Course Schedule

Unavoidable Darkness looks at the cultural and material codes of our environment
that condition our ways of living and acting, focusing on the significance of
darkness. We will study the actual conditions of living in Helsinki in the
darkest time of the year. This framing includes several possible aspects: the
physical facts of the human body and our surroundings that condition our life
during those weeks, as well as the cultural arrangements that exists due the
short days and long nights. What does the darkness mean for us, who live here
and share the situation?

Students are introduced to the concepts of urban dérive, spatial
practices producing urban space and artistic urban intervention, and apply each
concept through practical assignments.

8.11. Introduction to the course, its schedule and its methods. Few words on kaamos and darkness in Finnish culture. A Dark Group Assignment.
9.11. Lecture on the International Situationists and the concept of Derive.
15.11. Derive assignment, presentations and discussions.
16.11. Lecture on everyday practices.
22.11. Practices assignment, presentations and discussions
23.11. Guest lecture on the psychological significance of darkness and light by Timo Partonen

29.11. - 2.12 and 7. - 9.12 intensive workshop on artistic works on the topic of unavoidable darkness.