Uudet diktaattorit (2017) - full transcript

You could get a good shot from there I

just spotted a 'Romeo', an old tag of mine.

It was January, February '86

when we started writing our names...

it started around our own neighborhoods

and then around Helsinki.

We were little boys back then

and rolled in our own hoods.

Here in Itä-Pasila there was a lot of cool stuff

around construction sites, train tunnels etc.

So there was a lot of surface where to make

your own mark and from there it all started.

When you were a kid,

you hardly had any patience to draw...

and if you had just been drawing

images of war or something silly...

and then suddenly. Graffiti!

It seemed so difficult

with its weird shapes.

So it was all about learning

since we didn't know anything about it.

All we knew was that we wanted to write our

own names, be painters and wreck the city

and we had to learn

how it works.

We were so young that with our small allowances

even getting the spray cans felt almost impossible.

When we went to tag our own names

in a another part of town...

we found other people's tags

and realised…

That there were others

doing this...

and it was being done

in every part of the city.

And then something

just clicked in my head.

And I was like, goddamn,

this is something I want to do!

I hardly knew

what spray can was...

and I hadn't even painted a moped or

anything before I went to do my first piece.

All the colours

and shapes...

I had to

master them...

The early eighties graffiti scene

was extremely good...

because there were new people coming in

and the progress was amazing

all the time more colours

and characters started to appear

it was cool back then and you didn't

run over anybody's piece

there was that respect.

And if some spot

was already painted...

you went around looking

for another one.

It was a fine and fruitful period

for Finnish Graffiti.

Then a new phase started, which slowly

developed into an 'all city phase'...

where I, writer from Herttoniemi, a long

time tagger of the backseats of busses…

Got myself into

slightly bigger circles...

And then we founded TDF:

The Diamonds Five.

Which later on

became TDC...

So the number of the crew members

wasn't so strictly defined.

We started to sketch the pieces together

And painted them together...

according to the plans...

so that everybody had

their parts to play.

And we could make

bigger pieces and do them faster...

And probably

cooler as well

since everybody had painted

on their own names...

and when we put

our forces together...

we could go

bigger and better.

Sometimes we went at it

with a big posse...

something like 5-10 guys at

a time wrecking trams...

sometimes things stayed cool...

there were always somebody looking out

for us and telling us when to tag

not to go all out

all the time...

that everybody should

take turns and shit...

but because of the fact

that we were such rascals...

it often got out of hand anyway...

and we were all a bunch of

termites with markers

wrecking the shit...

Then we would force the doors open

and run away...

then we would maybe

walk around a block...

or then take

another tram line...

maybe some of us started

considering toning it down...

some wanted to continue...

and then eventually everybody

went their own way.

Perhaps some of them

started to think that...

since we wrecked the shit

out of those trams

that we would eventually get caught

and heavily sanctioned.

- We wanted to go... well... big…

- Yeah big!

And what would be a better spot than that

big wall next to Kulosaari Metro station

and of course we had

couple of guys on a look out.

But at the end of the day they were just hanging

around -Just there to hang out and feeling the vibes.

And it was a quite a surprise when someone went to

check after hearing something like a car nearby.

He went to take a peek around the corner

and found two security guards standing.

- Then we had to run like hell.

- Yeah.

We had to leave all the spray cans

and everything behind...

Among other things, my jacket with a note form

school inside its pocket, which stated my name.

And then, one day a police officer called

from the Pengerkatu police station...

asking if I had lost

73 cans of spray paint.

The officer then said

what we had done looked goddamn fabulous.

And he would see fit that if we finish what

we had started, since it was so fabulous.

On top of that we could paint the other walls

of the building too as a bonus of sorts.

When walking between the Siilitie and Herttoniemi Metro stations,

you could always recognize other painters when you saw them...

and then you were just like 'Yo yo,

what's up dude? What's your tag?'...

and that is how you

got to know other painters...

There were people hanging out at the Railway Station

and Citykäytävä where you could find other painters...

When you saw cool tags, you were interested

to know who and from where they were from...

you were kinda hunting for them and would usually

find them hanging out at some local spots...

especially if you didn't know

which school someone was going to...

since you could always find the bad boys smoking

cigarettes around schools during recesses

you quickly got to know people

from all around the city...

and then you would hang out with them for a while,

tagging electric boxes or going on tram rides

and that was the mission,

tagging together, that's it!

