This was a performance that was a DREAM of mine for a long time.
A performance in the group exhibition Waves? by Elisa Sakko, Heli Jauhiainen, Jussi Lipasti, Ville Ruuska and Eeva-Liisa Anttila in Porin Lyhytaaltoasema.
The performance was a critique of material. I had an idea of selling my diaries on the street as a performance. My diaries are maybe the most dear material I have. As a middle-classed western millennial in the capitalist system whose learnt family trait is to be a bit of hoarder, I have been grown in an abundance of good, and a belief of such goods producing fulfillment to one’s life. Everyone can make their own conclusions of how this material well-being brings joy to their own lifes, but being surrounded things and using purchasing them to distract from e.g. anxiety, being unable to let go of it, I have had my own presumptions.
My performance was to be and auction of private goods. I was to have a suit and a gavel, and I wanted to play the looney tunes theme music. But I could not sell all my diaries. They are too dear to me and even thought the extreme of the matter intrigues me, I have no need to go to the extreme for the sake of performance. So, I thought, I would be selling only one diary and with that other belongings that are beloved, or for some reason hard to let go of. I decided to auction off:
- My diary from the year 2017
- A design Nuutajärvi candlestick by Olavi Toikka of my grandmother (worth approx. 100e)
- A summoning letter for me to the district court from 2022
- The inside of my wallet: 24,95 euros
- All the takeaway-coffee cups and cardboard and plastic wine cups from exhibition openings that I used in the year 2023. There were 52 of them.
The old radio station where the event was held was huge, so I had a grand amount of space going for me which was great. I made a banner with the looney tunes theme in mind which had my number on it, for people to be able pay for their purchases. I wanted to crawl behind the audience to the front where I would host the auction. As a pleasant surprise the place had two stories, so I was able two crawl down the stairs as well. So first I put the looney tunes theme music on for an empty stage and then I started the crawling.
The findings of the auction were very interesting. The starting price for every piece was 0,10 euros, this is ten cents. You could only rise the bid by ten cents. My diary was sold for 4 euros, the sentimentally and monetarily valuable (approx. 100e) candle stick was auctioned off with only 1,70 euros. The summoning letter to court received a worth of 3,40 euros. The actual money was auctioned off with the worth of 20 euros and 80 cents. When you can only rise the bid with 10 cents, you can imagine this took a while. My dear cups, the disposable cups were sold for 3,40 cents. Who would have thought?
What surprised me most was the money and the cups. I was sure that I would lose money in this auction, that the 24,95€ would be sold with a lot less, so that the one getting the cash would receive more. But they only gained four euros and fifteen cents. The cups I thought nobody would be interested in. However, there were many artists in the audience, who said that the cups were the most genial product, and they wished to use them in their own work.
The high price of the diary and the letter did not surprise me, people are interested in other people’s lives and gossip, sure. The fact that the most expensive product, the candlestick, was sold with such a tiny amount was interesting. As an artist friend said afterwards: with the candlestick came also work, with the cash you have the worth without the work.
When I did not have anything else to auction, put on the looney tunes theme music and ran off.
The subjective objective of the performance was to let go material that for me is difficult to give up, as well as exploring the concept and importance of owning material and private information. Why not share my thoughts from the year 2017? How are they different from anyone else’s and what is to be kept private? I have discovered that by opening my shame to another has led me to develop a closer relationship with them.
The monetary auctioning brought up some controversy. I received a comment from the audience that the capital arose annoyance in them: they thought I was making the people to run through hoops. In a way I was of course, but my perception was that the audience had all the power of the situation. They were responsible for how long the auction was to be held. They commented that I sped up the auctioning the further up the price went: that was more due to my nerves than because of a conscious choice, which in retrospect is something to be kept in mind for further exploring of this kind of performance. Maybe the price could have gone even higher than the actual monetary worth?
Overall, the auction went smoothly. Both the concepts of the auction and sentimental and private belongings are to be examined more in the future.
The photographers in order of appearance:
- Jussi Lipasti
- Thelma Saikkonen
- Isto Rahkila
- Lisa Holmén
the works 