Important Things
Important things is a two piece environmental work, completed in November 2019. The work ican be found in the city of Tampere, Finland near the shore of Lake Näsijärvi, in the new residential area of Ranta-Tampella. The area is currently mostly under construction, and expected to grow to house approx. 3000 people in the coming years. The work is situated in western Ranta-Tampella, in the two facades of a new a multi-residence housing facility intended for elderly people with memory loss or other dementia-like symptoms.
The work is situated on the western side of Ranta-Tampella - the building is circled in blue on this map of the area. The eastern part of the work can be found on Google maps at the address Verstaankatu 13, Tampere
Background info
These sketches of the area by the landscape architecture firm Maisema-arkkitehtitoimisto Maanlumo were some of the drawings that inspired me during my work. Visualisation: Maisema-arkkitehtitoimisto Maanlumo
The water of the lake next to Ranta-Tampella is brought inside the area with the building of a channel. Visualisation: Maisema-arkkitehtitoimisto Maanlumo
The building is a multi-residence housing facility intended for elderly people with memory loss or other dementia-like symptoms. A rooftop garden for the residents makes up for the lack of extensive gardens around the building, meaning also, that the work is not that often seen by the residents themselves. Instead, the the audience of the work consists of all kinds of people living in the area and in the surrounding city of Tampere, as the facades can be seen from a far both in the east and west and the shores of the lake Näsijärvi make for popular recreational areas.
The work is made of two parts, the east and west facades forming a whole.
Eastern facade under construction, early 2019.
The work was commissioned to make the two windowless facades more interesting, and it will be a permanent part of the building.
Western facade without the artwork. Architects; Arkkitehtitoimisto AR-Vastamäki Oy.
Sketch of the work in the western facade - click to see a bigger version.
The list reads:
bread
coffee
fruits
hugs
walks
windbreaker
running shoes (struck through)
potting soil
new gloves for autumn
sauna benches
chocolate
The work is about memory and remembering, and inspired by lists that people create of things to remember. It idea is to gently remind us about the small, important things in life, of which the meaning of life itself is often built. We all need occasional help in remembering what is important.
“We all need occasional help in remembering what is important.”
Sketch of the work in the western facade - click to see a bigger version
Sketch of the work in the eastern facade - click to see a bigger version
the list reads:
milk
flour
cardamone
dog
new potatoes
summer shoes
naps
dance
“The words might have particular connotations to Finnish people, guiding the imagination to relatable everyday themes”
Both facades have their own lists, in which the viewer can perhaps recognise two people, of the same person in different times. The words might have particular connotations to Finnish people, guiding the imagination to relatable everyday themes, concepts and values.
Making of the work
Forgotten shopping lists were one of the starting points for the work. I was fascinated by their intimacy, and how they seemed to offer a look inside the life of the writer.
This is one of the first shopping lists I found and used as the basis of the work. I really liked the handwriting of what seems by the items to be an elderly woman.
The work gets its inspiration from forgotten shopping lists. Based on the idea, I sat down to write my own imaginary lists of important everyday things not to be forgotten. I hope many will find the two lists of the work relatable or recognizable in some way. After writing the lists, I asked members of my family to write them down to pick a handwriting. In the end, I chose that of my father.
I tested several handwritings, mostly by my family members to find a suitable one. I wanted the text to be in a real handwriting instead of a font - but still legible!
Eventually, I chose the handwriting of my father.
Next step was the technique. In the early stages, I studied also the possibility of text bent by hand out of an iron bar - below on the left an example by Jorma Dahlström. Trough tests, however, it became clear that the line would have to be at least 2 cm thick to be seen from the surroundings of the building, and bending a 2cm (0,8inch) thick iron bar by hand proved impossible in this scale. So I chose the technique of laser cut aluminum sheets - prototype below is by Neon Hirvonen.
I also tested neon letters, or, more specifically, letters made with led-lights that look like neon lights bua are more durable. However, they were deemed both too bright and too technically unstable for this permanent work in a residential area.
Testing the three different techniques in the winter darkness of the countryside.
Words before painting.
I photographed an vectorized the lists written by my father, and went over some details in Photoshop and Illustrator to make the text a bit clearer in some places. My vector drawings were then used to cut the words out of 3mm thick aluminum, after which the words were painted white.
Words out to dry at the factory of Tammereneon, a company specialized in outdoor advertising, in Tampere.
Installation!
The work was installed on site in November 2019. Below are a few photos of the installation.
Below are some of the first photos of the work after installation - I’ll take more in the upcoming winter and summer and come back to add them here!
Western facade right after installation.
In pink, a walking tour where you can see both sides of the work! Google Maps you can find the eastern facade at Verstaankatu 13, Tampere.
Eastern facade
From the client
“Maija Kovari created for us a touching work of art that is well suited for this site. Professional presentations, carefully executed installation, and the well managed schedule from start to finish - all together made the whole process fluent and pleasant from our point of view. I give her my warmest recommendation.”