Super Eclectic
Stay curious
Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time. Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, which is the only fact we have. It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death—ought to decide, indeed, to earn one’s death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life. One is responsible for life: It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return. One must negotiate this as nobly as possible, for the sake of those who are coming after us.
The message is a quote by James Baldwin from a book called The Fire Next Time. I like that quote in particular because I think that humans struggle or try to make ourselves busy with many things that in the end don’t really matter. It all boils down to. We’re going to be gone. And I think it’s our fear. And he points that out as a fear to confront this inexorable fact that we’re going to die basically. And it’s a fear to confront this that makes us ambitious about power, or greedy, that makes us hate other people or this just makes our lives miserable. So maybe we just should face death and our lives would be better.
Not being too comfortable where you live or where you are and be curious at the same time
I travelled a lot before being where I am right now for many years. And I was not based in one specific context. And I think it’s also important to be grounded. So finding that balance is a very difficult thing. Not being too comfortable where you live or where you are and being curious at the same time, and willing to face new challenges. Which is what you do when you travel. But travel not as a tourist, but to travel with a mission or travel because you want to understand other things and other places.
A work would not be complete if it’s not through the participation of the public
I think a work would not be complete if it’s not through the participation of the public, the audience, the reader. So leaving it open in order for someone else to complete it it’s an essential part of any creative work, in my opinion. So for us, it’s important that we give space to others.
Care is about being authentic
This word, care, as many other words, it’s mentioned more frequently in the last few years than before. And I think that’s good. That’s good. Things are being discussed, things are being acknowledged and named. But it also makes me wonder how much farther besides acknowledging something, which is the first step, we actually go, right? I believe that care is about being authentic. Because if I come and I am there for the person and I’m there for myself or I’m there for whatever is around me, I think it’s the highest degree of care one can give, because that would assure that you would respond to the situation as it is. And I think that this is what is the most difficult in care, because if I will now decide that, oh, maybe you should eat something and try to serve you some food even if you are not hungry, which is kind of a stereotype of, I don’t know, parents or grandparents or I don’t know some relatives. And is it really care? Right. Like, for sure it’s an expression of something. But I would say that care is really realizing what’s happening and what can be done in this situation. So this is super difficult.
There is power in silence
I run a podcast on bacterial and social fermentation and the act of interviewing people made me reflect a lot on the power structure of the interview format. There’s somebody who asks you questions and you answer somehow wondering, “Do I sound clever?” and so on. But first of all, there is this great generosity in listening to another person, if it’s done respectfully and right. It is an act of generosity and that there is power in silence. Actually silence is much more subversive than I thought before.
About Super Eclectic
Super Eclectic is a creative studio and production house based in Helsinki, working in Finland and internationally. They use transmedia to create narratives and communicate experiences across multiple digital and analog platforms. With graphics, moving images, sound, words, and atmospheres, they expand different angles of a story. Their team embraces the importance of diversity, equity, and sustainability. That’s why they operate according to decentralized organizational methods, feminist leadership, and data privacy.
CreaTures resources
Pirici, A. (2022). Entanglement [Festival keynote]. CreaTures Festival, Sevilla, Spain.
Dolejšová, M., Ampatzidou, C., Choi, J. H-j., Botero, A., Beavers, I., Pokrywka, A., Van Amstel, F., Satomi, M. & Perner-Wilson, H. (2021). Feral Creative Practices Panel [Panel discussion]. Uroboros 2021 festival.
Ampatzidou, Cristina & Choi, Jaz Hee-jeong (Eds.) (2022) Understories – CreaTures Zine.
Pokrywka, A. (2021). Cyano Automaton [Festival presentation]. Uroboros 2021 festival.