TEEMU MÄKI FILM & VIDEO

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Here below are short introductions to some of the earlier films. For films made after 2017, click the first links on the list above.


ORDINARY KILLING
/
TAVALLISTA TAPPAMISTA
Extracts from an interview with Hannu Lauerma, 17.4.2015.
With music by Antti Auvinen.
Directed by Teemu Mäki.
  15 minutes, 2016, Full HD
Subtitles: English & Finnish.
This work is related to Antti Auvinen's opera Autuus / Bliss,
which I directed in Helsinki Music Centre in August 2015.
The music of the film is the 3rd Act music from the opera
and most of the video material in the film is also footage
originally shot for and used in the staging of the opera.
(No public screenings yet, premiere forthcoming.)





MADNESS AND CIVILIZATION
/
HULLUUS JA YHTEISKUNTA
Film version of a radio play.
Radio play written by Harri Virtanen.
Radio play directed by Juha-Pekka Hotinen.
The film scripted and directed by Teemu Mäki.
Cinematography and editing by Anton Verho.
Commissioned by YLE Radioteatteri
(Finnish Broadcastin Company) in 2014.
56 minutes, 2014–2015, Full HD





WOMAN AND MEAT INDUSTRY
by Helena Kärkkäinen
A video by Teemu Mäki ("Helena Kärkkäinen").
Originally made for the theatre play Viha Sydämessä,
directed by Anni Ojanen & Juhan Ulfsak in Teatteri Jurkka.
However I also meant the video to be also an autonomous work.
Actress/performer: Lotta Lehtikari.
Camera Mikko Kamunen. Edit Mikko Kamunen & Teemu Mäki.
Director Teemu Mäki.
6 min, 30 sec, 2011.
Click on the picture to watch a short sample.





WHO IS WHO? / KUKA KUKIN ON?
In collaboration with Aune Kallinen & group of 8 teenagers.
Based on a poem by Väinö Kirstinä.
1 min, 38 sec, 2006–2010





WHY / MITÄ VARTEN?
In collaboration with Noora Dadu and Mikko Manuel Kamunen.
  5 min, 21 sec, 2009





MORTAL / KUOLEVAINEN
In collaboration with Aune Kallinen and a group of teenagers
  52 minutes, 2006–2007





KALIKI
In collaboration with the composer Max Savikangas.
Based on his composition Kaliki.
  15 minutes, 2004–2007





ELEVATOR DANCE 1 & 2 / HISSITANSSI 1 & 2
In collaboration with Päivi Rissanen and Pia Karaspuro.
6´30 minutes each, 2003–2004





ITÄKESKUS DANCING TREE
A collaboration
with Pia Karaspuro, Jouko Kyhälä, Outi Pulkkinen & Päivi Rissanen.
13´30 minutes, 2002–2004





PEOPLE APPEAR FROM NOTHING
(number one of The Leningrad Essays and Poems)
30´20 minutes, 2003





LOVE FLIES SO HIGH, BEYOND THE REACH OF HUMAN MIND
(number two of the Leningrad essays and poems)
/
RAKKAUS LIITÄÄ IHMISMIELEN TAVOITTAMATTOMISSA
(osa kaksi sarjasta esseitä ja runoja Leningradista)
Finnish/English/Russian
5´33 minutes
2003





RIKKI (BROKEN/SULPHUR)
  A video installation, two tapes & screens, 80 minutes, 2000.
This was first shown in Kari Kenetti's gallery and then later
in my doctoral exhibition at Helsinki Art Hall, 2002.
The work is not available anymore, unless I decide to update it at some point.




MILK / MAITO
In collaboration with Anja Bargum and Åsa Wallenius.
9'50 min, swedish version, Mjölk, 9´00 minutes, 1998

