Kahviland

Kahviland

is Leena Kela and Kristina Junttilas performance- and script writing project where coffee exercises take different forms.

Kahviland has until now taken three different forms; first as several tours where we sat up a laboratory in four different museums or art halls for one week, the second was a book publication and the third was an installation at the Mänttä Art Festival.

Kahviland write and perform coffee exercises. A coffee exercise is a written instruction or suggestion for a coffee performance – based on the Fluxus tradition. The exercise can be performed either alone, with someone else, or you can even see it just as a performance aphorism. Coffee is the only necessary ingredient.

Kahviland has touched upon different themes related to coffee such as Coffee culture and coffee as material, Coffee breaks and effectivity at work, Coffee visits at homes, Coffee at meetings and Coffee and feelings.

Kahviland have performed coffee exercises in museums, on the street, in peoples homes, in meetings and in a village event. The Nordic people top the statistics as the heaviest coffee drinkers in the world and the project has been a great tool to get an access into the new communities and a great topic to start a conversation with unfamiliar people. Coffee is literally an icebreaker.

See www.kahviland.com

”One of the most unique installations in this gallery was Kaffeland which literally means “Coffee Land.” This was a very interactive and imaginative work of art. (…..)This was a really goofy and fun exhibit, and definitely not one I had ever seen before.” Bethany Salvon, beersandbeans.com

“The next work (Kahviland) should at least succeed in making you forget your everyday life for a moment. We climb up to the rooftop of Pekilo and meet a coffee automat, iPad and small printer.” Aamulehti (own translation)

”Leena Kelas og Kristina Junttilas Kahviland occupies the rooftop of Pekilo. (….) I don´t remember anymore which emotion I picked so that I could put a rainbow hat on my head, but the result was at least laughter.  Not only was the idea of the installation good, the implementation was unusually refined and finalized.  Santsia, thank you!” Sahvi. kukuel.blogspot.fi (own translation)