Aaltoja! Light and Sound in Kotka: A Good Start with Bold Colours

Kotka has joined the cities with a very own light and sound festival, Aaltoja! (Waves! In English) 13.–16.10.2021. There was some sound all right, but the main attraction certainly was light. I visited the festival during its final day and found it to be a solid start for hopefully long run in the future.

So, what is special about Aaltoja! Festival?

Fish of the Fairy land

Professionality

Let’s start with organising, which was quite professional. The look of the whole thing, including web pages, was refreshing and inviting. And pink. Which automatically makes it good. There were food trucks with actual food in them, for quite many tastes. Lots of people, but not too much rush. 

Lighting and light art are not quite the same thing, which is not all too clear even for professionals. Neither is better than the other, they just are two different things (with a load of grey area between them, I admit). I was quite impressed that the website listed “light and sound artworks and lighted venues”. And. Love that word there. Very adept.

Just one exception: I would have liked to know the names of the artists and designers, in addition to the firms they work for.

Scale

The scale was perfect. There were plenty of artworks, but not too many, and they were in a reasonable walking area. The route was free but logical and easy to follow. For most. One got to walk enough, but one also had time to visit all the venues even if one got lost, proceeded incoherently and had a few pit stops by the food trucks. 

Locality

Sure, there were some pieces that have been displayed elsewhere, but mainly the festival brought out local buildings via their spirit and not just as canvases – and to some extent, local artists and designers. The theatre house is a good example. The light design was quite traditional, but adding local ingredients, like clips from performance recordings and chairs used in plays, made a great difference.

Theatre is chaired by the audience

Also, one of my favourite pieces, Niko Tiainen’s BINARY:WAVES was not just transported from its previous venue but rethought for Kotkansaari old hospital building. The black and white waves washed the walls soothingly, while ones and zeros disappeared and reappeared under them, contrasting nature and strict digits. In my interpretation, anyhow.

Binary writing on the wall

The Kotka county hall is one of the most boring buildings I’ve ever not even noticed, but by golly, it is a great canvas for light. Sun Effects’s nominal Aaltoja! (Waves) introduced the theme quite literally, with different kind of waves, including sound and heartbeat graphs, backed by a water like churn of colours. Simple and beautiful. 

Waves of another kind

The rest of the buildings were lighted with bold and striking colors, the most vivid example being the Haukkavuori lookout. Kotka church was lighted to emphasize the redness of the brick walls, with contrasting tones in the windows. The chosen colour kind of made the church look even more phallic than it already is, with the white splash on the tip not helping. Or maybe it’s just me. 

Probably. 

The tower

So, the colours were abundant, but I didn’t catch even one sample guilty of my pet peeve: running colours through the whole spectrum, just because it’s possible. 

There is progress, after all! 

Local contribution to the festival

Helsinki Public Art, the Nonconventional Edition

Helsinki has its share of huge metal lumps, in boring shapes of important middle age white men from the days past. Luckily, there is another kind of public art too, well worth seeing. Or hearing. Or even experiencing. In this first part, I'll list some of my own favourites in the central Helsinki area. Outskirts of Helsinki will follow, one day. Of course, there's a map, which will be updated as I go.



Holy Cows of Intersection

Artist Miina Äkkijyrkkä is known for her fondness of cows. They're a recurring theme in her works, including textile patterns, paintings and graphics. She has studied husbandry and even maintained a herd of eastern finncattle herself, even though that didn't end too well.

In Finland, cars are often regarded as holy cows of a kind, and Äkkijyrkkä indeed uses cars and car parts as material in her cattle themed sculptures. The ones in Hakaniemi, called Joy (2006) are of a smaller kind, the biggest may include a whole van in the body of the cow. And what could possibly be better place for these statues than a busy traffic intersection?

Getting this close is a tad dangerous and probably illegal, since
you have to cross a few car lines with absolutely no pedestrian crossing

Golden Showers in the Harbour

Manneken Schmanneken, we have it bigger and... more endearing? Tommi Toija's Bad Bad Boy (2013) was originally exhibited in Sweden, and in Finland first installed in front of the presidential palace, but only temporarily. Wonder why. In 2015 it was once again re-erected in Jätkäsaari, on the grounds of Verkkokauppa.com store of everything, welcoming people arriving from Tallinn by boat. It was supposed to be, again, temporary, but there it still stands in it's 8,5 m glory, years overtime. Which is great!

