Nuti Mutivana

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Nuti Mutivana was a performance and installation work which took place at Wild Bits Festival, an outdoor exhibition about ‘digital natives and digital immigrants’, held at MAAJAAM project space in south-Estonia. The work was an evolution of previous performances and installations involving the character of Mutivana, the elderly mole.

Together with fellow artists and visitors, Mutivana explored the digital world of technological tools and smart devices in conjunction with traditional and analogue tools. As she was almost blind, very frail, and had some trouble with verbal communication in the human languages, Mutivana encouraged others around her to be supportive, kind and patient. Her infirmity encouraged collaboration and interaction, as she gently asked for help from the more able-bodied youth around her. Hannah Harkes appeared ‘in character’ as Mutivana at regular intervals throughout the event.

The following installations and activities were set up at the festival:

Mutivana’s Band Camp
A large tent containing musical instruments and audio equipment, open for the public to play. Music was recorded live for immediate release on cassette tape and then uploaded a little later to mutivana.bandcamp.com.

Mutivana’s Twitter Knitter
Tweets sent to Mutivana’s twitter account (@mutivana) were knitted into a woolen picnic blanket with the help of a hacked knitting machine. A picnic was held in celebration of Mutivana’s birthday, which happened to coincide with the first day of the festival. Visitors were served mudcake topped with juicy worms!

Mutivana’s Photo Shop
Visitors could try out physical photo editing using glue, paint, scissors and a collection of old photographs. Some took their Photo Shop creations home, while others chose to exhibit them in Mutivana’s exhibition space.

Mutivana’s Selfie-Cane
Mutivana’s smart phone was permanently attached to the end of her walking cane so she could take selfies with visitors then walk steadily onwards.

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