Future Is Not What It Used To Be

Colour, 35 mm
Finland, 2002, 52 min
Section: A Musical Odyssey
Oficiální stránky: www.kinotar.com

Synopsis

Since the 1960s the whole of western society has been affected by the gradual incursion of computers and electronics into daily life. The film introduces the highly distinctive character Erkki Kurenniemi (1941), a top specialist in his field who, since the Sixties, apart from the computerisation of society, has been studying (privately and underground) the options of involving the computer in the art world. He constructs unique musical instruments and robotic machines, he makes experimental films and combines his professional tasks with artistic experiments. He regards software as the parallel of the human soul. The film brings together unique archives and Kurenniemi’s current project in which he tries maniacally to capture and conserve his experiences, his mentality and his whole life. Last year Kurenniemi became a new international discovery: not only as a result of this film, with its moments of humour and absurdity, but also thanks to the tribute paid to him by cult music band Pan Sonic.

About the director

Mika Taanila (b. 1965) studied cultural anthropology in Helsinki, later video in Lahti. He made a documentary about background or piped music, Thank You for The Music (1997), a film about sci-fi architecture Futuro - A New Stance or Tomorrow (1998), and he worked on installations with the band Pan Sonic.