With the release of this EP, it’s been 15 months since my last release as Jori Hulkkonen. The album Man From Earth(Turbo Recordings) was a bit of a departure from my previous LPs, as it was clearly more club-oriented. Since that album, I’ve mainly focused on producing (Villa Nah, Night Satan) and working on new projects, such as the full analogue hardware liveshow as dRUMMAN, and the follow-up album for Processory, my collaborative synthpop duo with Jerry Valuri.

Incidentally, it’s been exactly 15 years since my debut albumSelkäsaari Tracks (F Communications). So it felt like a good time do a bit of soul-searching; looking back without turning around. The Finnish educational system (ranked no. 1 in the world; see OECD’s PISA survey) has given me the tools for this: SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).

SWOT is a method that was developed in the 60s at Stanford University, originally as a tool to evaluate business ventures, but it can be just as easily applied almost anywhere. So, I give you a SWOT analysis of my career as a producer as I see it in 2011:

STRENGTHS: Structures. Structures have always been what I’m good at: building elaborate constructions on solid foundations. Be it a song, an EP, an album, a DJ set, or the biggest structure of them all, a career, I find the direction and execution very easy to conceptualize.

WEAKNESSES: Referring to the above, the bigger the structure, the easier it is to see the big picture. When it comes to clubmusic that is traditionally more song/track-based rather than album-based, I feel it sometimes may be a disadvantage, as not every track has that instant floorpotential when taken out of context of their parent album/EP etc.

OPPORTUNITIES: With a recording career spanning over two decades and a record collection of over 13,000 12″s, there’s a wealth of musical influences to tap into, which combined with musical creativity and constant curiosity could lead us on to the much-awaited next level.

THREATS: The abovementioned ends up sounding like a lame pastiche of a thousand records done years ago, and to compensate I throw in more jazzy chords and lush strings resulting it all failing miserably.

Jori Hulkkonen’s SWOT EP will be released on March 7th, giving dance scholars the tools they need to successfully defend their groove-thesis.

This colourful building tells a story..

…of La Maquina Amarilla (The Yellow Machine), a rallying cry that defines the spirit of the people of this area. La Maquina Amarilla is recorded as a *Corrido or Border Folk Song that is a part of the oral history of the city. The sound patterns of La Maquina Amarilla have been interpreted as a mural which wraps the building, creating an icon of cultural voice through which every visitor must enter.

Prefabricated Cottages from Chile, designed by Santiago firm AATA ARQUITECTOS, more from Architizer:

…put on the terrain with the aim of transforming the land as less as possible. In it’s design special attention was given to sun light and cross ventilation to avoid the usage of mechanical systems to achieve thermal and luminance comfort.

The Cabins have a rainwater collection system which stores and treats the water for the re-usage in the cabanas. Water from the network is only used in case this supply runs out . This avoids the over consumption of a resource which is rare on the Island.

Hot water comes from solar heating tanks to the solar panels located on each cottage’s roof, avoiding the use of gas or electricity (which in the island is generated from petrol) for this purpose.

Urban renewal project from Denmark, the project also won the Denmark landscaping award in 2010.

Today I visited the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art [ACCA] to check out the Joseph Kosuth instillation ‘(Waiting for -) Texts for Nothing’ .Samuel Beckett, in play. First to ACCA, the building was designed by Melbourne firm Wood/Marsh [photo above].

Now to Joseph Kosuth, walking into a pitch black void of a room with no reference but the neon writing high above you at the level of the ceiling, is like swimming in darkness. Here is what the ACCA website has to say about the instillation:

On this occasion Kosuth will present a new body of work titled ‘(Waiting for -) Texts for Nothing’ Samuel Beckett, in play based on a play on Samuel Beckett writings, with particular focus on ‘Waiting for Godot’ and ‘Texts for Nothing’. The installation works runs throughout the perimeter of the main gallery space and is fabricated in blacked out warm white neon installed in a matte black space.

Beckett’s project as an artist was in one important way parallel to that of Kosuth: both practices manifest a concern with meaning. Beckett approaches the question of meaning from the absence of meaning rather than, as Kosuth does, from questions concerned with the production of meaning. Beckett for Kosuth reflects some of the origins of his own practice. There can’t be much doubt as to how this work has come about and its reverberation in Kosuth’s intentions.

The present exhibition will also include three historic installation works. Beginning with the artist’s first gallery exhibition held in Los Angeles in 1969 and titled ‘Nothing,’ showing his seminal dictionary definition works, as well as ‘Zero & Not’, an installation from Kosuth’s 1980’s series of installation works comprised of wall papered rooms based on the writing of Sigmund Freud, and a neon installation work based on James Joyce’s Ulysses, from 1998, exhibited on the ceiling of the Royal Hiberian Academy in Dublin in occasion of James Joyce Bloomsday Anniversary exhibition in 2004.

From cabbagerose, the supreme architecture / interior design source on tumblr.

Solna Centrum / Stockholm

Candidplatz Station, Munich

Bund Sightseeing Tunnel / Shanghai

Drassanes Station / Barcelona

Drassanes station / Barcelona

Its a houseboat, and with approximately 25% of the Netherlands is below sea level and living on the water is becoming more and more popular. More photos and information can be found at DailyTonic. Here are some words from the architects..

“The design has, unlike most floating houses, a very contemporary design without losing the characteristic appearance of the typical houseboat. The clients get a lot of positive reactions, it evens happens that people who pass by boat knock on the windows and ask if they can enter the boat.

Living on the water gets more and more popular in Holland. The clients/ owners who come to our office always love the typical charms and characteristics of living on the water but don’t like the standard “caravan” appearance of the existing houseboats. More and more people want to live on a contemporary houseboat that has been designed for their specific needs, the houseboat at De Omval is an obvious example of this wish.”

Jeurgen Mayer H. designed this regional airport in Mestia, a medieval town located in thehe former Soviet state of Georgia. It was completed as recently as December 24, 2010.