Video Vortex Reader II: moving images beyond YouTube

86 Video Vortex Reader II Moving Images Beyond YoutubeImages on the Move87show videos located on a proprietary/privately-owned platform such as YouTube in a publicinstitution. 22 What might be the social norms of behaviour in Finland within this age of audiovisualcopyright? 23 For this reason, the Clip Kino Helsinki events were promoted within atrusted network of contacts via email, although the library also promoted the events on theirwebpage, electronic noticeboards, and information desks. Not surprisingly, attendance waslow: sometimes as little as 3 people attended, but occasionally the audience numbered over20 when the event was advertised especially well. In terms of audience numbers, the mostsuccessful event at the library (22 people) was Wojtek Mejor’s presentation on the theme‘Animation from the East’. 24 Mejor designed a poster for the theme, and placed them at allthe city’s ‘free’ advertising locations. 25At the end of the project, my thoughts as a facilitator-producer were centred upon promotion:firstly, upon how to attract people to attend the events themselves; and secondly, uponhow to encourage people to attend a library for a screening event. There were many relatedquestions: Who is the person curating the screening? (I hoped this person attracted somefriends, peer-group). How interesting is the theme? (I hoped the theme could attract a groupof people interested or curious to attend a screening about it). What were people coming tosee? (I didn’t wish to reveal the titles via email or links that people could just look up onlineat home instead of attending). After facilitating 11 Clip Kino events at Kirjasto 10, despite thelow attendance and publicity, I learned these were all important questions to keep in mindwhen organizing and promoting a Clip Kino event.Emerging Media Platform, January 2009By the end of 2008, I decided not to continue with the events in Kirjasto 10, choosing to focusupon other projects. I did accept invitations present the Clip Kino format in other contexts,which allowed the platform to develop. The first invitation to present a Clip Kino event outsideHelsinki came in March 2009, and I was invited to organize an event in the Tampere suburbof Pispala. As part of the Vilkkari Off Film Festival, a self-organized event by the autonomouscultural centre Pispala Contemporary Art Centre, 26 I presented a session reflecting upon thedevelopment of Clip Kino, and a ‘best of’, of the videos I had seen. 27 This indicated to me22. Since I learned with support and guidance of Heikki Poroila, Information Specialist (Music),HelMet / Vantaa Library, about the legal context in Finland of such screenings. The followingstatement was made available from December 2008: Andrew G. Paterson, ‘Clip Kino HelsinkiLegal Navigations’, 11.12.2008, http://clipkino.info/extra/clipkino_legal_fi_english_111208.pdf.23. Ville Oksanen, Five Essays on Copyright in the Digital Era, Helsinki University of Technology/TurreLegal, Helsinki, 2009. http://www.turre.com/publications/.24. Wojtek Mejor, ‘Animation from the East’ Clip Kino event, Kirjasto 10, Helsinki, 28 May, 2008,http://clipkino/hosts/wojtek-mejor.html.25. Wojtek Mejor, ‘Spreading Posters in Helsinki’ Google Map (2008),http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101316200690604386308.00044e0c75ccf18c595a8&t=h&z=13.26. Vilkkari Off Film Festival (2006-), Pispalan Nykytaiteenkeskus (Pispala Contemporary Art Centre),http://www.hirvikatu10.net | http://www.pispala.fi/vilkkari-off/.27. Andrew G. Paterson, Clip Kino Pispala: Places of Communication, Pispala Nykytaiteenkeskus,Tampere, 7 March, 2009, http://www.clipkino.info/hosts/hirvikatu10.html.the value of a summary event at the end of each year of activity, reflecting upon the issues oforganizing or presenting online video as public-use.In May, a Clip Kino event was held within the ‘Emerging Media Practices and Environments’symposium 28 at the University of Art and Design Helsinki. This occasion clearly made thecase for the Clip Kino format as a research tool. As part of their doctoral research, SannaMarttila and Petri Kola curated a screening with the theme ‘Open Video’, using clips to illustratetheir argument. 29 A common feature of Clip Kino events is what might be called a‘broken screening’: rather than a non-stop reel of video, there are gaps for context, introduction,comments, and opinions from both selector and/or audience to encourage the use ofthe format as a research and discussion tool. In reflection, Martilla and Kola emphasized thevalue of co-curating a screening to investigate the field of inquiry, and of the dialogue involvedin selecting and ordering video in the service of an argument or ‘illustration’ of their research.A third opportunity arose later in the year, when I was invited to present within an exhibitioncalled Todellisuuden Taju (A Sense of Reality) at Hyvinkää Art Museum. 30 Curated by artistTeemu Mäki, the exhibition contained artworks both within the art museum and situatedaround the town centre, and included several public performances. The curatorial themeasked philosophical and political questions about our everyday lives: How do we actuallylive? What really happens? How ought we live? My self-defined challenge for the invitationwas to select clips for a Clip Kino event around a theme suggested to me by Mäki’s curatorialstatement: ‘Hyvinkää on ‘poikkeuksellisen tavallinen’ suomalainen pikkukaupunki’ (Hyvinkääis an ‘abnormally normal’ Finnish town). I searched online video sharing sites for examplesof the location-specific (Hyvinkää), and concepts of ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’. At the publicscreening event, with laptop, data-projector and speakers, I presented my selection to asmall audience in the art museum: a mix of representations of place, but also of differentsubcultures online which ‘spun off’ from what I found, where I searched, what I linked to,and what I imagined before arriving to Hyvinkää for the first time. 31 This event illustratedthe potential for the Clip Kino format to augment formats such as that of an exhibition witha layer of content that draws upon the broad range of the online media environment. In thiscase, there were mingled images of art installations, motor-sport, death metal and pop videos,documentaries of everyday life, commercial advertisements, and avant-garde art videos.Towards the end of 2009, a new venue was found for Clip Kino Helsinki. The Ptarmigan ArtSpace, in the Vallila region of Helsinki, aims to ‘house ideas that exist outside of the realm ofthe traditional and provide a space for adventurous and challenging scenarios. Whether it be28. Emerging Media Practices & Environments Symposium, ARKI Research Group, Lume TV Studio,University of Art and Design Helsinki, 27-29 May, 2009, http://arkisampo.uiah.fi/emerging/.29. Petri Kola and Sanna Marttila, ‘Open Video’ Clip Kino event, Lume TV Studio, Helsinki, 25 May,2009, http://clipkino.info/hosts/emerging_arki-taik.html.30. Teemu Mäki (curator), ‘Todellisuuden Taju’ Exhibition, Hyvinkää Art Museum, Hyvinkää, 12 June– 30 August, 2009, http://www.todellisuudentaju.com/.31. Andrew G. Paterson, ‘Clip Kino Hyvinkää: Todellisuuden Taju’ Clip Kino event, Hyvinkää ArtMuseum, Hyvinkää, 30 July, 2009, http://clipkino.info/hosts/hyvinkaan-taidemuseo.html.