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APN 201

About the project

Using his own savings APN201 wants to show that you can make art without grants.
As long as you have brain that is producing ideas you can do anything.
This page is a collection of pictures, videos and text. Describing the art work and the process around it.

Info: info@apn201.com

New film: Sleep 2023

ART? Posted by APN201Posted on Tue, January 02, 2024 19:09:41

Celebrating 10 Years of Cinematic Innovation

Juha Lilja Unveils “Sleep” Sequel: A Captivating Dive into Digital Wakefulness

In a bold exploration of our digital age, acclaimed filmmaker Juha Lilja returns with the highly anticipated sequel to his avant-garde masterpiece, “Sleep.” A decade after the groundbreaking original, Lilja’s “Sleep” (2023) takes audiences on an unprecedented 5-hour and 21-minute journey, challenging the pervasive influence of mobile phones in our lives.

Synopsis: “Sleep” (2023) marks a radical departure from its predecessor. Instead of the vulnerability of sleep, Lilja confronts the wakeful grip of modern technology. Armed with his mobile phone, he immerses himself for over 5 hours, disconnected from reality. Shot with a Canon EOS M, the unfiltered footage captures Lilja’s digital odyssey—no embellishments, no lights, just raw and thought-provoking reality.

Critique and Aesthetics of Cohabitation: In the spirit of Christopher Costabile’s master’s thesis, Lilja’s “Sleep” serves as both a critique and exemplar of the aesthetics of cohabitation. The unyielding gaze into Lilja’s digital world mirrors our collective obsession with mobile devices. It’s a cinematic reflection, devoid of external lights or effects, exposing the intimate dance between human consciousness and the omnipresent mobile phone.

Sleep poster

YouTube Premiere and Concept Art: Celebrating a decade of innovation, “Sleep” (2023) will premiere on Lilja’s YouTube channel APN 201 Movies on January 15th at 16:00 CET. Embracing the aesthetics of cohabitation, the film takes the form of concept art, aligning with Costabile’s thesis, ensuring its availability to the masses at their own homes. The film might later be screened at selected festivals, events, or galleries.

Availability: “Sleep” (2023) promises a YouTube debut, offering a global audience the chance to witness Lilja’s digital wakefulness. Subsequent screenings at festivals, events, or galleries will be announced in due course.

To understand the significance of the new film, it is useful to first learn about the previous one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_(2013_film)

For press inquiries, interviews, or additional information, please contact: info@apn201.com

About Juha Lilja: Juha Lilja is an award-winning filmmaker renowned for his avant-garde approach to cinema. With an illustrious career spanning decades, his films continue to provoke thought and redefine the boundaries of cinematic storytelling.

Official Website: http://apn201.com

Social Media: https://twitter.com/lilja_juha| https://www.facebook.com/apina2001 | https://www.instagram.com/apn201design/



Vivant academia

Uncategorised Posted by APN201Posted on Sun, December 10, 2023 21:00:08

It Finally happened!

My film, Sleep has been subject of a Master’s Thesis at University of South Florida.
Let’s unpack some highlights:

Cohabitation Aesthetics: Chris delves into what he calls “aesthetics of cohabitation,” breaking down how my film challenges norms around space and time. Imagine cozying up with art in your own space – that’s the vibe!

Digital Magic: I’m stoked Chris noticed the digital magic behind “Sleep.” We’re talking YouTube accessibility, eight-hour visual experiences – all the good stuff! Taking Warhol’s vision and giving it a 21st-century twist.

Home Sweet Aura: Chris chats about how my film brings the aura right into your living room. It’s like having your own art party at home – how cool is that?

Jamming with Experimental Beats: He draws connections to experimental music legends like Lucier and Young. I guess my film’s got some groovy parallels with those beats – a fusion of visuals and vibes.

COVID Siesta: In this crazy COVID world, Chris wonders if snoozing through my film is a legit form of art appreciation. Well, why not? A cozy movie nap might just be the cure for digital overload!

So, big thanks to Chris for shining a spotlight on “Sleep” in his thesis. Check it out and join the conversation!




Unlimited adventure “game”

ART? Posted by APN201Posted on Sat, September 16, 2023 00:21:37

I’m still exploring the possibilities of AI.
In this experiment I asked GPT-4 to act as a Zork-style text adventure game. I added a memory of 8 previous inputs/outputs (limited to keep cost low) and embedded in a retro-style web page.


The result is strange. This antigame basically has unlimited world and unlimited library of commands. You can wonder around the world to learn about its secrets, and it just keeps going forever. The only limit is my quota for OpenAI API, to limit me going bankrupt if people start to use this.

You can try it at: http://helppox.com/terminal/ and http://helppox.com/hal9000/ and http://helppox.com/god/



New Shorts

ART? Posted by APN201Posted on Wed, June 28, 2023 23:11:24

While trying everything I made 6 shorts in 6 days. I used AI for brainstorming the ideas. Which one is your favourite?
Enjoy.



Art of Science

ART? Posted by APN201Posted on Wed, June 28, 2023 23:03:55

Sorry for not posting anything for a while. I have had things to do.

In my pursue to make art out of everything, I tried science.

Imbalanced-Dimensions-and-Gravitational-Effects_Exploring-Hidden-Realms-and-Novel-PhenomenaDownload


Censored Sleep

ART? Posted by APN201Posted on Wed, March 08, 2023 12:28:53

Good news and bad news. My film, Sleep was featured in an article in Slate related to the sleep streaming phenomenon. As mentioned in my earlier post, it was recommended by YouTube algorithm to hundreds of thousands users. In the end it gained 181 968 views before YouTube removed it for being against sex and nudity guidelines.

