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solo works



Photo: Kaja Kann


Jargon
Jargon is a series of vocal pieces, taking place in 2011 at the politicians' statues in Helsinki, on the politician's birthday. For an hour I talk jargon.
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Watch Sándor Vály's videoclip from Alexander II's statue on the Senate Square, in the end of April.


A half of Topelius' Doc's tales


Digested
Digested is a series of vocal pieces, taking place in 2011 at the writers' statues in Helsinki, on the writer's birthday. I digest the writer's main work and perform a sound poem of it, as a conclusion.
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Silent man at Vaasa Kunsthalle (Picture: mope 08)


Creating silence
I dress on a suit which I have equipped with cans on springs, broken clockenspiel, tiny bells. I walk slowly and silently, trying not to make any noise. Thus I create silence. The suit is a kind of fool's dress. There one can see king's fool, village looney, shaman, Toshiro Mifune's mad man in a Kurosawa film and the wandering beggar monk Mannerheim took picture of somewhere in Caucasus, in early 20th century.
The first time I wore this suit at Vaasa kunsthalle in September, 2008. An other artist stopped running his simulated marathon on treadmill, and I appeared to the hall. I felt like boat sailing amongst the people. It was clear to hear silence growing.
The next time at Turku book fair a month later. I performed portraits at the Dada stage. Starting the performance, I put the suit on, stepped down from the stage and walked a short tour. The big hall full of people didn't fall silent, but I was appealing enough to catch few visitors to listen to my portraits.
In the end of June, 2009, I performed in the suit in Viiala, small town of 5.000 inhabitants. I had tuned the suit with six rasps made in the former Viiala rasp factory, and a small active loudspeaker. I interviewed people, asking how they were doing. I recorded the interviews and edited them into a 15-minute long piece of sound. The sound came from the speaker in my back, when I started walking towards the festival's last performance, handful of people following me. We made three hundred meters in 45 minutes. Then I put myself into a wheelbarrow that had followed me as well, and spent the last quarter of an hour of the trip in there, crouching. I heard that it was quite meditative experience.


Moi, je m'appelle Silence. (Picture: Sandor Valy)


Silence
Vocal piece. Forum Box, Helsinki, February, 2007.
In Helsinki, 2007: I bought Didier Comes' comic book Silence 20 years ago. I was impressed by its mystical atmosphere, witchcraft and superstition and I liked the love story. Two years ago I found it in my bookshell and read it again. This time I was hit by the muteness and kindness of the title character, and of course, I liked the love story. A year ago I decided to do a performance that is based on the book, a vocal solo of a mute man.
All my life, stray dogs have fascinated and scared me. In spite of their misery they are proud and dignified. A year ago I performed vocal solo called Rakki, at Forum Box. Rakki means a dog that keeps barking and barking. The title was wrong; I wanted to be silent, voiceless. Like a stray dog.
Performances after the premiere: Kontiolahti, 10/07; Kunstbanken, Hamar, 10/07; Teatteri Ilmi Ö, Helsinki, 11/07; Oulu, 10/08.


Rakki's space at Forum Box

A pole-bloke's tower


A pole-bloke
After the Wanderer, that I made with Tero Nauha and Kristian Smeds, we started to think about the second part for our religious trilogy. We read a lot about stylites. In autumn 2005, Heikki Törmi called and asked, if I wanted to climb up to a tower for two days in Ristijärvi, in June 2006. Sure. In May 2006, I heard Father Pentti's lecture about stylites. He said that they were the therapeuts of their time. Then I got an idea to ask people to send me questions, petitions and wishes that were addressed to the world leaders. These I read at my tower every six hours; other time I spent sitting, standing or lying down - silent. IRTI festival, Ristijärvi, Finland, June 9-11, 2006.


Badboy (Photo: Marja Pursiainen)


Joel and the Night of Stars
A theatre piece for over 8-year-olds, based on Henning Mankell's youth novel. Director Minna Kivelä, lighting designer Jarkko Lievonen, on stage JV. Valtimonteatteri production. Performances at Vara-Q, Helsinki, Sept 14-Oct 30, 2004. On tour 2004: Lainsuojattomat Festival, Pori, Sept 16-17; village school tour in Northern Carelia, Dec 7-10 - Ahveninen school in Eno, Koli school in Lieksa, Käsämä school in Liperi and Muljala school in Kitee. On tour 2005: Vantaa, Feb 9-10; Oulu, Feb 22-24; Pieksämäki, March 5; Helsinki, March 20.