"Somebody starves to death somewhere, somebody else feasts in luxury somewhere else, what is their relation? If the luxury is there at the expense of the starved, does it automatically cause guilt in the mind of the exploiter? If the feeling of guilt does arise, does the luxury lose its taste? If the guilt, experience of it, does not arise, is the exploiter emotionally numb? To be without guilt, is it to be unable or unwilling to feel in general? Can one have the guilt, suffer from it, and yet whenever the time is right just switch to another mode and willingly enjoy feasting at the expense of others? Somebody is dying of hunger, on the other side of the TV-screen, somebody else is feasting, on this side of the TV-screen, this is a fact. Who is hurt by this? The one who dies of hunger. The one in slave labor in a sneaker factory. What about me? Who benefits from this? The owners of the sneaker factory? The one who feasts and watches telly. Does the ice-cream have more intensive taste when on TV there is something to compare it with, ice-creamlessness? If on the other side of the screen there was somebody with chocolate, should I have the most expensive caviar to still have this luxurious feeling? If everybody gets caviar, a Mercedes and vacations in Bermudas, will we some day all of a sudden realize that a carrot, day care and sauna is enough? Tell that to the last cupful of rice. If everybody had TV and chocolate, would the paradise be not only here but everywhere? Or would at least the desperation be gone? An unemployed who is more interested in alcohol than public library, how much happier is he than the starving one? What do I use to measure the difference? Am I now getting rather gloomy? Lets get back to the point. What if I decide that the deprivation of the majority is not the result of the luxury of the minority, if the privileged are not feasting at the expense of the poor, do I still think that the poor must be helped? Does guilt arise? Does it lead into action? On whose behalf and against whom? Or do I choose pity? Maybe also charity? Unless it interferes with my mortgage payments. Pity and charity, are they results of the ill feeling that seeing a being like me starve to death causes? Or are the pity and charity a result of the wealth? Because of my wealth I can afford them. Because of my wealth I need them. Why? I'm standing on top of the mountain of my riches, and to experience the sweet dizziness of it I have to look down, and down there in the abyss there must be people starving to death. The underprivileged must be helped, do I think so because that's just how it is, automatically, or because it is in my own interest to do so, not to be faced with an angry revolt of the poor later? Is that what I'm afraid of? Or am I afraid that my indifference at the starving proves my affection to my child quite shallow, untrue? Does it that? Shallow, untrue, to whom? To me, to others or to the child? Can't the commandant of a concentration camp, in his spare time, be a good father?" (monologue spoken in the video)

 

COME AND GO
  A version of Samuel Beckett's short play.
(swedish version Kommer och går), 6´20 min, 1998



 

AS IT IS
(FAMILY VALUES OF A COUPLE OF MURDERERS, part three)
in collaboration with Pirjetta Brander
5´55 min, 1997





THE MOTHERHOOD ITCH
(FAMILY VALUES part two)
a collaboration with Pirjetta Brander
14´00 min, 1997

"We worked on the Family Values 1 + 2 couple months before the birth of our first child. We used the special changes that took place in Pirjetta's body, our relationship and moods, as material with which to ask fundamental questions like: Why to live, why to give birth, are children our feeble bridge over the gulf of death, what are the similarities between making art and making children? Our daughter, Aino Ursula Mäki, was born June 15, 1997." (Teemu Mäki, 1997) "I studied the myths connected to pregnancy and motherhood, which were totally alien to me. The physical transformations of the female body during the pregnancy were difficult for me to accept, these works are, among other things, about coming to terms with them. The birth of a child of our own raised many questions about identity and also answered some." (Pirjetta Brander, 1997)

SCHICKSALLSSYMPHONIE
(FAMILY VALUES part one)
in collaboration with Pirjetta Brander
10´04 min, 1997





THE SACRED DISHWATER
/
PYHÄ TISKIVESI
21'40 minutes, 1994-1996, for YLE (the Finnish National Broadcasting Company)
 




MY WAY, A WORK IN PROGRESS
90'19 minutes (11. version)
1988–1995–





IN A DREAM I FUCKED MY GRANDMOTHER
(a love letter)
4'30 minutes, 1995
a video poem. The text is here: In a Dream I Fucked My Grandmother





A POEM FOR JONAH
/
RUNO JOONALLE
13'00 minutes, 1995
  A video poem, text of which is here: A Poem for Jonah / Runo Joonalle.





WHORE AND EXPLOIT
a work in progress, 3. version, 62'20 minutes, 1995



EIN TOD FOLGT DEM ANDERN
unfinished, exists as a piece of music only, 6'03 minutes, 1994–




THE SHIPPING CRATE
in collaboration with Roi Vaara,
from his performance tour, 17'00 minutes, 1992



 

SANTA-MARIA FURIOSA
Video of a dance solo by Sanna Kekäläinen.
Shot on video with Ilkka Sariola, 52'00 minutes, 1991.