And it wasn't a big deal

if you didn't become better friends

you just kept on going.

When the Lepakko Hip Hop jams started, you

got so many contacts, which was awesome.

There were breakdancers, rappers,

painters, everybody was united...

The jams in Lepakko were extremely nice

and they had a really positive vibe...

like it is with real Hip Hop to have fun,

which is the main point. Enjoy what you do!

It's funny how much this graffiti and hi

p hop thing had united people...

last year someone could have been your

worst enemy but when they became painters...

when you shared the same circles,

you became friends on a deeper level.

Back then, there were no fights whatsoever,

people had fun and respected one another...

We were competing for who tagged the most,

painted the most, was the best beatboxer…

Was the best rapper, scratcher.

There was no violence back then.

The first wave of painters were these

fucking breakers, dj's and 'hip hoppers'.

But we came in

with a rougher attitude.

If these old school guys had done 10-20

pieces a year, we did about 300 a year…

There was a big difference

there already...

And of course they were tagging too, but we

tagged the shit out of places... for real…

The amount of new people

that came in just exploded.

And of course you could see that from the

walls. There were new names and new pieces...

and in many spots the wall space

got smaller and smaller.

We were the kings back then. We got new

subordinates that worshipped us. And it was...

- We didn't really like the styles…

- a lot of silver, hasty shapes and all...

it kinda killed the vibe…

We stepped out from doing

pieces for a while because of that.

Some of them would just tag wherever… new

buildings, old buildings, fine buildings...

There was no question about the fact

that it wasn't some underpass...

or some electric box etc.

There was no chance that I would have

painted a wall of some nice wooden building…

located within a garden

or church wall...

When you really go tag,

you don't fucking spare anything…

You don't have any specific targets,

you just wrecked everything... homes, cars…

Fuck... we painted live frogs

and entire trees with chrome...

shit like that...

Maybe that wasn't

very romantic but...

The old school painters started to fade out a little

and the new generation of painters were just starting…

So it really didn't look that creative… It was

more about how creative you could be at wrecking…

You didn't go home before all your fucking

cans were empty. You emptied them on the walls.

Quite quickly one could see the

scribbling that had filled the walls.

But where it was most visible

was at the Lepakko jams…

I think it was during

the 1989 Lepakko jams...

where you could see

that the clientele had really changed.

We would come into these jams

with a big crew...

wreaking havoc

and fucking people up...

Quite idiotic behavior.

Maybe they weren't

too happy about that...

Because they really had

this 'hip hop united' thing…

But we were...

maybe a little

too crazy for that.

The early nineties were...

a golden age of sorts…

There started to be

quite a lot of painters...

you had different styles and attitudes

evolving in different parts of the city.

When the Citykäytävä hangarounds

split up… in the end of 1991…

People started doing

their pieces more...

and it evolved

into this underground thing...

where things happened

more within your own crew.

It didn't seem

so serious then...

we thought that we are painting nice things

with nice colours

and what we were doing was more beautiful

than those grey concrete walls.

Sometimes people passed by

when you were painting…

But they didn't seem

to mind much.

You had to be careful

in certain places

so that the cops

couldn't see what you were doing...

because then

you'd have to stop...

You also had to hide from the taxi drivers

because they had this ULA phone connection...

that they could

call the cops with.

But because

no one had cellphones...

if someone would mind you painting, it

would take time before they reach a phone...

and something would happen.

Feeling some pressure?

The marker's quite dry…

No, it doesn't matter…

It'll be classical.

- It wasn't that dry when it started to open up.

- Yeah, yeah.

They got a deal to do a legal

piece at Rekola station - Yeah.

We didn't approve

of that at all…

I was at a juvenile institution

at the time…

Fuck, that they would come to do

legal pieces at our stations!

Yeah, are they these...?

Comedy and Krylon did this

52-meter wide 'Fuck The Cops' on top of it.

It was unreal, because it was summer

and the track makes a slight curve...

from the Korso station...

and you could see this

chrome mirror...

- that would reflect the evening sun.