At first, the statue stroke me as horribly ugly, but on the second sight I began to see the laconic humour and appealing bluntness of it. It's kind of cute in the same way as a baby owl. The body of work of the artist Tommi Toija includes a lot of characters similar to Bad Bad Boy, just smaller and more hazardous in their looks, on the edge of horrible and heartbreaking. Judging from the internet commenting, not all bother to look twice, and/or see Bad Bad Boy merely as a joke. I beg to disagree. And dare you to take a shower in the jet on a hot summer day.

"Never mind me, I'm just on my way..."

Sound Art Hidden in Plain... Sight?

Every day at 5:49 pm, ever since 2005, there is a 5 or so minutes of sound art to be heard in the Senate Square. The likelihood is that uneducated ears don't even recognise it, since Senaatintorin ääni (The Sound of the Senate Square) is composed of very church bell -like sounds and thus is easily mixed with the bells of the actual church by the square. But they are not quite the same.

The sounds emanate, in turn, from different rooftops around the square and every version is different. The work is not just recordings of different bells, but an electronic composition by Harri Viitanen and Jyrki Alakuijala. If you really want to feel like in the know, linger by the statue in the middle of the square, listen to the beautiful sound art and scorn the tourists (and Helsinki dwellers) around you, who have no idea there is art going on.

The art work is audible on the whole square, but the best place to listen is the
area around the statue of Alexander the II, marked with white square in the image

Art under Your Feet

One probably notices Denise Ziegler’s public art works by accident or by already knowing what to look for. Even though I’d very much like the crowds to find them, the subtlety is a part of the poetic charm of the works. Epigrams for Helsinki Citizens (1999) series consists of eight manhole covers, spattered around Helsinki centrum, every one of them adorned with a sentence defining the site in a more or less poetic way. Here the text goes ”in the backroom of the city you’re enjoying the sea view”, which is very much true behind the market hall.

Note the more than fitting cigarette stub.

Sounds from Sewers

Markku Puustinen's Mutta minä lähden (But I shall leave) has been reciting under Torkkelinpuistikko parklet since 2003. The well pronouncing voice utters notifications of flights departing, heard from the sewer in the corner nearest to Avikainen bakery (which supported my wellbeing during my years in the nearby arts high school with their crescents and munkkis, so that you know).

At the time I first heard the piece I regarded it quite optimistic, as a kind of dream of freedom. Now, of course, this has all changed and the voice feels more like a harbinger of the inevitable doom. During the winter the art work hibernates, since the the battery can't stand the minus degrees. Let's see how the climate change will affect that.

The horror here is way more cerebral than in Stephen King's IT

Some Lumps are Okay I Guess

OK, these are lumps indeed, but not made out of metal, nor in shape of men. Even though Maria Duncker’s six part work of huge pieces of stone, Too Heavy Guests (2010), remind me of Pushkin’s play The Stone Guest, the awkward creatures still feel friendly to me. There they stand, a bit mopey, somehow in a wrong place and yet part of the community of buildings around them, old and new. I especially enjoy the combination of roughly chiseled stone and the finest detail of traces of decoration on their surface. No evil thing would have a tattoo of a jolly candy kane on them, would they?

I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what's the deal between these two.

Galleries in Helsinki: Kallio with a map

There are a lot of small and/or artist and/or curator run and/or avant garde galleries in Helsinki's Kallio area, nicely situated quite close to each other, all having a distinctive character. I'm a member in a curator group P14, and we ran one of them for the year 2017. We had a gallery on loan, so to say: we took care of Kallio Kunsthalle for a year, as its regular host had some time off.

As a part of our activities in gallery running life, we published a monthly map of the nearby galleries' exhibitions and other interesting spots in the Kallio area. Even though our year in the Kallio gallery business is over, the rest of the galleries still remain, and some new ones have emerged. Changing exhibitions omitted, the map is still useful for a contemporary art (and coffee) inclined visitor in Kallio. So, here you go:



Original-ish PDF format map includes a variety of other interesting spots in the area at large as well, the Google map version (above) concentrates on the recommended route, with food and drink consumption possibilities in the close proximity of it.

