I went to the modern art museum Emma yesterday with some friends. It was really great, not only seeing my friends after a while but the exhibts were great as well. We grabbed a bite to eat and afterward we explored Ainoa and had a few beers, talked about virtual reality and if it could mess you up.

The main exhibit was called "Micheal Jackson: On The Wall" that was a collection of Micheal Jackson inspired art pieces. They even had Adel Abidin's video installation "Micheal" that I remembered seeing in Kiasma a few years ago. I thought it was weird when I saw it the first time, didn't have a chance to see it again now but might see it next time I go. There was this religious vibe to it that I thought was cool, but the impersonator in the vid was creepy. A highlight was also the original painting for the album cover of "Dangerous" by Mark Ryden. I remember staring at that cover a lot as a kid of 4 or 5, I think my uncle had the CD and I would ask to look at it, it was so rich and full of detail and color. I would ask him to "cut the pieces out", meaning all the little characters they have in the cover like it was an activity sheet in school. It had a special frame for this exhibition that was very cool, the angels on the top were perfect.

They had an installtion by Tatsuo Miyajima called "Sky of Time" that was neat, I too like segement monitors, bright, modern and mysterious. They also had some cool creepy dolls in their permanent exhibit and some cool paintings by Finnish artists. Two that stand out are Grönlund-Nisunen: Restless Horizon that was some viscous liquid getting sloshed around making rainbows, and another where they had a few needles moved by magnets in a circle, don't remember who made that one though.

Hands down the best piece they had was by Hans Rosenström called "In Dependent Structures". I went there on a whim since it was empty, not knowing what to expect but man, it was an experience. If by some fucking miracle someone is reading this blog and if by some even more fucked up chance they are in Finland I'll leave my analysis after the photo just not to ruin it for anyone by accident. If you have a chance, please experience it without any preconceptions.

I stepped in and sat down, put on the headphones, enjoying the clean office aesthetic. I looked around and tried to make sense of it. I saw there was an electric socket to my right, what a detail, was it functional? The potted plant to my left was real, alive, must be a job to upkeep it. There was a painting of colored squares on the wall to the left, watercolor? Basic but the straight lines suited the safe embrace of the modern cell I was it. The recording had a womans voice starting to talk about light. There was some ambient environmental noises in the recording, like there was something on the roof of this exhibit. The things she was saying were dull to me, artsy talk about light told in this airy, pretentious way. The light dimmed and I liked how the atmosphere changed. It was dark already outside, a Saturday night, and how the shadows felt reminded me of how I thought the Saturday nights were to adults, cool and spent in shadowy clubs doing cool things. The thought always made me feel like I was missing that experience of being in a group, of belonging, something I feel to this day and is oddly relieved when I'm in a dimmed room where my brain registers the light as being "cool and artistic"

Then the noises in the recording began having depth, the door opened clearly behind me. The voice wandered around me, my mind clearly placing her in the room. Looking around I saw nothing. It felt like I was with a ghost. As the recording whispered in my ear I hallucinated the feeling of her breath against my skin. It was creepy, it was amazing and intimate, every sense I had was wrapped in that moment. There was a line "Olemme kiertautunneet yhdessä tämä hetken, ja sitten nouset tuolista ja joku toinen istuu siihen." or something to that effect. It was marvelous.

I told the others I was with about it. My friend Saara went through it and loved it, she told her sister that "it was one of the best art installations she has seen in years" and given that she is an artist herself I knew then and there this was special. Everyone I was with went through it and everyone liked it. I have to try it again soon, it was really something special. Gotta say, I'm tempted to look more into ASMR videos just to relive that a bit.

I still remember that fashion show Saara brought me to in Dundee when I went there years ago. It was so cool and I felt so lucky to have been able to be a part of that. I've been thinking for a while of getting out more, experiencing things, even try to live a cook life and see something nice once in a while. I have to sacrifice my comfort for something, otherwise I'll always feel that sense of missing out. A good start might be a Museokortti.

I did do something computer related, solved a Python API challenge on Pybites where I solved a New York Times API listing problem, my solution is below:

My Python solution for the NYT bestseller PyBite problem.

I didn't even get to Halloween, this year I got a few indie horror games. The one I played through was called "Faith" and despite being a Atari 2600 type game it was legit creepy, really enjoyed it. I also got the demo for World of Horro, a game based on the manga of Junji Ito. I remember hearing about it years ago, it looks great and I hope it gets finished some day. I think it's getting made by a Polish dentist?