Cinderella (Photo: Juhana Myllyniemi)


Cinderella
I made Cinderella together with visual artist Jaana Partanen, to medieval Häme Castle, Hämeenlinna, in July-August 2003. It was commissioned by Hippalot 03, art festival for children and youth. Visually and spatially Cinderella has its roots in Jaana Partanen's "daily alchemy", installations made of gold-plated everyday objects. I used these objects in my two different performances that I performed successively. They were improvised, vocal dances. The performer in grey, white or red shirt dances the brush dance, mirror dance, bean dance, foam dance, cutting-the-toe dance and sings the welcoming rap, but falls never into absolute depression. The sun is shining on ashes! Cinderella is a hymn for everyday princesses and princes! On tour: Klink og Bank, Reykjavik, May 17-18, 2004; Oulu, Feb 25, 2005; Helsinki, May 10-13, 2007; Vaasa, 11/08; Kajaani, 12/08.


To fly? (Photo: Jarkko Lievonen)


Siberia trilogy 2001 - 2004
My Siberia is a story of my Siberian year. This is the first performance where I combine live voice and soundtrack. I guide people through spring, summer, autumn and winter. I am a fish, mosquito, dog and raven, shaman. I performed the first version, My first Siberia, at Ferens Gallery, deep_ROOT Festival, in Hull, UK, Oct 27, 2001. Next versions BaltoScandal, Estonia, June 21, 2002, Kajaani Poetry Week, Finland, July 4, 2002, Helsinki Museum of Cultures, Oct 1-12, 2002, Tartu University, Estonia, Dec 3, 2003, and Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku, Finland, March 30, 2004.

Listen to a sample of winter (2.8 MB / mp3)

The other side of My Siberia was the soundscape for the Helsinki Museum of Cultures' Siberia exhibition, May 2002 - Sept 2003. It consists of four seasons; if you visit the exhibition in spring you'll hear the Spring, in summer the Summer etc.

In 2002, Barcelona-based Testing Ground published the Siberian Summer as a part of their Bside project.

And this is a piece I made after visiting Siberia, for another project:
Listen to it (3.2 MB / mp3)


(Photo: Tomi Humalisto)


Getting Old Project 2
A vocal piece with Tomi Humalisto, lighting designer, and Jyrki Häyrinen, sound designer. The Getting Old Project 2 is intense, warm and sensitive. It is a boxing ring and a dove's nest. Forces of the Light at the VR makasiinit, Helsinki, Dec 2 and 3, 2000.

(Photo: Tomi Humalisto)


MuseumTalk X: Getting Old Project
MuseumTalk X: Getting Old Project is an audio play about getting old. The Ateneum Art Museum is an instrument Juha Valkeapää’s voice plays. As a sum of Valkeapää’s voice, Jyrki Häyrinen’s mix and Tomi Humalisto’s lights the Ateneum’s inner yard rages and riots by puberty’s defiance, the entrance whines by crisis of thirties, until in the stairway you climb up towards a happy and wise oldness. The starting point is a cliche and very personal: fatherhood and growing children, middle age coming closer, degenerating body. Six performances in Sep-Oct 2000 at The Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki. Duration 50 min’s.
Listen to a sample (192 kB / mp3)


Boy's Toys (Photo: Maija Blafield)


Boy's Toys
The Boy's Toys started from my 2-year-old son’s sounds & motions & two toys, a spinning-top and a Russian swinging & klinging doll. How does a child see and comprehend the world? Swing, tube, ladder, mimics and shadows became important elements at VaraQ’s (the Q-theatre’s main stage’s exit) high, narrow space. Lights by Tomi Humalisto. The premiere was in September 1999 at VaraQ, Helsinki, in December it visited the Manifesti Festival in Turku. Duration 45 min’s.
Listen to a sample (156 kB / mp3)


Boy's toys in Rauma (Photo: Kai Jalonen)


Boy
The Boy researches my son’s vocal & motional world from his birth till one-and-a half-year-old. In a wide and low vaulted cellar I rolled in side lights, was amazed by the neons, explored spectators’ shoes and raged in a 3-D UV corner. Lights by Johanna Salomaa. Five performances at the Sinebrychoff Museum of Foreign Art, Helsinki, in November 1998. Duration 45 min’s.
I went on with Boy's and Boy's Toys' sounds and images, constructing a sound installation Boy and his toys for Rauma Art Museum's sound art exhibition, 2003 Jan-March.