Here's even a gif version, just in case

GALLERIAKIERROS IN KALLIO

Strictly taken, not all the listed galleries are in the Kallio area, but too close and good to be missed. Which neighborhoods belong to Kallio officially, which are Kallio in spoken language and which are not part of Kallio at all, is a regular discussion in Kallio (in any meaning) bars and squares and internets, so that you know. Try claiming that your apartment, situated on the wrong side of bordering street of Kallio, is in Kallio, and you'll get your share of snarky comments – probably spiced up with a few words of old working class lingo, stadin slangi, just to show off.

In Helsinki, Instagram blooms with #galleriakierros (Gallery tour, it's a thing) photos during weekends, as veteran and aspiring culture professionals and lovers are having their leisurely stroll amongst the art hot spots of the city. For Kallio Gallery Walk the best day is Saturday, when all the galleries are open, at the approximately same times. The tour takes around four hours, depending on the program of the galleries and the amount of breaks. So, you should start pretty sharp at noon to do the whole tour without breaking sweat. You can cheat a little by using tram number nine for a few stops, see Gmaps version for that. Or rent a bike. Or skip a few galleries.

THE GALLERIES

All the area's galleries are quite small and more or less underground, even literally. The emphasis is on the up and coming artists, though some established artists fit in quite nicely. If you're looking for a traditional lake scenery painting with a moose and maybe a swan, you probably won't find it here – unless you accept a lump of minced moose meat with a dirty brush stuck to it, commenting pollution of Baltic Sea with a dripping toilet seat, with soundtrack maybe by Astrid Swan, as such. Just a random, totally fictional example here.

Entrance to all the galleries is free of charge. The opening times are marked as they are right now and may change. Do check them from the galleries' websites!

Galleria Kuvitus

Recently opened Galleria Kuvitus is maintained by the Finnish Illustration Association. It's the only gallery in Finland, and one of few internationally, to focus on illustration art. It hosts 10 juried and curated exhibitions each year, exhibiting both published illustrations and illustrators' art projects. The space also houses the Association's office. 

Hämeentie 28
Mon–Tue 11–17
Wed 11–19
Thu–Fri 11–17
Sat 12–16

kuvittajat.fi/galleria-kuvitus

#galleriakuvitus

Kuvitus is possibly the most chic of the Kallio galleries

Sarjakuvakeskus

Edit 2022: Sarjakuvakeskus has moved and has no gallery activities anymore.

Finnish Comics Society’s gallery exhibits comics, comics based art and art done by comics authors, widely speaking. The artists are mostly Finnish or Finland based, but some international visitors are included in the cast. The premises include also the Society's office and a Turku Comic Book shop's store. And a reading nook. And workshops. And you name it. A comic fan may forget the rest of the tour after entering here.

Porthaninkatu 9
Mon–Fri 15–19
Sat 11–16
www.sarjakuvakeskus.fi

Damn those opening times!

On your way to Kalleria, you'll walk through Karhupuisto (Bear Park). This is a good place for a coffee break, since the park is surrounded with cozy cafés: Kulmakahvio/Bear park Café, Bergga and IPI. During the warmer summer days the super gay, but non-exclusive Bear Park Café operates from the kiosk in the park, with chairs and tables outside. A warmly recommended Kallio experience!

Kalleria

Kalleria is a somewhat curated gallery space, exhibiting mostly young and underground artists from the less refined side of contemporary art, and even outside of it. Anyone can ask to rent the space, so there is not an artistic policy as such and styles, themes and levels vary a great deal.

Kaarlenkatu 10
Opening times vary, but possibly Wed–Sun 12–17
kalleria.fi

Exhibition: By the Sea by Wiebke Pandikow

Pertin valinta

Edit 2022: Pertin valinta has moved to Hakaniemi

The underground punk band even in the scene of punk, Pertti Kurikan nimipäivät, has changed their art genre of choice and founded an outsider art gallery with a store to match. The gallery exhibits art by/about outsider artists. In the Sekotavarakauppa-store (that's a tricky wordplay to translate. General Distore?) there's a variety of books, music and household items with the weirdest and most wonderful decorations, mostly by the aforementioned artists. Good mood guaranteed!

