On Saturday afternoon I pedaled into Vaasa to start the first performance of my new inflatable suit, You Wear What I Wear. It is smaller than previous suits and can therefore take stronger gusts of wind. Usually when the wind blows I get knocked over in Big Red, but this suit is a trooper.

As soon as I inflated the suit children surrounded me. At one point the children ran circles around the suit as I bounced down the street. This suit allows me to be much more agile and quick and I look forward to future performances.

Later in the evening I went to Platform for a scheduled artist talk. After the talk I busted out the suit and ran around a bit before going down to the seaside to enjoy a beer with the Platform crew.

The first public performance for my new inflatable suit, You Wear What I Wear, is scheduled to begin in Vaasa on July 18th at 2:00pm. This suit is pink, orange and purple. It has a lot of protrusions, squares and a big pink fabric wall to bash people with in the front.

In addition to the performance in the afternoon I will give an artist talk at Platform in Vaasa. Swedish Artist, Mattias Olofsson, will also give a talk on Saturday. He is the current artist in residence at Platform. The talks begin at 7:00 on Saturday.

Platform Flyer

Those forty two purple squares are now sewn to the ends of orange tubes. Now I am entering the final stages of fabrication. My goal is to finish this weekend. If do not encounter any unforeseen problems and sew into the night I should be able to complete it in time.

The suit I am working on will have lots of orange tubes with squares on their ends. Some of the squares will be pink and about forty two will be purple. Each tube – square assembly consists of seven pieces of fabric and therefore takes a bit of time to sew. I have most of the other pieces of the suit cut and ready for assembly. After finishing these tube assemblies I can begin final assembly of the suit.

It might not resemble much now, but this is the new cockpit for my next inflatable suit. The backpack harness is installed in the back. Two fan ports sit in the pink fabric in the front. Now that the cockpit is finished I can build around this foundation to complete the suit. The orange tubes with the pink squares at the ends run along the bottom of the cockpit. There is more pink, orange and purple from where this came from.

In a bilingual city sometimes newspaper articles can come in pairs. Vasabladet, the Swedish paper in Vaasa, also published an article about Big Red and the upcoming Children’s Day at Stundars. Only the west coast of Finland is Swedish speaking and even then it is only about five percent of the total Finnish population. Here in Solf and Vaasa there are a lot of Swedish speaking Finns. Therefore there are two universities, two newspapers, two theaters, two names on street signs and two of everything else.

Translation from Swedish below:

VASABLADET
Culture

Like a figure from a video game settled among the cottages. So it seems when American guest artist Jimmy Kuehnle presents one of his inflatable suits at Stundars.

“Big Red” hovers between the houses

“Big Red” seems to float between the houses at the Stundars Museum grounds. Photo: Benjamin Suomela

Jimmy Kuehnle is currently working at Ateljé Stundars, and is engaged in making inflatable costumes. Kuehnle’s art is shown among the people on the streets instead of being displayed in art museums. In the evening you can see one of the characters walking around during Stundars Children’s Day.

SOLF

The sculpture “Big Red” (significantly about “the big red”) having been lifted out of his bag, looks at first like a shapeless fabric pile. As fans fill the suit with air, red cones slowly develop, and the several-meter-high suit takes shape before one’s eyes. Kuehnle puts on the costume and starts to walk away. Viewed from a distance the large red-green formation seems to float over the grass and white clover. The small cottages in the background reinforce the impression that “Big Red” is a creature from another world that has incredibly fallen down into the middle of the museum.

Jimmy Kuehnle sews his own costumes. For them to be sufficiently light he uses a similar type of fabric to that used in the manufacture of parachutes. Kuehnle is from Saint Louis in the U.S., and previously created art by welding together large metal structures. When he began to travel around with his art he had to find an art form that could be mobile.
“The thought process behind welding and sewing are very similar to each other, and you can still create large constructions.” said Kuehnle.
The large fabric suit is kept upright by air blown in by two battery-powered fans.
“The fans have a battery life of about three hours, and during that time, I can move around freely as I want.” said Kuehnle.
The inflatable suit, despite its solid appearance, is so soft and lightweight that it can thud against people and surrounding buildings without taking damage. The suit is vulnerable to tears, and Kuehnle admits that he devotes a lot of time to repair work.

Jimmy Kuehnle with his creation “Big Red”. Photo: Benjamin Suomela

“Big Red” and Kuehnle will participate in Stundars Children’s Day.
“During my performances in different cities it tends to be the children that follow me, and therefore I am participating in the children’s party.” said Kuehnle.
Kuehnle is often among people literally wearing his art.
“My performances are not made only for the art world, but for ordinary people. “Big Red” is so big that people expect it to stand still. When it starts to run toward them they forget all about their everyday lives.”
Last Saturday Jimmy Kuehnle wandered around the outdoor square in Vaasa wearing “Big Red”, and if weather allows, he will carry out further performances in Vaasa in July.
“There are many who start talking to me or help me during my performances. This human contact between strangers reminds us that life is short and that we must make the best of the chances we get.” said Kuehnle.

ERIKA RÖNNGÅRD

The Finnish newspaper Pohjalainen published an article about Big Red and the upcoming events at Stundars titled, “Big Red Stundarisin lastenjuhlien ihastus.” This proves that it pays to smash into reporters with a big inflatable suit before they write an article about you. Now I have to learn a bit of Finnish to see what it says.

Merja Vasikkaniemi of YLE came to the Stundars Museum along with representatives from the Swedish and Finnish speaking newspapers in Vaasa. Gunilla invited the media to Stundars to promote the July 1st Children’s Day at the museum. She asked be to show my suit to the media.

I blew the suit up instantly grabbing the attention of the reporters. They did not expect to see a large inflatable suit over four meters tall running at them. I danced around a bit in the suit and then answered their questions. Big Red might seem old to me but it is brand new in Finland. One of the photographers told me that Big Red was the coolest thing he had seen in a while. I told him to wait for the next piece.

Merja produced a piece for Pohjanmaan uutiset (East News) that aired at 7:00. A short blurb and photo slide show titled “Iso punainen” viihdyttää Stundarsissa (Big Red Entertains Stundars) can be seen on YLE’s site.

I bicycled into Vaasa with Big Red for the first time today. Peter Rosvik, who goes by Peppe, from Platform in Vaasa came by to snap some pictures. In the middle of Vaasa is a large public square. I stared the performance there and then roamed through the streets amusing the many people sitting in outdoor cafes. The weather cooperated nicely. After a break and a pit stop with Peppe to have a beer at a seaside cafe, I performed again along the shoreline. the summer light in Finland is very precious. Due to the nice weather many young people were along the shore enjoying their favorite beverages. Big Red and I joined them in their revelry.