The fourth week of Everwhatgallery, Utopia

Utopia, a perfect society, good place and also no-place.

Everwhatgallery's last theme brings a lot of questions regarding our lives. We always pursue perfection and good things. But what can be perfect? it depends on us.

Everwhatgallery is indeed a good place. Everyone who visited the gallery never forget to say "This is a nice place".  For some of us, the basement of Uusiseurahuone can be Utopia. There are people, discussion, talks, music, art, light, darkness, sadness, happiness and etc.

The first performer of the week, Anssi Laiho brought interesting sounds to the gallery. Could the sounds be the sound of Utopia? The fmiliar sounds, maybe Utopia is around us?

 

Everwhatgallery also got a lot of new works by Antti Ylönen and Antti Tenetz

 

 

 

 

Joose Mikkonen's animal songs also can be sounds of Utopia.

Children also come and express their art in Everwhatgallery.

 

and listen children's music by Soiva Siili.

A lot more fun things are waiting for the last week in Everwhatgallery!

Oulun Taiteiden Yö, Oulu art night in Everwhatgallery

 What an exciting day, art everywhere in Oulu.

In front of Everwhatgallery, our artists, Niko-Petteri Niva, Niels Leenders, Jussi Pylkäs,Jenna Kemilä were drawing on the street with chalks.

 

The first performer Surasit played his rough sounded guitar with singing

After his performance ended, everyone went outside to see KEKSI Kollektiiv's street dance inspired by jungle. Everyone stopped and enjoyed the moment with Keksis. 

People stayed to listen Julian Owusu's spoken word with poems.

 The last performance was Rites for the Digital Shaman by Tanja Råman and John Collingswood.

"The Digital Shaman emerges into an underground cave in central Oulu. Fusing contemporary dance with responsive projection and a live generated soundtrack, TaikaBox creates a unique and powerful experience, shifting ancient energy into the digital age. This performance installation is part of an ongoing research project into ancient mysticism and improvised ritual enhanced with cutting-edge technology, and will be broadcast live via Periscope. See taikabox.com for more details."

(http://www.everwhatgallery.com/)

For one hour, it continued.

The smoke kept spewing and mysterious music repeated with her dance.

Yes, It really looked some kind of ritual, which was hard to know.

But the light behind, was beautiful with windblown leaves in the forest background. 

For this one hour, I don't know where I was. 

Tanja, dressed up like an animal, was dancing for rites. Slowly and repeatedly.

One point, the forest light disappeared and the digital age came. 

The music also changed, with more mechanical sound. 

It was another kind of beauty, different from the nature, but still beautiful. 

The hundreds of beams lightened the dancer, and an indescribable scene was made.

As the one appreciator said, it was really "mahtava"

I don't really know how to explain,

but my one hour passed with strange feeling that I have never experienced.

Oulun Taiteiden Yö, Oulu art night "Pikisaari Old Wool Factory Ateliers"

Pikisaari Old Wool Factory Ateliers

Old wool factory in Pikisaari is a place for artists "Sakari Matinlauri, Jyrki Poussu, Jaakko Pernu, Karoliina Niemelä, Lauri Rankka, Raimo Törhönen and Niilo Komulainen".

The art works are made in this place and it was open for Oulu art night. 

When I arrived, the artists were putting this yellow long johns on a clothesline.

The first atelier was Lauri Rankka. There were many pressing machines that he used for his art. His wooden sculpture was very interesting which, he explained, is composed with human figures but it also looks like insects and plants. 

All the lives in one. It was very beautiful. 

 In the same building, there were Raimo Törhönen's atelier as well.

He displayed his paintings along with Päivi Pussilan's landscape painting.  

Her paintings, with dark color reminded another color of Finland that

I forgot during summer.

On the other sides, there were ateliers for metal and wood arts. 

I was really impressed how wood as material mean for Jyrki Poussu.

"I have found a unique
relationship with wood - wood is warm, personal, and very
much a part of the Finnish character. It is perhaps one of the
most important material i have ever used. In wood, there
are always present traces of the past, and reminders of the
future. We see in in wood not only the markings of history,
but also the continuity of life - the circle of life."

(http://www.poussu.net/aboutart.html)

 It was a big pleasure to be able to see the artists' working space.

So many things, were there.

art. life. and more.

Everwhatgallery third week, Hypothesis

Everwhatgallery started its third week with the theme "Hypothesis". 

Artists from Oulu Game Lap also started new drawings for the new theme. 

and Aura Sinervo came to perform first for the week. 

 

 It was her third performance with another last one waiting to be performed on this Friday. Unfortunately, I missed previous two performances of her
 and just heard that she eats.
She was covered with white and orange color of plastic bags.

She put her blocked eyeglasses on and threw off her orange slippers. 

She seemed to enter another world. 

Her hand, with plastic gloves, was holding an orange paprika. 

She started cutting the paprika in pieces and took out two pincettes. 

She looked like she is experimenting the paprika in laboratory.

She tasted one and munched the others. 

The smell of the fresh paprika spread over the room. 

She wanted to show how she was experimenting the paprika to everyone in the room.