Hakaniemenkuja 2  
Wed–Fri 12–18
Sat 11–15     
www.pertinvalinta.fi

Not your regular corner shop

Alkovi

Alkovi (Alcove) is a 24/7 display window gallery, watched from the street, presenting contemporary art exhibitions and projects especially in relation to the  location and the site. The connection the site of Kallio is fitting, since you might have to find your way to Alkovi through a long line of people, queuing for Hursti Charity food rations twice a week. The days of the Finnish welfare are way behind us, I'm afraid.

Helsinginkatu 19
Open 24/7

www.alkovi.site

Alkovi, always available

Rupla

Edit 2022: Rupla has closed

Rupla (Ruble) is a café populated by young bohemians, with art exhibitions changing every three to four weeks. The style of the exhibitions is often traditionally provocative; expect to see some vulvas and politicians in campy and colourful situations, or a painting made by a bear. This is an excellent place for a lunch/brunch break, too.

Helsinginkatu 16
Mon–Fri 7:30–20
Sat–Sun 11–17
rupla.fi

The brunch is worth a visit, too!
Exhibition: Tyhjiömatka (Vacuum Travel) by Jesse Avdeikov

Rõõm Helsinki

Edit 2022: Rõõm has closed

Rõõm (Estonian for Joy) Helsinki is a little cosy eco-lifestyle shop with a bonsai size gallery space. The artists exhibited are often connected with different areas of design and/or illustrate humans in their environment. The exhibitions change monthly.

Helsinginkatu 17
Tue–Fri 11–17
Sat 12–16
www.roomhelsinki.com

Rõõm's gallery corner is the tiniest!
Exhibition: Kevään eväsretki (Spring Outing) by Laura Havanto

Sorbus    

Edit 2022: Sorbus has closed, but just as weird gallery Outo olo continues at the premises.

Sorbus gallery is an artist-run space, organizing exhibitions and events from different areas of art: in addition to art exhibitions, there might be readings, concerts or a 24 hour dance performance in program. Or something else. Gallery's style is experimental and somewhat political. The name comes from Latin name of rowan tree, growing in the neighborhood. It was also the name of one of the cheapest wines in the official liquer store Alko, consumed by the most experienced drunkards of Finland.

Vaasankatu 15
Opening times vary
sorbus.fi

Sorbus (gallery, back) and sorbus (tree, front)

On that note, as you continue towards Free Space for Art, you'll pass first Piritori (actually Vaasanaukio, but Speed Square is the common name) with its ground painted huge balloons and meth heads in their daily chores, and then Kurvi crossing with addicts of more traditional substances, like alcohol. There are some really nice cafés too, though.

Free Space for Art

Vapaan taiteen tila is a forum for the students in Art University to organize their exhibitions, concerts, performances and other events, so there is a lot more happening than just exhibitions. Here the students can freely try out their weirdest ideas, so you might catch some future trends and exhibitions later mentioned in art history – or just really really awkward student art. Both are definitely worth a visit. The space is in an emergency shelter, which luckily is free from its original use, and the largest of spaces mentioned here. The website usually lists just the name of the event/artist, you'll have to do some googling to find out more about it. Or you can just go to see if there's something going on. It could be... anything.

The entry is opposite of Vilhonvuorenkuja 16
Opening times vary as Hell
www.vapaantaiteentila.fi/en/

Free Space for Art – underground in so many ways

On your way to Make Your Mark Gallery, you'll pass the
lovely pink buildings of Vilhonvuorenkuja and one of the
steepest hills in Helsinki road map

Make Your Mark Gallery

Helsinki is a graffiti city, in a Nordic scale at least. There's even a book about it, dating back from 1998, Helsinki Graffiti by Anne Isomursu and Tuomas Jääskeläinen, the latter being one of the first graffiti artists in Helsinki. It's the most stolen book from the libraries, I've heard, which is quite fitting. Ever since the eighties and nineties' hysteric anti-graffitism a lot has changed and nowadays there are a bunch of sites for so called legal graffitis. One of them is at Suvilahti area, on your way to Make Your Mark Gallery. The area is quite impressive in it's abandoned/gentrified glory, so take your time walking through it.

