“‘Throwing words into the air’ — this is what O’odham says about talking, storytelling, praying, singing — all of which make up the genre of oral tradition. The words are thrown into the air in the form of spoken word, song, oration, or invocation. Words, like other things that can be carried by the air, are at the mercy of the winds. The listener who happens to be on the receiving end of these words is also at the mercy of the winds.” Ofelia Zepeda
Helsinki Open Waves (HOW) is a translingual, non-profit, community-driven platform that encapsulates a network of trans-local radio and audio practices. In addition, HOW offers its participants a rent-free sound studio located at Culture Center CAISA, all the necessary technical assistance, and tools for them to actualize their own content with complete artistic independence and represent themselves with their own languages and cultures, helping to create a more diverse society in Finland, and hopefully elsewhere. The goal is to create a multi-voiced shared space that is supported by contributors’ participation. Within this platform, we explore and reimagine fresh strategies for a translingual society to oppose the hegemony of monolingualism.
Helsinki Open Waves (HOW) is open for experiments with Radio Art, Sound Art, Transmission Art, and other artistic projects which can be broadcasted and transmitted with airwaves.
Helsinki Open Waves (HOW) collaborates with existing radios that have FM broadcasting. They give free slots to HOW’s translingual content with the aim to convey it to a wider audience.
“Humanity today is facing a massive extinction: languages are disappearing at an unprecedented pace. And when that happens, a unique vision of the world is lost. With every language that dies we lose an enormous cultural heritage; the understanding of how humans relate to the world around us; scientific, medical, and botanical knowledge; and most importantly, we lose the expression of communities’ humor, love, and life. In short, we lose the testimony of centuries of life.” Endangered Languages Project
The loss of languages, which is one of the cornerstones of cultures and identities, comes to mean the loss of many memories and human experiences. Helsinki Open Waves (HOW) supports and acknowledges language revitalization in the first place and works actively against the devitalization of the languages. Helsinki Open Waves (HOW) intends to create an alternative online and physical space for all languages that are currently spoken on our planet.
There are a number of themes introduced each month. Contributors can choose their preferred topics and send their proposals via the Open Call page on the Helsinki Open Waves (HOW) website.
Helsinki Open Waves (HOW) provides:
*Rent-free sound recording equipment.
*Rent-free studio facilities at its “performance & recording room” located at Kulttuurikeskus CAISA.
*The TEOSTO license for the recorded & live streamings via the HOW website only.
*Technical support for the recordings, editing, mixing, and live streamings.
*Full support for you to produce your own work with full artistic independence, in which you own all the copyrights.
*Visibility for your work by promoting on the HOW social media platforms and exhibiting on the HOW website.
Helsinki Open Waves (HOW) does not broadcast any content that is sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, or contains any other form of othering towards oppressed communities or languages. We do not support any content that uses propaganda tools to promote a religion or a political party.
Initiated in February 2019 by Erol Mintaş in Saari Residency. Helsinki Open Waves (HOW)’s performance & recording room is supported and located at the Cultural Center CAISA.