I was sure that she really enjoyed eating and it looked very tasty. 

Her intentional movements made more sounds on top of bubble wrap. 

When she finished eating, she took her glasses off.

And she looked different person. Normal one. A person who is not eating a paprika.

I and my friend were wondering, what on earth does she mean by it?

Why food? why eating? why no comments? why the plastics?

Our head were filled with question marks.

We know that sometimes it tells more when one doesn't say anything.

But we really want to listen your voice, Aura!

Probably on Friday, will she say something? 

The shadow of roses

She stood behind the counter,

and the shadow of roses started blossoming in her white shirt.

The roses,

 which observed everyone who were visiting the gallery,

 lived beautiful lives with art. 

Now the flowers wither,

they might not be able to welcome people anymore. 

 But, the moments 

when they came to us from the people who loved Everwhatgallery 

will be remembered,

 as it made another beautiful life in the white shirt.

Oulu, full of opportunities

Oulu, full of opportunities

A lot of foreigners in Oulu have trouble getting close to Finnish people or Finland. Well, that is at least what I have observed while studying in international programme in University of Oulu. I think I have talked more to, and spent more time with non-Finnish people than Finnish people, which brings me a lot of questions like “am I really in Finland?”. We, with my friends from different places in the world, were discussing a lot why it is so difficult to mingle with Finns. Is the wall of Finnish language too high? Are Finns too shy or are we shy? Whatever the reason is, it is true that we need to put some more efforts to get involved in Finnish society. 
 .

Everwhatgallery’s first week starts with the theme " Finland 98 ¾"
  .

It actually means a lot more to me while reminding all the feelings towards Finland. Till now, I have had lots of worries and fears about getting excluded from the Finnish society. I probably have not tried enough to get out of my comfort zone. But there are always chances and I am so happy and grateful to get this opportunity to work in Everwhatgallery. 
 .

Thanks to the city of Oulu and Whatevergroup,Antti and Antti.

.

This one month is going to be a very new experience to me.

I am learning everyday something new from Antti and Antti, the crews,us  , the artists and people who are visiting.

So far it has been a great experience and 

Oulu definitely has a big open door for everyone, wherever they come from.

Uusi Seurahuone

If you come to the market Place in Oulu, you can easily find a beautiful building with neo-renaissance style desgined by  a architect Hugo Neuman.
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The story of Uusi seurahuone

The centre of Oulu town was destroyed in a massive fire in 1882. The same spark that set the town on fire ignited Sea Captain Johan Fredrik Petrell’s idea of building a private house near the seaside. Consequently, the construction of Petrell’s own palace was completed two years later. Today the building is known as Uusi Seurahuone.

The roots of Uusi Seurahuone

Uusi Seurahuone is a neo-renaissance building designed by Oulu-born architect Hugo Neuman. The building was owned by Consul Pentzin and then by Judge Lundberg before being transferred under the ownership of Teräs Ltd. hardware store company in 1902. Many older Oulu people still remember the building as the Teräs Building.

The era of the architects

Teräs Ltd. owned the building for nearly 80 years. The Oulu City Board decided on the preservation of the building just a few years before it was sold to  construction company Insinöörityö in the early 1980’s. Before the new owner was even disclosed, the University of Oulu Department of Architecture had expressed the willingness to rent the building for academic use. The department’s wish was granted. Soon the street level of the building housed a library and exhibition rooms, while the second floor contained a lecture room, a seminar room and laboratory work spaces.

New winds blow

The building had thus seen many walks of life before a new, noteworthy page in its history was turned in 1999 with another ownership change: Head Invest Ltd. began extensive renovation and restoration work on the premises. Uusi Seurahuone welcomed its first guests in 2001. Since the autumn of 2010, the host of Uusi Seurahuone has been restaurateur Tommi Tuhkanen.

http://www.uusiseurahuone.com/en/uusi-seurahuone/history/
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Uusi seurahuone provides coference rooms, ceremony rooms and nice restaurant.
This summer during August, the basement of the building will be used for a gallery to provide exciting experience to artists and visitors.
This is a Place that you should definitely check out!

Oulu, a city full of energy

If you are looking for interesting adventures, you are in the right place.
Oulu is a city full of culture, art, creative ideas and energy with people from different backgroudns.

"Oulu is an active city full of culture. Numerous theatres, museums and exhibitions delight culture enthusiasts throughout the year. Classical music lovers are sure to enjoy the concerts of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra, for example, and rock and light music fans are treated with frequent club gigs. During the summer, various outdoor events and summer theatres extend the cultural offering even further.

Traditional art is complemented by new city culture trends – game culture and film and media arts are all well represented.

The City of Oulu owns the seven biggest cultural institutions: the City Theatre, City Library, Oulu Museum of Art, Northern Ostrobothnia Museum, Oulu Symphony, Cultural Centre Valve and Science Centre Tietomaa.

Several amateur and private companies and guest performers enhance the city's cultural diversity. "

(The official site of City of Oulu : http://www.ouka.fi/oulu/english/culture-and-library)

This place is to share diverse sides of Oulu  

Let's start the journey!