Some of the graffitis of Suvilahti and an abandoned gas holder.
No idea how that works. Or what it is, actually.

Make Your Mark is a gallery curated by two graffiti artists, working since the 80's. Exhibitions of graffiti, photography and visual arts change monthly. Whatever the genre, the works exhibited usually have a strong connection to graffiti. There's also a graffiti equipment store in the gallery space, and an outdated train line map on the floor.

Kaasutehtaankatu 1, building no 6
Tu–Fri 12–19
Sat 11–16
Sun 12–16
makeyourmark.fi

If you get inspired by the art, remedies are close.
Exhibition: Red Shades by Mason.

Kohta

Kohta is a privately initiated kunsthalle in Helsinki. It has a strong tendency towards minimalistic and conceptual art – at the inaugural exhibition there was just a stump of tree on display. Well, that's not all there is to it, but gives an idea. You won't find naivist art with chubby pandas, flaming with colours here. The emphasis is on the concept, even though visuality does play a part.  Kohta is the only gallery in Kallio area that looks like a real gallery where professionals work and it even has a desk. The name translates both as soon and a spot. The latter as in place, not as in pimple.

Teurastamo inner yard, Työpajankatu 2 B, building 7
Wed–Fri 12–18
Sat–Sun 12–16
www.kohta.fi

Kohta even has an understated, stylish bench. And a visitor.
Exhibition: Works on Paper by Simryn Gill.

The Teurastamo (Slaughterhouse) area is, as the name tells, a former area of slaughterhouses. There are some meat markets left, even if the slaughtering happens elsewhere these days. Also, there are a lot of wholesale markets, but the most interesting thing (for me, at least) are the restaurants and bars popping up to the abandoned industry halls. They are all quite near to Kohta, so this is a good place to be hungry. At least you should have a scoop of ice cream in Jädelino, great vegan options available, too!

A BONUS TRACK

Edit 2022: resided, that was 2018. The gallery is still there and well worth a visit!

Another trendy hip tip for an eager gallery visitor is of course Töölö – that's where we, P14, are residing this year, at Gallery Oksasenkatu 11. Welcome!

Oksasenkatu 11
Opening times vary, most often:
Wed–Fri 14–18
Sat–Sun 12–16
www.oksasenkatu11.fi/blog/

Part of our group at the opening of Ida Palojärvi's
exhibition Light Misunderstandings

OTHER POSTS ABOUT GALLERIES IN HELSINKI

• The Culture Trip: A street art tour in Helsinki
• Visit Finland: 9 Galeries d'art à explorer à Helsinki (en français)
• Helsinki Side Quest: Niche galleries for more than just fine art

Traditions and Obsessions on a Baltic Cruise

Baltic Sea Between Helsinki and Stockholm, March 11th to 13th 2018 (and various other dates)

The Stockholm cruise is somewhat an institution among the Finns. And Swedes, too. The previous call it ruotsinlaiva (Ship to Sweden) and the latter finlandsfärja (Ferry to Finland). Especially in the ruotsinlautta case, one is supposed to overeat at the buffet, drink the cheap booze, party in the overtly colourfully lighted disco, including at least some dance steps to the 80's hits played by a cheesy cover band, sing some karaoke with deepest of feelings, buy some more cheap booze from the tax free and pass out in someone else's cabin. All this wearing glitter decorated tops and polyester shirts, possibly changing wearer during the night.

Sunsets are the only reason to go outside during the winter,
in the summertime there are additional bars on decks

Kids are supposed to, according to their ages, pass out early by sugar rush caused by the cheap candies bought from the tax free, cry in terror of their parents behavior or scheme their way to the very first sip of alcoholic beverages. In the morning, parents are supposed to throw up and take the kids to Gröna Lund amusement park, where the kids throw up and then it's time to go back to the ship and do it all over again.

Even though the EU has ruined the really cheap booze part and there are occasionally actually good bands performing, you can still live this dream. Anyhow, there are other options. Like, here I am, as I write, relaxed, having a sip of sparkling wine (not the very cheapest, I might add), well fed, surrounded by pretty much sober families. The scenery passes by peacefully and if it was summer, I could even see it. A success!

