/ d a t a c e n t r e journal
posted by Laura Kaker on 1 February 2021

/d a t a c e n t r e by artist Maija Annikki Savolainen is an exhibition shifting through time. Mirroring the format of a residency, it performs as a site for ongoing research, material experimentation, and knowledge transmission. The exhibition will be on view at SOLU Space from January 13–February 20, 2021. It is curated in collaboration with Yvonne Billimore.

This page serves as a journal that documents some of Savolainen's working processes before and during the exhibition. It will be updated along the way.

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Saturday, January 30, 2021 : 

The last /d a t a c e n t r e Reading Circle took place on Thursday, January 28. The session was performed by Maija Annikki Savolainen and centered on one of her writings in Finnish. The discussion was hold on zoom. 

Here are some pictures of the online meeting !

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Wednesday, January 21, 2021: 

The third /d a t a c e n t r e Reading Circle took place on Thursday, January 14. The session centered on the subject of archeoastronomy and ancient stone circles, and the text Echoes of the Ancient Skies: The Astronomy of Lost Civilizations by E.C. Krupp. The reading circle was hosted by radio astronomer Anne Lähteenmäki, who is a professor of radio astronomy at Aalto University Metsähovi Radio Observatory and Department of Radio Science and Engineering. 

Metsähovi Radio Observatory is the only astronomical radio observatory in Finland. Metsähovi’s radio telescope is 14-metre long, used around the clock, every day of the year. Its observational data is used, e.g., for studying active galaxies, the Sun, and the rotation of the Earth. Read more at https://www.aalto.fi/en/metsahovi-radio-observatory

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Wednesday, January 13, 2021 : 

/d a t a c e n t r e  exhibition by Maija Annikki Savolainen opened on Wednesday. It is on view at SOLU Space from Wednesday to Saturday, 12–16h. Scroll down for new photos of the exhibition.


The photos of the /d a t a c e n t r e exhibition below are by Laura Kaker.

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Friday, December 18, 2020:

The second /d a t a c e n t r e Reading Circle was hosted by Savolainen and Tapani Virkkala, an architect specialised in data centre design. The session’s focus was on data centres - their architecture, function(s), and legacy. 

The images below are screenshots of the session, which was held online on Zoom platform. In /d a t a c e n t r e, Savolainen juxtaposes ancient stone circles and contemporary data centres: both are sites for gathering, processing, and distributing knowledge. During the session, Virkkala gave a presentation and a virtual tour of Ficolo’s data centre in Vantaa, which he designed.

The discussion that followed brought up questions related to data centres from their very essence to their design, energy use, and life cycle. What is a data centre? How long will they last, and what remains when they become outdated? Eventually, when the data once protected by the building is gone, all that remains is building material that will take hundreds of years to disintegrate. In the future, ruins of data centres might be seen like ancient stone circles today - structures whose meaning is yet to be deciphered.

A walk-through video of Ficolo’s data centre is available on YouTube.


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Monday, December 14, 2020:

This week, Maija Annikki Savolainen continues working on the exhibition and preparing for the second /d a t a c e n t r e Reading Circle. On Thursday, data centre architect Tapani Virkkala joins Savolainen for a presentation and discussion, during which they share ‘readings’ and reflections on data centres. The session takes place online on Thursday, December 17 from 6–8 pm (UTC+02) - to pre-register, send an email to mari.keskikorsu@bioartsociety.fi.

Scroll down for new photos of Savolainen’s working processes and links to articles related to stone circles - especially those in Scotland - archaeoastronomy, and cosmology. The photos are by Laura Kaker and Maija Annikki Savolainen. The text extracts below are from Fossils of Tomorrow: Len Lye, J.G. Ballard, and Planetary Futures by Thomas Davis (1), and The sunlight pilgrims by Jenni Fagan (2).

Modern Stone Circles | Guerilla Archaeology

https://guerillaarchaeology.com/festival-archaeologyarchaeology-of-festivals/modern-stone-circles/

Tomnaverie Stone Circle : The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map:

https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=478

Origins of Standing Stone Astronomy in Britain: New quantitative techniques for the study of archaeoastronomy - ScienceDirect

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X16301808

Journal of Cosmology

http://journalofcosmology.com/AncientAstronomy113.html

Cosmology and Bronze Age monuments - The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

https://scarf.scot/national/scarf-bronze-age-panel-report/5-identity-society-belief-systems/5-4-belief-systems-and-ceremony-in-bronze-age-scotland/5-4-2-cosmology-and-bronze-age-monuments/

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Monday, December 7, 2020:

Before the exhibition's opening, Savolainen works with its components at SOLU Space, developing new constellations of text, photographs, and materials such as glass, quartz stones, and geopolymers made of municipal waste incineration slag. 

The exhibition is accompanied by a sequence of reading circles with guest hosts guiding the reading and discussion. The first session was hosted by curator Yvonne Billimore on Thursday, December 3.  It opened with a short excerpt from Dub: Finding Ceremony by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, which was followed by the text Crystals (in T Zero) by Italo Calvino. The text extracts below are from Calvino's story, photos by Maija Annikki Savolainen, Yvonne Billimore, and Laura Kaker.
 

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/d a t a c e n t r e by Maija Annikki Savolainen will be on view at SOLU Space from January 13–February 20, 2021.