A dull morning but it soon recovered and the sun shone even though there were
always clouds in the sky. However, with a skype conversation with Robyn in the
UK, the day was already brighter. It was good to catch up with her.
By the time I headed out it was around 11am. A tram was coming towards me so I
hopped on and went to see what the end of the line was like a few blocks along
the road. It also meant that I didn't have to stand and wait, which was good as
the driver took a rest for a while at the turn round and I was happily seated.
I rode as far as the big cathedral square, which now has a large, temperary
stage built in one corner. It faces the line of wide steps up to the catheral
and I expect that when what ever is planned for the stage takes place, folk
will sit on the steps to get a good view.
This morning however, the square was filled with crowds of tour bus passengers
milling around cameras clicking away in every direction, but mostly towards the
cathedral. I had time to spare before the short midday organ concert was due to
start, so I visited the cathedral shop which surprisingly had nothing on Luther
but plenty of religious and Helsinki souvenirs.
When I went into the church the entrance was full of sightseers. But the main
body of the church was roped off. A notice announced that there was to be no
sightseeing between 11:50 and 12:20pm. And true to the notice the tourists were
moved out and the doors closed unless you were coming to the concert.
As soon as the last chime of midday had ended and the echo died down, the organ
burst into life and proceeded to play non stop through a selection of tunes
that once again I did not know. Then at 12:19pm it was over and the audience
filled out.
I went a different way however and used a side lift to descend into the crypt.
Her I was surprised to fine a large open area with red brick constructed arches
which were holding the cathedral above in place. I had a quick glace around the
paintings but I was really heading for the sound of clinking tea cups as this
would be where the cafe I wanted would be. This was a Red Cross fund raising
effort which runs daily throughout summer. The food and cups where set out in
the middle and mostly comprised or quiche and muffins. One lady had the job of
take your quiche and warming it.
The coffee was urn coffee but not too bad. All up it cost me 3.70 euro which was
quite reasonable and would explain the steady flow of customers coming in.
Now I caught a tram and rode to the big modern art gallery next to the post
office. This was the Kiasma Gallery. It was a modern shaped building and you
will have to see a photo to see what I mean. Inside there was a sloping and
curving walkway which took you up to the different levels of exhibition floors.
I could have gone to a more traditional art gallery but I was more than happy
with this choice. Also they told me that it was quite OK to take photos for
your own use. Now that is something New Zealand galleries should also follow.
So without following any sequence here is a range of things I saw.
One room was Story Cafe. Here there were 6 or 8 TV sets set up with head phones
and a couple or so of comfortable arm chairs. On the TV's there was a never
ending selection of individuals sitting talking to the camera and telling a
story or about something significant from their life. But rather than just
being recorders they tended to see themselves as performers and there was quite
a chance that their stories where coloured up a bit. A range of nationalities
and ages. I sat and watched several and found it interesting and could easily
have watched many more.
On the other had there was a darkened room on another floor with eight TV
screens suspended. Each screen had the name of a career or occupation; office
worker, personal carrier, cleaner etc. One by one the screens came alive and
showed a story of how a particular worker would really like to have responded
to a difficult situation in their job or office.
Another room had a triangle of multiple ribbons hanging from the ceiling and
forming a dense area of mixed colours. It looked quite interesting but when the
official 'watch person' told us that the artist wanted people to push though the
ribbons to the other side, it became a much more interesting experience.
In another exhibition there were hundreds of small dolls, ornaments and toy
figures. They were just spread across two walls on individual small shelves. I
didn't take a lot of interest until I noticed that the heads had been changed
to create statements. In one a figure of a British guardsman in red uniform had
hamburger for a head. Well I though there is one section of the UK army where
the men are called beefeater which I suppose could be beefeater. At this point
the display became very interesting.
In the next room which was the Fire and Rescue Services Museum, there was a
display of toy fire engines and children's books about fire engines and fire
men.
In one room there was a large projected video which showed a close up of the
artisit's grandmother responding to music. Beside this screen was a smaller one
which showed a full length shot of the grandmother playing drums to accompany an
off screen accordion. I do not think that the two images really matched up as on
the big screen I had the impression that she was doing something quite
different. An interesting idea though of portraying the grandmother's privacy.