Zagreb talks


City Talk
In downtown Calgary, during five two-hour-long walks, I voiced / gave voice to tens of inspiring city objects: statues, newspaper stands, hydrants, trash cans, skyscrapers, phonebooths, police cars, show windows, drain covers. I was equipped with a portable amp and a megaphone. Mountain Standard Time, Calgary, Canada, Apr 17-21, 2001.

I walked the City Talk also at Urbani Festival, Zagreb, Croatia, July 12-16, 2002.
Listen to a sample (676 kB / mp3)

Vocal Walk, City Talk. Szczecin, Poland, July 9, 2005.


Photo Talk


MuseumTalk
I go around a museum and voice the works I find interesting, works which make me voice. The MuseumTalk is more a sound space than a performance. The museums are normally open and I'm a normal visitor, getting just a little bit noisy sometimes. Until January 2001 I’ve visited The Finnish Museum of Architecture, The Museum of Cultures, The Old Student House, Helsinki City Art Museum and Helsinki Kunsthalle, all of them situated in Helsinki. Duration of each 60 min’s.

Under the title of Three pictures at the opening of an art exhibition at Trafó, Budapest, Hungary, Apr 29, 1999, duration 2 times 10 min’s.
29.4.99, kesto 2 kertaa 10 min.


StatueTalk
StatueTalk is a variation of MuseumTalk. You can come across to it in streets, parks and squares of cities: at statues. Until August 2000, I’ve talked statues at the Finlayson Park in Tampere and in the centre of city Lahti, Finland.
Under the title of Helsinki Animals: Statues of Mannerheim and Paasikivi, Helsinki, Sept 21, 2002.
Listen to a sample (100 kB / mp3)


Namedays
9 short vocal pieces for 9 nameday heroes under the Arcade of the Glass Palace, Helsinki, in June 1999. The phonems of the day’s name gave the starting point & drew the borders. Duration of each 15 min’s.
Listen to a sample (172 kB / mp3)

Under the title of Ma, Ny, Fa, Ces at the Faces Festival, Billnäs, Finland, Aug 14, 1999, duration 4 times 15 min’s.


(Photo: Esa Kärki)


Who was Minna Canth?
In winter 2007, I was commissioned a sound work of Minna Canth, writer etc who lived 1844-1897. She became the first woman to get an official flagday. The work has two parts: a live performance and a piece for radio.
I recorded the material in Kuopio, on the first Minna Canth flagday 19 March, 2007, and in the beginning of June in those four towns that have street named after M.C. - Tampere, Jyväskylä, Helsinki and Kuopio. Walking the streets, I asked passers-by, who was Minna Canth? The answers became the main ingredient for both the radio work & the live performance, that took place in Kuopio on 8-9 September, 2007.


(Photo: Arto Tulima)

Elephant march
A naiv, foolish act in the middle of the town, trunk on face and plastic animals on rope. Kajaani, Finland, May 6; International Street Theatre Festival, Halmstad, Sweden, August 9-10, 2006.


Piping at Espa bandstand (Photo: Marjo Haatainen)

Pipings
The pipings are improvised concerts where, more or less, the focus lies on a two-meter-long organ pipe. I've piped at Small Music Theatre, Athens (05/03, with Dimitris Kamarotos and Katerina Zenz); "Taju 03" in Hyvinkää (08/03); Espa bandstand (09/03), Malmitalo (11/03, with Markku Veijonsuo and Jarkko Lievonen), Forum Box (01/04), all three in Helsinki; von Krahl Theatre, Tallinn (08/04); Cafe Jonas, Copenhagen (10/04); Fluxee, Turku (10/04).
Listen to a sample (2.0 MB / mp3)


Vocal portraits
You may know how you look like, but how do you sound? I voiced portraits of 45 people at a barber shop at Anti Festival, Kuopio, Sept 12-13, 2003.
Listen to a sample (2.7 MB / mp3)

The first version - Portraits - took place at Galleria Rajatila, Tampere, Finland, Apr 17, 1998. I asked people who came to Tero Nauha’s and Tina Ward’s exhibition to come with me down to the dark cellar, where I tied their eyes and voiced them.

