Life on a Leaf Jan-Erik Andersson’s house/studio Jan-Erik Andersson’s doctorate study at the Art Academy in Helsinki is “The House as a Total Art Work”. He will build a leaf shaped house in Turku in cooperation with architect Erkki Pitkäranta. The building will be based on stories, forms from nature and cooperation with other artists. The project will be social in such a way that the whole theoretical part of the doctorate study will be made directly on the Internet, as well as a 3D model of the house in wrml. A streaming video broadcast will cover the building phase of the project. Turku City has kindly responded to the project and found a land lot perfectly suitable for the leaf shaped house. The place has its own history, once a small house was situated there, you can still enjoy the apple trees remaining from its garden. The stories, written by Andersson, are based on the events and places around the land lot, where the house is going to be built. In the north you can see the Turku Castle where, in the 16:th century, king Erik XIV was imprisoned. Erik’s love story with Karin Månsdotter is the starting point for the first story which tells about how the “leaf” fell on this site. Other stories will use the fact that a famous finnish sculptor’s, Wäinö Aaltonen’s, studio was situated on the neighbouring lot and that a Finnish professor, Pehr Kalm, set ut the a botanical garden close by with about 70 species, which he brought from America to Finland in 1752. The stories will give inspiration for ornaments and interior design in- and outside the house. Artists and artisans will be invited to make details for the building and its garden. For example sound artist Shawn Decker (Chicago) will make a sound work for the house which reacts on weather temperature changes outdoors and environmental artist Trudy Entwistle (UK) will make a work for the garden. Many others will make door handles, floor patterns etc. A grant for these co operational works has already been given from Suomen Kulttuurirahasto. The public will be able to follow the building process when it starts through a web site for the building where a real time streaming video broadcast will be created. Performance artists will be invited to make performances when central parts of the house; basement, walls, roof are ready. These performances will also be broadcasted live. On the web site you will also be able to follow the construction process; the problems, the solutions and the costs. The aim is to inspire people to build personal houses using the help of artists, artisans and architects. The building process is planned to start earliest in spring 2003 www.anderssonart.com/leaf/