In one gallery there were three large clear plastic domes suspended. When you
stepped inside a dome you could see images of a city projected onto the dome
and in theory you got smells as well to match. I didn't notice any. But then I
am not the quickest to notice smells or odors.
One section covered the effort of a performance artist to fly to the top of a
Swiss Alp and plant a notice renaming it. Apparently the mountain had been
named in honour of a Swiss scientist (?) who in the 1860's had done some
research which was to later provide a basis for racism in South Africa . She
flew up in a helicopter and place the explanatory notice into the snow on the
crest and then flew back down again. There were large still photos of this and
a video showing.
There were a number of films screening and one appealed to me. Filmed in the
style of a Hitchcock thriller, ZOO was a short say 10 minute movie. A blond
woman (that's very Hitchcock)moves around the zoo with her canon SLR taking
photos of animals which become menacing. At the same time for some reason she
keeps seeing or imagining a group of men swimming underwater and imitating the
actions of a school of small fish. In the end she walks int the water to join
them only to drown.
It had great camera shots and very matching music.
Several rooms were given over to the work of a Russian portrait painter who has
had close links with Finland over the years. This was an exhibition of his
paintings of Finnish subjects including the President of the time – the
1970's if I remember correctly. For artists reading this blog I have noted his
name as being Ilya Glazunov. His painting was not that of the approved Soviet
style of Social Realism and has a strong base in more traditional Russian art
styles – including Byzantine.
So there, for those of you who think I don't pay enough attention in galleries.
Actually I found some of it quite appealing. At the time he was the 'darling'
of the Finnish elite who incidentally could afford to commission or purchase
his work. I especially like the "Russian Mona Lisa" which I thought was
done in an iconic style and which reminded me of the "Madonna" picture
which seems to have been in every Catholic church I have visited on this trip.
The exhibition which particularly appealed to me was photographic. Denise
Grunstein was born in Finland but moved to Sweden to live when still young.
This is here first retrospective exhibition in Finland. Obviously a talented
photographer, she appears to be in her 50's. There were several series of her
work on display. I was taken by most, but was intrigued by a series on woman's
hair. In the series the photos show the progress of cutting hair but the
locations and settings keep changing. She sees cutting hair as symbolic of a
rite of passage into adulthood. In one shot she has the model sitting with hair
wrapped around her face and the head held by one of the head braces used by
early photographers. It is just a head and shoulder shot of just that with no
indication of where it was taken.
In a black and white series she has returned to the places in Finland which she
knew as a child. Now the child has grown up and she has a rather confused woman
in the shots. There were several strong shots which I rather liked.
There were about eight big colour enlargements of photos taken on large format
panorama cameras. Once again there was a woman somewhat lost in the
environment.
Denise Grunstein uses the same female actor for her photo series. I suppose this
is because the photos are carefully planned and highly constructed and it is as
if the model becomes frozen in a frame from a movie.
After this I went out to the balcony where the catalog was on display and where
they were showing a short Swedish TV film on her work. There was a young woman
looking at the catalog and we got talking. She was from Copenhagen and had been
in Helsinki for a meeting. She was now filling in time before flying home. Her
job was with the Danish Maritime Agency and she was involved in developing
regional policies to reduce the likelihood of shipping accidents in the busy
Baltic Sea. We had a good chat about her work, about Danish movies and TV. I
have her card in case I need any assistance or problem solving while in
Copenhagen. I thought that was very kind of her.
The rest of the day was spent hunting out DVD shops in an effort to get a copy
of the classic Finnish film which I watched parts of at the Museum of
Photography. It is quite a famous one and I have the strong impression of
having watched it a long time ago. Any how the Kiasma shop assistant gave me
some suggested place to try but no luck. I did however end up going back to
Stockman's where I had seen some reduced price titles and buying a mixture
there.
I had planned to go to an esplanade stage performance and then to an organ
concert in the Old Church. But I decided that I was just too tired to bother
and headed back to the hostel to try out my ability on the big industrial
washing and drying machines. In other words do some laundry.
It was successful.
Incidentally, the film I am looking for is "Ihmiset Suviyossa" which
translates into something like "The Story of the Summer People".
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