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photo: 'Block That Chain' worklab, Graz, October 2019. It's way more fun than it looks, I promise!

This episode of the Serious Introspection audio podcast talks with several members of the block that chain worklab that I participated in in Graz, Austria. block that chain is a week-long worklab hosted by the wonderful mur.at to explore the questions,...

photo: the host + the guest, sometime in 2004 or 2005.

I dusted off the microphones to record the first Serious Introspection audio podcast in over two years. Sadly, the occasion was the passing of David Berman, poet and musician, whose death has affected me immensely. I called up Andy, a comedy writer and proper podcaster based in Los Angeles, to talk about...

There's some cliché about old dogs and new tricks that I always mangle, but clichés are better when stated incorrectly. It's been over three years since I (John) hosted a regular live talk show with Justin and Ernest, but we brought the act out again for a special reunion performance at the Nida Art Colony's ninth inter-format symposium, 'On the Fluidity of...

For the first time in three years, Serious Introspection will convene, this time at the Nida Art Colony 9th Inter-format Symposium. The full lineup of host John, hype man Justin, and meta-media specialist Ernest will be there, as part of the Error Collective 'lounge' on Saturday, 29 June. The theme of the symposium is absurdity and humour, so I don't really understand why...

My pal Girilal stopped by Helsinki last month and we recorded this conversation, which touched on science fiction, improvisation, being an audience member, and lots more. This is also an attempt to keep the SI podcast feed alive with some occasional content, as enough interesting people pass through my life that I should try to share their ideas with a larger audience.

Detailed notes will...

For the last episode of Serious Introspection, filmed on 13 April 2016, we did a short set as the opening act of the 2016 Lal Lal Lal festival. But first, we brought Marianna Keisalo (last seen in S02E01 back on stage to catch-up on her life as the hardest working standup comedienne/anthropologist in Helsinki. Marijn aka Red Brut was up next, and then we welcomed the Mental...

It was great to have Tuukka Asplund fill in as Hype Man for the last two episodes of Serious Introspection's second season. In episode 7, we first welcomed the inimitable Olaf Möller to discuss his approach to teaching cinema, Finnish cinema, and some childhood memories. Then we welcomed the equally inimatble Mari Keski-Korsu to talk a bit about her work, the forthcoming 2016...

And finally, the last two episodes of Serious Introspection from April's IHME Päivät festival in Helsinki. These shows were both recorded on 3 April and we moved the outdoor concept indoors due to bad weather. The first show is a roundtable discussion with a handful of young artists who were part of the Marathon event that evening: Nestori Syrjälä, Pekka and...

The second day of IHME Päivät, 2 April 2016, found us again hosting two episodes of Serious Introspection. The first of the day found busker Stephen Paul Taylor and festival keynote speaker Jan Verwoert meeting for a lively outdoor interview. For the second interview, we moved inside due to weather and spoke with Päivi Raivio and Robin Ellis, leaders of the poster sceening...

Here are the first two shows from the IHME Päivät festival, which took place in early April 2016 in Helsinki. We set up these shows outside, on the 'stage' next to Vanha where the festival was taking place, and throughout the weekend interviewed a variety of festival participants hoping to promote it to the general public. On Friday, the first show was with Pontus...

Serious Introspection actually ended awhile ago, but due to general life commitments I've been way behind on getting the videos edited and posted. So with many apologies, here is the belated episode 6 of season two, which actually took place way back in March. I had the flu and almost canceled the show, but instead I turned up and let Justin take charge, and this turned out to be...

Posting this a bit late, but we are hosting Serious Introspection shows as part of the 2016 IHME Päivät festival, in Vanha Ylioppilastalo (Mannerheimintie 3). Yesterday we did our first two shows and we follow with two today and two tomorrow. These shows are taking place on the 'stage' outside, in the Kaivopiha area immediately to the left of Vanha (or out the back...

We've been a bit behind schedule on editing videos, but here is the video from episode 5, which took place on 23 March 2016. Our guests were 110% (Lachlan and Beth), Marek Pluciennik, and the mysterious Mirva. Agnieszka also joined to talk about our trip to Prague. We had some live performance art, and we talked about film and depression too. Ernest sent in a travel report from Madrid,...

Serious Introspection season 2, episode 4 took place on Wednesday, 16 March 2016 at Ihana Baari in Helsinki and featured Tuukka Asplund and Kira O'Reilly as guests. We talked about life in Helsinki, ecology and trans-disciplinary approaches to performance, British complaint culture, and the value of making stuff or not. Also, we sang some karaoke, went to Estonia, tried to call Ernest,...

After some delay (sorry, I am lazy when it comes to my video editing responsibilities), here is season 2, episode 3 from 1 March 2016. Martina Marti was on first to discuss her work Reverie with Gnab Collective, as well as the general balance of being an artirst vs. and administrator, and the different approaches to these topics. Then we had Juuso Paaso, who has been working with the...