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.

My cultural experience in Kiasma

Kiasma, a museum of contemporary art      

I visited Kiasma in Helsinki. As the title says, Kiasma is a museum of contemporary art. I've visited there before a couple of times. I picked Kiasma because it's the most interesting place for me. When I went there (4.2.2017) there was an exhibition by Mona Hatoum.

Before I went there, I wasn't expecting much to be honest. Museums and exhibitions have never meant so much to me, they're okay but have never really made me amazed or anything. I had seen some pictures of this exhibition on internet.

But actually, when we went to see this exhibition with my friend, it was pretty interesting. Not saying I loved it but there was some nice works of art. Some were weird and we stopped to look at them like "what is this", but I guess that's normal when we're talking about art, it's supposed to make people think.

There was this one artwork that I really liked, according to Kiasma's website the name is Hot Spot. It was like a map of earth with red lights, it was really pretty in my opinion. Unfortunately we were a little busy that day so we didn't have so much time to just stay and look at the artworks.

The exhibition wasn't boring, not at all. It was quite nice. The artwork didn't make me think about things that much, it was just pretty. After all, I like this kind of art more than just paintings and such things.

Here's a picture of that work of art that I liked the most (picture is from http://www.kiasma.fi ).

          My cultural experience in South-Karelia museum

                                  Written by Janne J

I went to South-Karelia museum and to Lappeenranta Art museum yesterday 12.2.2017. There wasn’t any actual event available so i had to do tour myself. At the South-Karelia museum was actually very interesting and it way better then i expected. Though my expectations were low since im not really interested about museums or arts. Im still open minded and Im now happy that i actually went there.

  There was stories about Lappeenranta, Viipuri and Käkisalmi. I didn’t really care about that much on Lappeenranta or Käkisalmi but Viipuri was really interesting and i learned history about it like that it was Finlands 2nd largest city before the second WW. There was also scale model from Viipuri which had actually pretty much detail on it. It impressed me. The art museum wasn’t that interesting in my opinion since i don’t undestand arts at all. At the South-Karelia museum there was also pictures/paintings about how Lappeenranta looked at 1700s. Lappeenranta was actually just a fortress at the start which i didn’t know until now. Also we talked with my mom how Finland would be like if Viipuri still was part of Finland.

  I suggest everyone to go there since under 18 yo. have free entry there. It was way more interesting and i learned myself things that i wasn’t so familiar with.

My cultural experience in Jyväskylä

It was 10.2., a cold Friday night when we walked into a small theatre in Jyväskylä to watch a play called “Ilias, Odyssey and the whole Greek mythology in 99 minutes or under”. It was a theatre of five people, two women and three men. The story took place in Ancient Greece and it told about stupid and hilarious decisions and things that the Greek gods and the people did at that time.

  At first we thought that it was going to be a bit boring tale of Greek mythology. But when we walked into the theatre called “Huoneteatteri,” a warm, fuzzy feeling filled our bodies. The theatre was small and comfy and the lobby looked like an old café from the 18th century. It fit around a hundred people inside and the tickets were sold out.

  So the play began. It was hilarious. The audience laughed a lot and the actors were professional. It wasn’t boring at all. Everything that we first thought it would be like was wrong, it was the complete opposite. The play had this 99 minute clock on the wall and the first half felt like 15 minutes long even it went well over 50 minutes. It changed my view on theatres to the total opposite of what it had been before this one. I’ve never realized how good theatres can be but now I know.

My cultural experience in Lappeenranta city theatre

I went to see a play called ”Niskavuoren nuori emäntä” by Hella Wuolijoki to Lappeenranta city theatre on 28th of January. It was story about love and obligation. The story took place on the late 1800's even though it was originally made on 1940.

Before I went to see the play, I thought it wouldn't be my cup of tea. It seemed little bit too old-fashioned for me. Usually I am more interested in plays that really have something to do with the modern world. I was still looking forward to it, because it's always good to experience different forms of art.

At the beginning I didn't really get the story line but after a few minutes it became more understandable. I was little bit disappointed at first, because it was quite boring, but luckily the story became much more interesting later.

Most of the actors really impressed me. They were able to express every little emotion so well. But some characters annoyed me, they were too energetic and extravagant. The atmosphere was quite tense, but it changed towards the end and the story had a happy ending. 


This experience evoked a little bit of confusion because the story ended unexpectedly. On the other hand it made me think of choices in life and love. I really thought about what love is nowadays compared to 1800's, where the story took place. Much has changed and in my opinion that's a good thing. I really appreciate some little things in my life more after this experience, even though I couldn't relate to it as much as I hoped I would have. After this experience I feel happier to have such a loving family and a happy life. 

My cultural experience in Heituinlahti, Savitaipale on February 11.

Me and my friends got to known a local dance event in Heituinlahti which is part of Savitaipale. It was on Saturday night and we arrived to the place where the dance event was organized. The place is called Heituinlahti house which is like a community centre in our village.

My expectations were most likely that there are old people dancing and band playing Finnish schlager music. I also knew that dance events in Heituinlahti have a long history. For example in the 80s famous Finnish singers like Kari Tapio or Kirka had performed there. Personally I didn´t know the upcoming band which name is Kaija Lustila&Rubiini but I had a thought what kind of music they play.

The first impression about the dance event was that it wasn´t my thing. The people were so much older than me and the music was out of date. But when I saw people were having fun there it made me glad and it raised the atmosphere. It was nice to see that the crowd enjoyed the moment. It was kind of their own culture: Men dressed tidy and women wore dresses and they had real danceshoes. When people were getting thirsty there was a bar called Bunkerpub downstairs. And of course the bar include the karaoke which made people mood up. Even I got excited and the music made me dance a few rounds.

After the dance event I was totally surprised how this kind of small village can organize such a cool and popular occupations. And even if it is especially for older people youngsters can go and enjoy there too. After all the event was positive experience and I would like to visit there again.

My cultural experience in Lappeenranta 4.2.2017

Me and my friend Saku visited an art exhibition called Colour is light - To the east from Lake Saimaa by colour photography in the South Karelia museum. (Väri on valoa - Saimaalta itään värivalokuvin) It was an ordinary February Saturday afternoon when we travelled to Lappeenranta from our home town Savitaipale.

Personally I knew only a few things of what we were going to see in a moment. I had read that I’m going to see photographs, coloured ones from the early 20th century. Somehow the time and coloured photographs didn’t fit together in my mind and my mental image kept focusing on paintings and black ‘n’ white photos. Still I waited for the atmosphere that always prevails in museums. I find the intent social situation both interesting and a little amusing.

My first impression of the exhibition was actually quite confusing. Not in a bad way but that was the moment I realized they really were colourful high quality painting-sized photographs taken about a hundred years ago. They seemed pretty cool, some of them even unreal.

After all the exhibition wasn’t so marvelous but there were a few photos that looked intriguing and one that made me laugh. Since we have our history course on the go, I did my best to understand and search allusions from the time of World War I. I didn’t make it but at least I tried. Like said, my experience wasn’t pompous as an entirety. Still I have no need to regret since our little trip was a cheery start to the full studying concentrated weekend of mine.

Picture: Sergei Prokudin-Gorski, The USA Congress library. Extract from an article made by YLE. Found from here: http://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9244816