My cultural experience

I went to South Karelian Museum on the 10th of February where they had two different exhibitions. The names of the exhibitions were ”Three Karelian Towns” and ”Color is Light”. I was pretty bored to go to the museum at first because I had a long school day right before it and I easily get bored when heading to a museum. I wasn't supposed to go there on friday but I had nothing better to do. The exhibit about the three towns was pretty decent. They had scale models of each town. They were Vyborg, Lappeenranta and Käkisalmi. Lappenranta had the most familiar scale model and I was able to point out some locations from the model. Vyborg was kinda similiar to Lappeenranta in the early 20th century. I didn't have much time to check the scale model about Käkisalmi.

The other exhibit about the pictures was very nice. They had these early black and white pics that were colored with some kind of early coloring method. The pictures showed how different Finland was in the 20th century. People used to wear pretty colorful clothes back then too. The old lady at the counter was kind enough to tell me and my dad about the pictures. They were taken by Sergei Produkin-Gorski.

In my opinion the two exhibitions were quite different from each other. The three towns were all good but not that spectacular. The color pics were nice because the pictures showed me how much different the houses and people's use of color was back then. I would recommend people to atleast check out the pics because they were good. 

My cultural experience

A cultural experience

I experienced a children's concert in Savitaipale. It was called Loiskis and clown Dodo. The concert was on Sunday 12^th February. I had my two cousins with me.

Before the concert I thought it might be a little bit boring because it was for children. That's why I asked if my cousins would like to join me so I had someone to take there with me.

The concert was quite short. It took only 45 minutes. When the band started to play, my first impression was that they really know how to play different instruments. There were three men in the band, aged about 50 years old, and they all had about three instruments to play. The band played different songs with different instruments. They had a violin, a guitar, a cello and an ukulele, for example. They all sang together. All the songs were new to me. In my opinion they were really experts.

The band had a clown with them. The clown's name was Dodo and he did different tricks. He juggled with three balls in different positions, for instance. He was very talented.

I didn't have any expectations about the concert but I liked it. It was simple but the best thing was that it made the children happy. It was nice to see how the children enjoyed themselves. My three year old cousin told me he liked it despite the scary clown.

My cultural experience

I visited Lappeenranta Art Museum on friday February 2nd. The exhibition was called Tunteella liikkeellä - Emotion in motion. There were pictures and videos taken by Juha Metso.

I expected that the exhibition would be interesting and emotional. Before I went there I thought the pictures would be taken with great skills and there would be different kinds of stories behind the photos. I expected the exhibition to be impressive.

My first impression was amazement. Pictures and videos were realistic but at the same time abstract. Viewer needs to find an own version and interpretation. It was difficult to realize what some pic or video clip really meant. It was a good but confusing experience.

Pictures included nudity, different kind of cultures, spontaneous moments and different feelings. Some of the pics showed happiness and smile, some other sadness. There were many facial expressions in the portraits.

The exhibition evoked respect for the artist. Pictures were great and he had catched lots of emotions from people. The Artist has travelled all over the world to get his work done. Taking pictures of people like Vladimir Putin must be exiting. The exhibition made me think that I should take more pictures, even though I’m certainly not as professional as Juha Metso.

My cultural experience

I went to library in Savitaipale to see an artist, reciter and producer Henry Räsänen. The poetry recital was called ”Elon maljasta juovu”. He presented Finnish lyric poetry for example Eino Leino and Runeberg. The poetry recital was on Runeberg´s day February 5th.

I was very suspicious and didn’t have very high expectations for it. I went there very open minded because I really didn’t know what to wait. It was also a new experience for me. I haven't went to poetry recital before that.

My first impression was me thinking what am I doing here, I don't understand anything. There were only very old people and me so it was a bit awkward also. It was really hard for me to concentrate or get it. The language was quite old and poetry is in general hard to understand for some people including me. 45 minutes is not much but it felt like it took forever. It wasn't my thing at all. But I´m proud of that I went there open minded to experience something new. Yes, I have also something positive to say even tho I didn't like it that much. The poet were good at what he was doing. He empathized very well. He didn't look any paper, he remembered everything without any help. It confused me a lot and made me respect what he was doing.

I think that poetry is mostly for artistic people, for people who like art in the form of words. Already it that there was only old people created the feeling that it was directed for older people than me. Maybe I would have liked it more if I were older.

Henry Räsänen

My cultural event at Heituinlahti

It was an amusing night at Heituinlahti dances on Saturday 11th of February. First thought I had of the place was positive, there were a lot of people smiling and clearly enjoying themselves. The people there were a lot older than I was. It was nice to see that they have their own thing that they enjoy.

          The place itself was interesting and had a dancefloor where everyone could dance to the music that the band played. The music was mostly from the time i was yet to be born. Down below the dancefloor was a place called bunkerbar where people sang karaoke and drank a little alcohol. People singing karaoke was not the most esthetic experience I have had but it was nice to see people enjoy themselves and the company of their friends. Some people singing were a little drunk as you can expect from a place like that.

         I visited the place with my girlfriend, my friend Aleksi and his girlfriend, also my girlfriend’s sister and her friend were there. It was quite an enjoyable experience i have to say. At first I thought it wouldn’t be that fun to be there but it was really nice to hang out with my friends. I was positively surprised about the event so I recommend everyone to go there if you have time for it.

My cultural experience in Lappeenranta 4.2.

My cultural experience in Lappeenranta 4.2.

We visited an art exhibition in the Regional Museum of South Karelia with my friend Sakke. The exhibition was called Colour is light - To the east from Lake Saimaa by colour photography (Väri on valoa - Saimaalta itään värivalokuvin). I didn't have big expectations about it but I kept an open mind and wanted to see how it was possible to take coloured photos at the start of the 20th century.
My first impression was surprised. I didnt expect to see pictures with so up-to-date-looking quality and colours. For some of the photos it was really hard to believe that they were taken over a hundred years ago.
The photos themselves were not really mind-blowing if the quality is not taken into account. Some of them were beautiful, but mostly they didn’t really evoke any emotions, so I guess I had pretty neutral feeling about the exhibit. We were just learning about the First World War in our history course so from that aspect the pictures were pretty interesting.
Overall we had a nice little trip giving some variety from ordinary, usually mostly boring weekends. 

My cultural experience

Roope Kiljunen

Emotion in motion

8.2.2017

I went to see Juha Metso’s Emotion in motion art exhibition in Lappeenranta. I didn’t have many expectations for the installation. I knew it was comprised of photographs but I haven’t seen Juha Metso’s former works, or in fact heard of him. The premise of the installation seemed interesting so I went to see it. When I first saw the pictures i wasn’t terribly impressed. Most of them were just of ordinary people. I mean they were good but not the level of art i was expecting. After giving them a better look I started to see their value as art. The photos told a tale, they presented a wide variety of emotions and gave a good insight into the story behind the photo. What had happened and what will happen.

Many of the pictures were from third world countries showing happy people despite poor conditions. There were also pictures of musicians during concerts which depicted their passion for music very well. The smiles were quite contagious so the pictures did improve my mood quite a bit. There were some less joyful pictures as well. Especially in the Ice stay gallery. They had a dark wintery setting with a scent of death, dread and an overall grim atmosphere. Presenting people lying or sitting in snow. They in a weird way balanced the installation as a whole. More comical works could be found as well. One photograph of Putin scratching his nose that was surrounded with propaganda t-shirts was really humorous.

The name Emotion in motion is fitting for the installation. The photos are not still. They are part of a story that is happening with people living and feeling within. My own enjoyment was high. It wasn’t boring as i had feared instead giving me new viewpoint on art.