- Yeah, yeah.

What's up with this now?

Why is it not coming off?

There is still some

left in the letter S...

What punishments could get

from those things back then?

- You wouldn't necessarily get anything.

- Mostly it was just a visit to the police station…

Where they would preach to you a little

and they would then see about it.

Back in the day, in the mid-nineties

and even at end of nineties...

you would usually do some reconciling

and/or pay the cleaning fees...

which were quite reasonable

back then...

and you would try

to learn from your mistakes…

You tried not to get caught

but that didn't always work out.

If you have started out

with block letters…

And when the wall

was filled with those...

the next option

was to paint on top of them

and then you had to

make it a bit bigger...

You couldn't be weak...

you had to be strong…

You had to have style.

Yeah, you had to practice first…

Before doing anything to the walls.

Graffiti quickly became popular

and then it wasn't enough anymore…

That you would only be seen

in many places...

It became more about

how you were seen.

A kind of visual competition,

where the thing was...

to make your name seen

in the coolest possible way.

In the eighties

big brand logos started to appear...

and I would see that graffiti

came to complement them...

so this is the aspect of graffiti

that makes it an art form...

Art mirrors the society around it and graffiti has

reflected the kind of societal change in Finland…

Where trademarks and logos started

to appear in the city…

In the shops, at the shelves

and on people's clothes.

- There's another one…

- What?

There's another one…

During the so called

first 'train boom'...

was when

I saw painted trains...

rolling on these tracks.

There was pieces by

Comedy, Krylon, Pyro, Comet etc.

It had a kind of effect on me that...

This is the thing!

I have to start

doing this as well!

This is totally insane!

That there is no bigger way

of expressing yourself than this!

These fucking trains going

back and forth…

With your name

on the side.

Then it took a couple of years

before I got…

Well...

those are the ugly new ones...

...to paint those trains

back then.

There's a certain limit here…

Perhaps I was aware that…

For Finnish State Railway...

the trains are in a way

important phallic symbols...

The railway company wouldn't look well upon

the fact that people would paint them.

It was in the early nineties when

there were pieces and tags everywhere...

and I got the feeling

that any fool can…

Or not necessarily a fool…

Anybody could go and do a piece

at Pulu, Galleria or on the streets

those places

didn't require much effort

and of course they were

completely full...

and in order

to really stand out...

you had to

do something wild...

But painting trains

wasn't something

that everybody

was going for.

When the train fever hit me…

I started to choose colours

more on the basis of...

how quickly the paint

would come out from the can

and not so much

from an aesthetic perspective.

It's from where the entire

thing comes from...

it's the highest form of graffiti

that exists.

We've had these

fucking crazy moments…

Where we've spotted

an empty cart

and went at it

full force...

and suddenly... Fuck!

There were conductors on board...

all four of them,

started walking towards us shouting...

'- What the fuck?'

the four of us had

completely wrecked the cart...

We just had to

force the doors open…

While the train was

moving at 30-40 Km/h.

We then jumped into the snow

hoping that we wouldn't hit any poles.

Yeah.

It was like that

back then.

Let's go.

The logic of

'me tagging this ugly concrete wall...

to make it more beautiful'

Doesn't necessarily justify me doing it.

In my opinion, the goal was

to make the city more beautiful…

So our crew

had a good cause.

Well it's a dilemma…

Where are you allowed paint?

And where you aren't?

I think that

it's up to each painter to decide

I wouldn't necessarily go

and paint on...

let's say, historical sites

or religious sanctuaries.

But if this city

was built solely out of pyramids...

I'd definitely tag them.

I haven't touched private property,

Someone's house or something...

I've had quite clear limits

on where I have painted.

The places have always

had something in common...

like underpasses, train stops...

Or... something like...

abandoned houses or

the walls of some storage building...

into places where I've felt

that painting does no harm...

I can of course be wrong about that,

someone might still get upset.

"THE NEXT TIME YOU CLEAN THIS WALL… THERE WILL BE

PICTURES OF COCKS ON IT IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE HOPING FOR??”

Well fuck, if you have started painting

and doing this thing…

You just have to

fucking ignore that kind of shit.

Tax payers money…fuck it…

I'm not interested.