JOE
24'12 minutes
1990

Joe is my adaptation of Samuel Beckett's Eh, Joe. Beckett wrote the piece (April–May 1965) for Jack McGowran who played Joe in the first televised version (BBC2, 4 July 1966). My video differs significantly from Beckett's script, but again I want to remark that my intention has been to be as faithful as possible to the content of  the original text. Cast: Mattijuhani Koponen (Joe), Penny Tuerk (the Voice).

TAPIO
11'20 minutes, 1990




CONCEPT OF HAPPINESS
2'30 minutes
1990-1991
Based on Samuel Beckett's poem My Way Is in the Sand Flowing.





MY WAY
7'15 minutes, 1990.
Not shown anymore, replaced by the long work, My Way, a Work in Progress.





OHIO IMPROMPTU
(4. version) 12'00 minutes, 1989–1990

This is in a way an ongoing production for I have made four versions of the piece and I'll make  more. These slightly different readings shall all be saved. Currently distributed is version number four. Ohio Impromptu is a video adaptation of Samuel Beckett's play Ohio Impromptu. Video version retains the original text as a whole but the setting, actor's appearance and moves have been altered to some extent  in order to be as faithful as possible to the content of the original.

ANOVISIO TELEREXIA
A collaboration with Ilkka Sariola.
Actually, it's his work, his private performance.
I just gave some advice & helped in the making of the video version of it.
5'30 minutes, 1990





THE GOOD FRIDAY
9'10 minutes, 1989

"The main theme in The Good Friday is the relationship between christian faith and fascism, that is, between masochistic humanism and sadism. Fascism is an inevitable product of Christianity. Here my reasoning is very near to that of Wilhelm Reich's in his book Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus. The Good Friday is a realization of the fact that masochism (=inverted sadism) is the last straw both for the starving, exploited and oppressed and for those who are drowning into the comfortable numbness of western middle- and upper-class culture. Western  civilization is a symbiosis of humanism and sadism, the underdog masturbates with the idea of heaven and with the illusion of being ¨good¨, ¨wronged¨ and ¨morally superior to his oppressor¨.  Those in power have always cherished Christianity for this very reason. There is also an interesting contradiction between the orgasmic masochism of Jesus Christ and modern humanism, humanism that has based it's concept of happiness on denial of pain. Western societies have accepted as a truism that abolishing pain and striving after more and more comfortable society will result in shared happiness. I am opposed to that. I can only laugh while watching your culture committing suicide with the "eternal" growth of consumption, growth that gives the impression of progress even though the proportions of class inequity must  remain the same, because: To feel rich you need the poor  and to be good you need the evil. The Good Friday is an edited documentary of a ritual during which I meditated on what is said above, took it in and identified myself with Jesus. I invite the pain and the pain invites me to resurrect. Finally, I need to point out that what I say in my opinion in no way "explains" my work. I believe that works of art are independent and after finishing a piece its author becomes just a member of its audience. The very justification of art's existence lies in its verbally unexplainable nature: art can not be translated into rational, verbal and logical language, into the language of the consciousness. This is why I never talk about my works. Instead, I expect my works to express themselves. However, I am occasionally, like above, when asked, willing to tell about the ideas I have in my consciousness, my thinking and ideology in general. This I do because sometimes people who have great troubles in getting a real contact with my children (=my works) find it helpful to know something about their father or maybe about the landscape where they grew in." (from the orginal info leaflet in 1989)

MONEY TO BURN
12'00 minutes,  1989

This is the second of the two works I don't show anymore. Sex and Death is the other one. The reason is simply that I reused all the good bits of these later in My Way, a Work in Progress. However, they are available for scholars if they want to track the roots of my stuff or my early developments:)

SEX AND DEATH
30'00 minutes, 1988

My first video work. This and several other early works I made while studying painting in the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. With video and film I'm self-taught: I didn't take any courses in it, I just broke into the video editing facilities and learned how to use the equipment on my own. U-Matic analog tape was the pro standard back then:) Sex and Death was a very crude first step. I don't show it any more, because I used all of its good material again in My Way, a Work in Progress, many years later.

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