Elonkorjaajat Exhibition in Tammisaari

Olli Lyytikäinen: Flygande Hamlet ("Flying Hamlet", 1976)


Elonkorjaajat ("Harvesters") was an artist group who started in Helsinki in 1971. Inspired by the underground movement of the day, the members of Elonkorjaajat featured such people as Pekka Airaksinen, J.O. Mallander and Peter Widén who were also part of The Sperm, a controversial music and performance group. Elonkorjaajat -- whose artistic range encompassed conceptual art, earth art, installations, performance and media art -- ran in Helsinki a gallery called Cheap Thrills (the name inspired by a Frank Zappa record of the same name). Finnish Green movement had its origins in the activities of the vegetarian restaurant Kasvis, run by some Elokorjaajat members who, alongside conceptual art and underground music & culture, embraced such interests as Zen Buddhism and macrobiotic diet.

The works of Elonkorjaajat can now been seen at the summer exhibition (29 May - 13 September 2009) taking place in the Elverket gallery of Tammisaari; featuring Airaksinen, Carolus Enckell, Antero Kare, Philip von Knorring, Mallander, Carl-Erik Ström, Ilkka Juhani Takalo-Eskola, Erik Uddström, Widén and Stuart Wrede. Also Olli Lyytikäinen who died in 1987 is featured with one piece.

Exhibition reviews in Finnish:

Helsingin Sanomat

Turun Sanomat

Uusi Suomi

Elonkorjaajat info in Finnish:

Kisko-Seura

Mustekala.Info

Skenet

Video clips:

Olli Lyytikäinen @ Yle Elävä Arkisto

J.O. Mallander @ Yle Elävä Arkisto

See also:

FinnScene: The Early Years @ pHinnWeb

The Sperm: Shh! Re-Release on De Stijl

(A scan taken from a copy belonging or having belonged to Heikki Harma a.k.a. Hector...?)

Artist: The Sperm
Title: Shh!
Format: 12" vinyl LP
Cat.no.: IND 039 (original: ORLP 0)
Label: De Stijl Records (original: O Records)
Year: 1970 (original) / 2008 (re-release)

Tracklist:

A1. Heinäsirkat ("Locusts")
A2. Korvapoliklinikka Hesperia ("Ear Clinic Hesperia")
B1. Jazz, Jazz
B2. Dodekafoninen Talvisota ("Dodecaphonic Winter War")

De Stijl label announces a vinyl re-release of Shh!, the heavily collected 1970 album of Helsinki's controversial experimental improvisational/performance act The Sperm, originally out on the band's own O Records and featuring in its line-up such people as Pekka Airaksinen (known also for many solo albums now enjoying an international cult reputation), Jan-Olof Mallander (nowadays an art critic) and Mattijuhani Koponen (a poet/actor and the most notorious member of the band, who had a prison sentence after having a performance of a simulated sexual intercourse on a grand piano). Also guitarist Vladimir "Nikke" Nikamo, who had a brief stint in early Wigwam, participated in the compositions of this album.

Press release notes from De Stilj:

"soon forthcoming is a totally legit LP only reissue of this amazing Helsinki monsterpiece from 1970. Shh! is primarily a document of Pekka Airaksinen's experimental compostions, consisting of primitive samples, guitar loop feedback and musique concrete.

Sperm also functioned as a wildly theatrical live act ala Dionysis in '69, that would arrange underground happenings, occasionally inspiring a rallied public outcry against the derisive act of public sex atop a grand piano.

ooh la la..."

FinnScene - The Early Years of Finnish Electronic & Avantgarde Music @ pHinnWeb

Maanalaista menoa - Finnish Underground 1967 - 1971

The notorious Mattijuhani Koponen performing with The Sperm, 1968

I missed the documentary series Maanalaista menoa (might translate as something like "Underground Happenings") on Finnish underground culture approximately during the years 1967-1971 (and beyond) when the digital channel YLE Teema showed it for the first time around last year, but gladly they now re-run it. You can also find the holy video and audio scrolls relating to the subject at YLE Elävä Arkisto archive:

http://www.yle.fi/elavaarkisto/?s=h&n=maanalaista+menoa&k=&m=

More:

FinnScene - The Early Years @ pHinnWeb