We do have our own code

on where we don't paint.

Everybody

has it up in here.

"SECURITY"

Yeah, all good.

We've never messed around

with property of an individual

in a way

this is all common property, this society…

But when the powers that be fuck around...

and there is all this corruption

and everything…

Then you just pick up

your backpack full of paint...

and go wreck the shit out of places.

Why you would

you just stay at home…

And follow

all this crooked shit?

When you have your

own way of making a stand...

You can go out there

and write what you think.

Your own view...

Onto these trains,

stations or somewhere else.

I feel that you even have right to do so.

- Yes, I have showed some mercy…

- my ethics don't bend..

I show mercy when I see

that there are four cameras...

Then I say that let's not tag here,

we go somewhere else…

However drunk I would be,

I would get this feeling from somewhere…

That this tag doesn't look good here…

nor it is easily removable…

But of course, while in my teens

and sometimes after…

I've felt the need to fuck shit up.

But it never was my thing..

- But hey, you are from Eira.

- I'm from Korso..that says it all..

Yeah, maybe there's some

difference between a well-off rich kid…

And the true concrete jungle king.

In our hallway there was dog shit

and flames and neighbors shouting…

Yeah, yeah.

Even though your neighbors

probably shouted too…

You have this 200-year old jugend castle

with its ornaments and shit...

- Yeah, maybe it comes from there then..

- Well it has to come from somewhere!

Once I was tagging a seat

with a fresh marker.

I got up and happened

to look over my shoulder...

and saw

an old lady sit on it...

she was wearing a

electric blue fleece jacket...

and before I could open my mouth

as to warn her or something

because I really didn't want

her to sit on it.

But she had

already sat down...

when she got up,

she had my tag's imprint on her back.

That's something that I

could have been left undone.

Then the fucking cellphones appeared

and shit got quite hectic…

It took about one and half years from

there and phone records came along.

Nobody knew about any of

that shit back then.

Nowadays you have to

fucking send smoke signals…

When we are going out to paint.

I got called in

for a Police interrogation...

I didn't know for what

since they didn't explain.

I decided to go and I hadn't really

thought much of it

so I went in

with some sketches in my pocket...

I ended up spending

a couple of nights there.

It was back then in the early 2000's

when they started to become…

More interested about this thing

and wanted to stop it.

It was like

The Inquisition all over...

and one could say that

the cultural history of Finnish graffiti…

Was destroyed

in a Talebanish way.

They cleaned everything,

even the really old ones…

There was nothing left anywhere.

When the Zero Tolerance

and the persecution started…

It had an effect

on the styles a lot.

And I think that at some point the styles

had become really bad…

Because the point was

to paint as fast as possible...

and that became

the main thing...

The style came second.

We were thinking that

this cannot take many years…

That their campaign would

run out of money at some point...

But surprisingly enough.

It didn't.

These northern Helsinki neighbourhoods

which are close to railway tracks

have been extremely restless

and violent places.

And also tagged as fuck.

So from here

they started the control...

and then the Vandal Squads

stepped into the picture.

They wore plain clothes

at the stations…

And they also had these

old ticket vending booths...

where they sat

and peeked between closed curtains.

There were like four guards inside,

waiting, with their batons ready…

For someone to

make a wrong fucking move.

With these

security companies…

There was no...

No reason or moral

in their way of operating.

When the telephone surveillance

and the overall heat from the cops came…

It caused some people

to go and snitch.

Then you trusted

your own crew more...

who really kept

their mouths shut.

When you got caught,

you stayed quiet…

Since you knew that

others would follow. That's that.

Which didn't mean

you wouldn't get sentenced…

Because in our case,

if you admit, you're sentenced.

If you don't,

you're sentenced.

Its like…

fuck the whole thing.

I like doing what I do…

And not one punk ass security guard

or police could scare me...

in a way

that I would stop doing it.

I just kept going and made

the whole thing more reasonable...

For example, I always had a

couple of guys on the look out.

So that nobody would come,

when you are doing something.

Of course there were

less painters around…

Since many had got enough

of the persecution, cleaning...

and the punishments

that were severe.

The ones who stayed, were those

who were the most enthusiastic...

and those who had nothing to lose,

who had already got their 'bills'.

