overcome it (again!). Or when I went walking in Paris or meeting friends. Or just buying bread at the local boulangerie, or taking part in the village fêtes.
The first exhibit that I visited in Paris was a good match for my working themes, which have to do with ‘fighting’ and ‘struggle’. It was ‘Power Plays’ in the Louvre. And there where others to follow, like the castle in Fontainebleau, with one black hat of Napoleon.
At the core of my artwork, there is this thought that in the end it all comes down to oneself. Everything that people do and decide together, has a beginning in the very private sensations of each individual. It is thus worthwhile to get to know oneself, more and better, the sameness and otherness, both of which also get formed by the surroundings.
I fell in love with Grez. The river Loing. The forest. On my strolls, I even saw small piglets (that turned out to be wild boars), swans sitting on their eggs, a few snakes, etc. My 3 months at the residency was both long and short at the same time. And before hearing SKR would let this residency go, I had already decided I would apply again. Europe is also very much worth to get to know, better and more. Not only, but particularly, for Europeans and European artists.
My plan for the residency period at Hotel Chevillon was to focus on digitalising the photography archives of my parents, who were enthusiastic amateurs in their youth and from whom I learned my first skills in the field, for further processing. In my artistic practice, I have been interested in reordering the structures of photo and video files by means of artistic programming in order to visualise hidden properties within them, resulting in semi-abstract digital collages flirting with painting tradition. The peaceful and historical surroundings of the residency resonated well with the project about personal microhistories. Terrifyingly though, 90% of the archives were destroyed during my residency as an arsonist destroyed my mother’s house in Finland before she had had time to send me more material – But if I had not taken the 10% with me to France, everything would be gone now.
Nevertheless, I was immediately intrigued by the contemplative surroundings of the hotel and started studying the landscape intensively with my camera: I developed a new variation of my photo-deconstruction algorithm and created a series of neo-impressionistic nature photographs during my stay. I also worked on other structural experimentations that will serve as a good starting point for future projects.
Encounters with my fellow artists turned out fruitful: With a composer we created a video for his new music concert dealing with former resident August Strindberg’s paranoiac episodes. (The collaboration will continue next year). With an artist, we created a soundscape for his exhibition. I was also lucky to collect the first interviews for my upcoming documentary ”1ibrary 0f 1oss” about stories of losing data. My stay in Grez also enabled me to participate in the Food Art Week exhibition in Paris, where I presented a sound art piece based on my earlier recordings of a fermentation process recorded with a self-made piezo microphone.
The residency period was outstandingly productive and refreshing at the same time. The closeness of Paris made it possible to explore the cultural life there, which had previously been unknown to me. I am truly grateful of the possibility to spend time in Grez.
PS. In the end I even stepped out of my artistic comfort zone, grabbed a guitar and recorded a sentimental song accompanied with a silly video featuring the birds of the river Loing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDvzyOAjTg4
During my stay at Hôtel Chevillon in the summer of 2017, I worked on a selection of short stories by the contemporary French author Anna Gavalda. The selection Fendre l’armure consisted of seven stories, and I finished the first draft of my translation into Finnish while in Grez-sur-Loing.
Grez was a charming little village, quiet and peaceful, enabling me to fully concentrate on my translation project. Yet, during the pauses, there was always someone downstairs in the common kitchen to chat with.
In the beautiful old house, you could almost hear the footsteps of residents long past echoing down the halls: Strindberg, Stevenson and company passing by… Yes, the surroundings were most inspiring for writing; I also did quite a bit of meditative cycling along the numerous trails at the nearby Fontainebleau Forest as well.
In the city of Fontainebleau, some ten kilometres away, I got the chance to listen to and exchange with the local people. Time flew – and what a lovely time it was – but I got my project done on time. My Finnish translation of Gavalda’s collection was published in the following spring under the title Lohikäärmetatuointi ja muita pintanaarmuja.
