CV CV.PDF

Me

My name is Mikael Konttinen and I’ve been around for about 30 years now. I am an artist and an art student living in Gothenburg/Sweden, undergoing the MA programme C:Art:Media at the Valand School of Fine Art. I kind of consider myself in the same process of development as when I did my Bachelor of Fine Art at the Bergen National Academy of the Arts. Actually, it’s not that very different from when I studied electro acoustic composition at EMS in Stockholm, nor even Musicology at the Stockholm University. What differs, though, is that I do recognize the development that has become from these years.

Practice

I really do not like pinpointing my practise too strictly, nor do I like to call myself a this or that kind of artist. I’m simply interested in playing around with too many things. Also, I usually have several projects pending without necessarily finishing any of them, as the finished product is not the reason for the practice.

The last years, I’ve worked quite a lot with writing my own software in Processing - a JAVA-derivate programming language aimed for high productivity in a prototyping or artist setting that I can highly recommend. For example, I’ve used Processing to build the image generatives projected in the exhibition Seoul Limbo at the Korean National University of Art in 2005. I’ve also used processing for several other pieces, ranging from installation pieces using real time image processing to generative pseudo life simulation techniques to pre-generated video works.

I’m trying to not fall into the traps of working with digital media, namely that of the fascination for the technology itself. The technology is a tool, only a tool but also not only a tool. The tool has a meaning in itself, the way it is used and how it is presented in a work. For example, in my BFA graduation project, one of the aspects relevant for the reading the piece is to recognize that the technology displayed is not only used as a transparent medium, but also for their symbolic or semiotic qualities. Another example is the large room installation in the Seoul Limbo exhibition, where all technology used is clearly visible and of high relevance for the semantics of the piece.

I also enjoy interfering in society with small pieces of projects that are usually never documented and most often not proclaimed to be art in ordinary sense.

Site

This part of the site is intended, amongst other things, to contain a work log; a peek into the studio where I do my work. For the moment, that studio is mainly a laptop, this server space and a corner with a desk at Valand School of Fine Art.