Staring at the scenery

There are two ferry companies, Viking Line and Tallink Silja, of which Silja is traditionally regarded a tad classier but is accordingly more expensive. I've traveled both, found the differences quite small and ended up using Viking Line, because of the prices and better location of the harbor in Stockholm.

The main rule is to travel starting Sunday–Wednesday. Thus you avoid the most drunk weekdays of Friday and Saturday on board. Also, the trips are cheaper. Following ads, or even by joining Viking Club, you get quite favorable special prices, starting from a few euros. Offers don't happen between start of June till mid August, though, because the ships have more than enough customers in families with vacationing school kids then. So go before / after. By answering the company's email questionnaires and buying enough stuff from the tax free, you might get an offer for another cruise, and then the same happens again and all of a sudden you're in the Viking Loop. I should now, I traveled eight times last year.

Why? you ask. WHY ON EARTH??!!!! you might even put it. Well, the biggest reason is obviously Stockholm, but more on that in another posting.

The welcoming port of Stockholm

When in middle of travels, I need my methadone, and a short trip abroad, anywhere abroad, is just that. Also, for some reason, I sleep very well in ships – especially in a tad more luxurious two persons cabin, equipped with a two persons soft bed, which is just large enough for one. The humming of motors gives me such a good sleep. Furthermore, I find the few hours in open sea, when internet doesn't really work, very relaxing. Viking Line has lately very kindly eased the non-internetting, by making the users renew the connection once in an hour and changing the password every day. Rather than going to info to check the new password in one's pajama's, it's so very alluring to just give up and read a book. Of course, it's also quite relaxing not to be able to actually go anywhere, without serious risk of drowning.

I mentioned the soft beds of a tad more finer cabins. Let's go deeper in that. Never settle with the cheapest option of windowless cabin. The stereotype of drunken Scandinavians is based on reality, and you might spend some time in your cabin, trying to avoid them. Or non-internetting. In the cheapest cabins, you'll have a good chance having one or eight of them as neighbors, too, or even more horrific teenage versions. Quite loud. So, upgrade at least to a cabin with a window, it really is not that expensive. The cabins are quite small and it's not exaggerating to have one of four persons all to yourself. The mentioned lux but still affordable cabins are available in the ship Mariella only.

The cheapest cabin with a window option on the left, 
a tad more expensive on the right.
Humans added for scale.

In my childhood I dreamed of the overwhelming buffet of the ship, pouring with shrimps and chocolate sauce, my favourites at the time. Respectively. Nowadays I sport a tad more developed taste, but the food still is ok. The wine is included in the reasonablish whole deal price, which drives people to drink too much and buy scarves they can't afford, but overall the ambience is quite civilized in the restaurant. There are other restaurants on board, too, but let's just say that it helps to be a carnivore. With a vegan friend of mine, with whom I started my career as cruise ship regular, we usually buy fancy food in advance and do not leave the cabin. A very viable option, that one, too.

Example of a moderate picnic in the cabin with food oriented friends

The buffet includes food, too

The tax free shop looks innocent enough and you'll walk in like "oh, there's nothing I'd have to buy from here, I'll just stroll to the candy shelf and buy me a chocolate bar", but be warned: amongst all the usual nothing special stuff there might be lurking something you just feel compulsed to buy. Like a Balmuir scarf just your colour, too expensive, last one left. Just a random example. For those believing in the almighty power of Elizabeth Arden's 8 hour lip balm in curing dry lips, leper and broken limbs; it's sold here very affordable. FYI: In Finland the stuff is known as Ellun ihmerasva (Elsie's miracle cream) and it has a cult following.

Defs not a shopping trip

Pieces of Information

Viking Line departs from Helsinki at 17:30, arrives in Stockholm the next morning at 10, departs back to Helsinki the same day at 16:30 where it arrives at 10:10 next morning. You have to be in the ship half an hour before the departure. The scheme is almost the same with Tallink Silja. 

• Ferry companies: Viking Line, Tallink Silja

• Other people done the cruise:  Malins mix (in Swedish), Wandering Dejavu (about a Silja cruise), Nordic Fairy