Bullsh*t

As Sleep is an art piece, featured in a film festival and covered in Wikipedia and news articles – it should match the guidelines of having nudity allowed in art context. And it is not meant to be sexually gratifying. It is just a documentary of a sleeping person.

YouTube hypocrisy video

Anyway. It was removed and appeal was rejected. Probably because it got sexual comments and was featured in an article about sexual video streams.

Appeal rejected

Who are they protecting? Why is this video more dangerous than all the other actually disturbing content in YouTube?

Will cat videos be banned if people start getting aroused by them? (some probably are)

Video about my thoughts


Things I did in 2000-2001

ART? Posted by APN201Posted on Tue, February 07, 2023 14:02:31

This might become too long article, but let’s see. Someone asked me to list all the different projects I have ever done. It’s impossible to list them, but we could go trough some highlights.

Radio Koskighetto

Somewhere back in 2001 I was living in a student flat in Kotka. Winamp was big thing and SHOUTHcast plugin allowed to host your own radio channel. I was running Radio Koskighetto from my room. Playing copyrighted music, running quiz shows and having visiting hosts. like Dj Feldis, Dr. Drunkster. There was strong interaction to the listeners via IRC channels and Messenger. Listeners could ask for songs etc. Not much survives, but the logo and some audio clips.

Koskighetto – Imekää parsaa
Koskighetto 2 – Tradenomi
Dj Iso J – Kirkossa
Pertsa Calling
Radio Koskighetto
Dj Iso J
Farout
Freestyle1
Freestyle2
Phone call

Kriisipuuro

Another project from 2001 was Kriisipuuro Christmas calendar. We decided to make a story about an Christmas elf and depict it in 24 photos published once a day until Christmas eve.

As usual, nothing was done beforehand. We went out every night taking the photos for next day. We had a crappy digital camera, which did not work well in winter temperatures. In the end nobody had the time and interest to shoot anymore.

Kriisipuuro Website
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Day 19
Day 20
Day 21
Day 22
Day 23
Day 24

Design Challenge

Design Challenge was a robot building competition held in Wilhelmshaven Germany. Basically they sent a box full of raw materials: aluminium plates, plexiglss, beer bottles etc. to the teams and they had 2 weeks time to turn it into a radio-controlled robot, which can be used to perform a specific task, like assembling a simple airplane or putting out a candle in a model house. In the competition there were always 2 temas competing against each other in a tournament-style setup.

I participated in 2001 in team “Mc Helvetinperkele”. We ended up second because our drive belt jumped off in the final. In 2002 our team was colled “ToJuMi” and we were first. Our prize was a trip to Autostadt in Wolfsburg Germany. Stating in Ritz Carlton hotel etc. Very Nice.

Some info can be found in Internet Archive. Including an Excel -file about the results.

Results.xlsDownload
Our DC 2001 robot

Midnight party

Another big thing was the Midnight Party, which I organized together with my friends at my summer cottage. This became an annual tradition for many years. We had a power generator to feed the PA system for the bands. There were every year more than 20 visitors, multiple bands, a porn star etc. This was one of the events leading to founding of Liemi Ry.

Music performance
Outdoor stage
Powerplant
AI’s take on the power plant



Sleep Revival

ART? Posted by APN201Posted on Fri, January 20, 2023 22:28:35

Exactly 10 years after the making of my 8-hour long Warhol remake, Sleep, it gained unexpected traction. For reasons unknown to me, YouTube algorithm decided to suggest this movie (from my dormant secondary channel) to hundreds of thousands of viewers.

Sudden surge in views.

Before long this abandoned channel was alive again. It was getting hundreds of followers and comments and thousands of views every day. From the comments it seemed like especially the members of gay subculture, “bears” were interested in the channel. Sleep was the champion, but my other films started also getting views – especially those where I’m naked or almost naked.

This all seems to connect with trending of sleepstreams – people live streaming their sleeping. Sleep was not really a stream, but somehow it was fitting this trend. Of course I decided to ride the wave. I’m not interested in streaming, but I figured, that somehow I need to feed the YouTube algorithm and deliver content to my new fans.

Man sleeping on an antique rug

I took my camera from the closet and started shooting myself sleeping again. I did not want to make live streams. Instead I wanted to improve the concept of original Sleep – to have interesting images of a sleeping man. I used my vintage Soviet lens, sat down in my Design armchair and let the camera roll. When I woke up, I moved the camera and did it again, and again and again, until I had about an hour of material. Then I quickly edited it, applied some sounds, grain and heavy color grading and uploaded it to YouTube. The “premiere” event in YouTube gained some live fans chatting with me. Soon the video had over 5000 views. We needed more and better sleep.

I made another one when I sleep on a small sofa. I added more scenes and faster cut. It become 1½ hours long. I set it premiere in a couple of days time (Saturday 21. January) so that possible fans can make the time to watch it.

Next night I set my camera up again. This time I decided to sleep on an old Persian rug. This time I graded it differently. I did not desaturate the colors that much. Just enough to catch the night atmosphere and vintage feeling. I can not wait longer, so I set it to premiere on Sunday a day after the sofa movie.

Let’s see what happens with the premieres and how long I have the interest in filming myself sleeping. Maybe when I have 8 hours of footage, I can edit Sleep 2023 – a sequel, to celebrate the 10th anniversary.

My main focus now is the World Premiere of Natura in IFFR Rotterdam next week. Therefore I decided to harness the success of my sleep to promote Natura. It has worked quite well. The Natura trailer in IFFR YouTube channel has already 1000 new views now. You should watch it and comment it NOW! (Or even better come to the world premiere in Rotterdam 29th January 2023)



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