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.
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.
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)
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 parsaaKoskighetto 2 – TradenomiDj Iso J – KirkossaPertsa CallingRadio KoskighettoDj Iso JFaroutFreestyle1Freestyle2Phone 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.
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.
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 performanceOutdoor stagePowerplantAI’s take on the power plant
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)
Back in 2015 I was in IFFR (Rotterdam International Film Festival) with my 8-hour movie, Sleep. It was amazing experience. Now after all the years I’m going back. I did the role of cryptomillionaire in Matti Harju’s dabut feature film, Natura. The movie will have it’s world premiere in Rotterdam January 29th and I will be there together with Matti. It’s amazing movie. I wish everyone could join the premiere.
APN201 is a lifeform. It's an art project and a person. A normal IT-guy who wants to become artist. A guy who takes Nike slogan "Just Do It" seriously.