Marja and an apple(Photo: Pekka Mäkinen)

Third time at Signal + Noise, Vancouver, Canada, April 15-16, 2005.

And once you start to recycle your ideas, you must do it strong, and all the time. I began to call these vocal portraits Jukebox. Until now I've set up my Jukebox in Tampere (08/05) and Helsinki (09-10/05). And the latest portrait set-up took place at Muu gallery, Nov 30-Dec 17, 2006. It was titled What did you see? During two weeks, I voiced c. 70 portraits. The brave people sat on this chair:



Here you can listen to two answers to my question:
Woman (136 kB / mp3)
Man (248 kB / mp3)

In 2007 I composed a 13-minute-long sound work of these answers. It was broadcasted by Finnish Broadcasting Company. And in 2011 I returned to the Anti Festival & Barbershop Pirkko for the festival's 10 year anniversary. This time without extra instruments. Before that I voiced some people in May in Pori Art Museum.

Watch Sándor Vály's video clip from the Pori Art Museum, May 2011


Boys
Pointed and strong boys, based on sounds made by my son, in Spring and Summer 1997 at Tampere Theatre Festival, at Galleria Allinna in Riihimäki and at Galleria Titanik in Turku. Duration 15 min’s.


Taps & Tubes
A former Kugler tap factory at the crossing of the rivers Rhône and Arve, in Geneva, Switzerland. Alphorn yoik & yodling with tubes & taps I found in the factory, as my dress I had a red stretching tube. In the middle of the space there was a huge airbag where you could dive in. Duration 40 min’s. Airbag, June 17, 1999.


Spring
Partiture: welcoming people with a tin megaphone; rain with the earth that drinks the water, from balcony; in a red kalmuk woman’s dress I walk smaller and smaller circle, until at the center of the circle I whirl like a mad man: grass, leaves, flowers, bees, birds, sun; final duet. With flutist Katerina Zenz. Duration 45 min’s. Theatre Theseum, Athens, Greece, 17 Apr, 2000.


Summer
Partiture: giving manuals (SUMMER MANUAL 1 Make yourself comfortable 2 Close your eyes and see more 3 And if you feel to, move around, go to the stairways and upstairs 4 This Summer lasts 40 minutes Helsinki University 030800); going upstairs as swallow; downstairs as buzzing of fly; at ground floor as human among other humans. The old vestibule of Helsinki University has a beautiful klang, if there is not too much of other noise. Surprises: a young man started to chase me; people opened their mouths eagerly.


Plumber
I wander amongst people with a one-meter-long plastic (over tone) tube on my mouth. I point the tube towards people’s ears (one person & one ear at time!) and make sounds into it: tiny little, gentle, tender whispers and mumblings and yawnings etc. My purpose is simply to surprise, to shake, but warmly, gently. From time to time I offer the mouthpiece of the tube to somebody and put the earpiece on my own ear, giving ”the audience” a possibility to make sounds into my ear. A 30 seconds’ connection between two people, entering somebody’s private place in a public space, and on the contrary, allowing him or her to enter artist’s private place, his ear and mind. Poikkeustila performance festival, Cable Factory, Helsinki, Oct 28, 1999. Duration 30 min’s.

Under the title of Elephant at the IETM conference, amongst the conference participators who were having their coffee, Helsinki, Apr 24, 1999, duration 15 min’s.


Song of two men who are cut in their navels
The vocal piece was made for an occasion organized by the M.A. Castrén Society at the Museum of Cultures, Helsinki. It is based on exclamation ”kajjajjuujig”, used in bear rituals of Hantis and Mansis, Siberian Fenno-Ugrian people. I was accompanied by Heikki Laitinen playing naresjuk, a string organ. Sept 18, 1999, duration 15 min’s.


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