MoA SLAM 2012 results: this year, it’s beef.
16.05.2012 - Johanna MacDonald
Just attended MoA SLAM at Jätkäsaari (and wielded a wicked timer and a bell… when we say 10 minutes, we mean it). A week ago or so I had the pleasure of workshopping with the five contestants, helping bounce creative ideas around and dish out performance tips. All I can say is I’m really proud of all the performers, who really stepped up to the plate and tried something new. They were all a bunch of nervous things before the show, but one after another they impressed and strutted. Some of my iPhone pics are a bit rubbish as the lens doesn’t much care for stage lighting, so just think “atmosphere.”
Members of the audience acting like spies. Or just reading the newspaper that Seungho Lee handed out as part of his 10-minute talk on saving the world.
Jemina Lehmuskoski told the story of going to school in Bangladesh and hatching their own ducks. Then she showed this slide of her next year of school, in Finland. Look closely, you can see the conformity - rows and rows of the letter "a" written between two lines. The crowd actually made a small (but delightful) sound of existential woe.
Linda Söderholm blew my mind by wrecking the sacred space of the PowerPoint frame. Then she danced. RESPECT.
Anna Cajanus mixed business with social enterprise... she showed up dressed in a scout's uniform. Then she took it off. Possibly the first science slam striptease!
Judging is serious business. Initially they tried to be X-Factor, but they just got so darned interested in the works that they wouldn't stop asking questions!
Herbert (missing the moustache) and his assistant Gertrude (missing the dress) in the aftermath. Hint: the one you think is Herbert is actually Gertrude.
Seungho Lee after the announcement - he takes home the crown, and a 500 EUR prize, which he says he'll use to print 5000 more copies of the Beef 2012 newspaper. Well done!
Johanna MacDonald
Our living.aalto.fi editor Johanna takes on Aalto Talk for the month of May, bringing you the Daily MoA blog - a steady flow of observations and information on what's been happening in Jätkäsaari and around town. With interests ranging from performance art to game culture to bike hacking to politics, expect her blog to be an infinitely curious take on all things MoA.
Johanna wears an awful lot of hats: performance artist, stand-up comic, writer, actor, designer, cycling nut, sport lover, cultural hacktivist--a surprising number of them professionally. She believes imagination makes the world go round.