And of course they

just kept wrecking shit...

just to fuck with them.

Maybe it was a good thing

for Finnish graffiti...

that this crew came

and showed how to wreck shit...

maybe it kinda needed that,

in order for things to change…

And when the control came,

we didn't slow down...

but went in head first

and did even more.

The Police came to pick me up

from home one Sunday morning…

I opened the door

and they said "Pack your stuff…

And take some books with you,

because this might take a while."

They locked me up for a month

and then another…

And eventually they

transferred me to a prison.

There I was with car thieves,

and all kinds of other looneys,

like robbers and killers.

And even inside there

I didn't feel scared or anything,

in a way that would

have lead me to stop this art thing.

It made me think about all this

in a new way.

The inmates were perplexed that I

ended up there just because of graffiti…

And especially there.

Everybody was in there

for some really serious shit.

But no biggie…

Of course I had the early symptoms

of a first time inmate,

like carrying the shit buckets

into the wrong place etc.

Eventually

you get used to the routines,

because you're in there

for quite some time.

I remember the day when

we went on trial again in Vantaa...

going through

the same things…

And there was

a national TV news crew present.

There I woke up to the fact

that this had become a big thing.

When I returned to prison,

after I was acquitted,

so as to be released immediately.

- The other inmates asked.

- "How did everything go?"

I told them

it felt kinda weird that...

there was a big reporter show

and in the end I got acquitted.

They said "Fucking wonderful!

We were wondering…

What the fuck

you were doing here anyway".

- We can't get through…

- he can't get there…

Let's go now!

All the things people do on this planet

can't be measured with money and shouldn't…

Everything

can't be profit-driven

it is an absurd idea.

We are not a factory…

The Earth is not a factory...

that would only strive...

to make profit

and produce money.

The reason why I paint graffiti

is because I like it…

And I don't want

any money from it…

I want to feed my soul with it

and share it with others.

So, keep your money!

I don't want it!

And maybe that's the thing

which scares people the most…

That there are people

who aren't interested in money…

Cars, televisions and

all these fucking pinnacles of hedonism.

As soon as I got out from prison,

we went and did more graffiti...

on to public transportation.

Because I was pissed off

from being there for nothing.

There was no other way

to show those security guards...

that we're back in business.

Even they understood

that it doesn't help.

One guy got a month in prison

for putting up concert posters.

Other people also suffered

from this control of public space...

so then The Zero Tolerance campaign ended…

That was the peak of

hysteria around graffiti.

In a way the whole thing fell

to its own impossibility.

We, the second generation, came

and took over...

and I would guess that it must have

been difficult for the old school guys...

and it's difficult for me now,

when its happening again…

But that's how it goes.

Someone needs take over.

There is always a new dictator

to replace the old one.

That's how it goes.

Graffiti has been understood

to be taken more easily and lightly.

That this isn't so serious…

Of course someone

can see it as being so fucking serious...

there's that serious aspect to it too...

You can be

playful with it...

Don't paint there

where it's oozing…

Let it dry for a moment…

Just like that…

- You can colour the whole diamond inside..

- I want to also!

Well, let Ari colour it now.

You just couldn't resist

after that initial bite…

Every once in a while

I feel like I have to go and do a piece…

Or then it's a kind of call

to go out and do my thing…

But that's how it is

with any other hobby...

be it fishing

or whatever...

I think a fisherman

feels that he needs to go fishing.

So…

It's that simple.

I do it because I can

and I want to…

It runs in my blood.

Can you say it so?

I don't know…

The culture is part of me

and my personality.

Well…of course the trains

still run to the depot...

you can go there and paint

it's not about that.

It's all about whether or not

you feel the call in you heart.

All the shitty fingernails

and huge fucking bills…

Well..

Fuck the bills...

I've gotten so many good friends

out of this…

That's the most important thing.

Nowadays, the most important

thing for me is amusing myself…

Well..I don't know

if it's the most important...

But the thing

that keeps me going.

Of course there is no sense in it…

But what sense is there in ski jumping?

Or driving a Formula One car

around a circuit? How stupid is that?

This thing is a culture,

an art form.

I could do way more idiotic things.