I've finished the Chinese lists for the show in Paris and now I'm doing some new drawings for the Monterrey show. I'm going to Paris in less than two weeks and when I come back, I stay only a week at home before flying to America and during that week I'm not going to be working because my friend, curator and screen print publisher Eeris visits me for the first time and I have to drink gin and tonics with him.

For Mexico, I preparing a series of three 112x76cm drawings. I'm doing a new version of Taco Shit (Originally Taco Shack in Austin, Texas) and revisiting the Nesquik Bunny who loves Capitalism holding a sign that reads Yo te quiero con limón y sal, yo te quiero tal y como estás, no hace falta cambiarte nada...  I love you with lemon and salt, I love you as you are, there's no need to change anything. It's from the lyrics of the beautiful song Limón y Sal by the Mexican singer Julieta Venegas.

Carrefour is a French international hypermarket chain with a heavy presence of the retail market in the People's Republic of China. The major

In 2008 Olympic torch relay was disrupted by Tibetan independence advocates in Paris. In response, the Chinese activists promoted boycotting Carrefout representing France (the power and symbols are not anymore in the embassies but in the hypermarkets).

Carrefour China stated that it does support the Beijing Olympics and that they will never do anything to harm the feelings of Chinese people. And the Chinese continued shopping. These are the cities where Carrefour's 163 hypermarkets are located in the PRC:

Anshan, Beijing, Beilun, Bengbu, Changchun, Changsha, Changzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Daqing, Dalian, Dongguan, Foshan, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Haikou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hefei, Huainan, Jiaxing, Jinan, Kunming, Liaoyang, Luoyang, Maanshan, Mudanjiang, Nanchong, Nanjing, Nantong, Ningbo, Putian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shaoxing, Shenzhen, Shenyang, Shijiazhuang, Suzhou, Tangshan, Tianjin, Urumqi, Wuhan, Wulumuqi, Wuxi, Xiamen, Xiaogan, Xuzhou, Yancheng, Zhengzhou, Zhuhai, Zhuzhou.

I'm preparing some new list drawings for my show My Favorite Banks and Escort Girls in the People's Republic in China at Galerie e.l Bannwarth, Paris, opening the 19th of May. I've been listing Re-education through labor camps, torture methods used against Falun Gong adherents, Chinese inventions, China's next top models, theme parks and cigarette brands.

The Chinese understand the importance of smoking. In China, giving cigarettes at any social interaction is a sign of respect and friendliness. The most valued gift is a carton of premium cigarettes like Panda - made famous after Deng Xiao Ping who smoked them each and every day of his administration. People are known to stand in line in stores even before they open to get a chance to snag a carton of Panda cigarettes, priced $300. And some other even more luxurious brands can have a price tag of $70 for a normal pack of 20 cigarettes.

I like smoking and China.

At this very moment, I’m reading that Syrian protests spread as forces open fire on demonstrators. It’s impossible to say what is the situation in Syria in September when the residency takes place but whatever happens, it will be extremely delicate and interesting time. I believe strongly that I could be the right artist in the right place at the right time.

My work plan is to create The Riiko Sakkinen Syrian Encyclopedia.

An encyclopedia is a comprehensive reference work with articles on all branches of knowledge. I’ve been composing since 2008 Riiko Sakkinen’s Encyclopedia which is an expanding image archive made basically of scanned images of advertising and marketing, from bubble gum to prostitution, from all the continents. The piece has been presented as a multi-channel slide show installation in Chicago and Helsinki and next will be exhibited in Monterrey, Mexico, in May.

The Riiko Sakkinen Syrian Encyclopedia would obviously concentrate in the things I see and find in the country during the residency – and then form an independent research of the context, place, and time . The target would be to have at least 200 images of Syria. Later the piece could be presented as an installation in Syria or elsewhere.

The fascist True Finns took nearly a fifth of votes in Finland's general election on Sunday. Now we ask you kindly to boycott all Finnish companies, brands and products - and damage the economy of the country. To help you in that task, we've prepared a brief list of some Finnish stuff you should avoid.

Nokia (telecommunications), Neste Oil (oil refining), Finnair (airline), Kone (elevators), Ahlstrom (pulp and paper), Botnia (pulp mills), UPM -Kymmene (paper), Elqoteq (electronics), F-Secure (computer software), Suunto (sports equipement), Patria (military technology), Cargotec (machinery), Fazer (sweets), Fiskars (consumer products), Artek (furniture), Marimekko (fashion), Ivana Helsinki (fashion), HIM (rock music), Nightwish (rock music), Kaija Saariaho (classical music), Esa-Pekka Salonen (classical music), Sofi Oksanen (literature), Aki Kaurismäki (film), Riiko Sakkinen (art).