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Living Room Exhibition brings art into people’s living rooms. For two days, private spaces are turned public, and into stages for contemporary art – bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms, cellars, toilets, elevators and storage spaces are transformed into galleries and spaces for performances, and everyone is invited. The point is to break the traditional conception of private and public space. Art can be shown and seen elsewhere than just art museums and galleries. The living room exhibition brings art closer to people and offers them art experiences in a new context: in their everyday surroundings.
Living Room Exhibition got started when I was hosting the French Line Arhainx and German Rebecca Hirneise at my home in the fall of 2013, when they had just arrived in Finland and didn’t have a place to stay. Rebecca wanted to find somewhere to exhibit her photographs, but the gallery fees in Helsinki were too high for her. At the same time there were many other spaces in the city that could be used to host an art exhibition. Such as homes. So we decided to bring art into the homes of the people of Helsinki – and invite other artists to join us.
Living Room Exhibition has been organised two times, 21.-22.3.2014 and 21.-22.3.2015. On both of those occasions, 15 homes or spaces alike were changed into art galleries and there were pieces from about 40 different artists on display.
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After we changed homes into galleries in the Living Room Exhibition, I got the idea of developing the concept a bit further. If you can bring art exhibitions into your home, then why not theatre? And so a home theatre received a new – or old – meaning as the Home Theatre Festival changed homes into theatre stages for one week in February 2015 and November 2016. During the week, you could experience intimate or relaxed theatre in different places in Helsinki. The programme consisted of monologues performed by the students of the Theatre Academy and other actors. The performances were free, but you had to book a place beforehand. Every show was full, and the actors, inhabitants, guests and organisers were very satisfied.
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Along with every other events I occasionally organise pop up-restaurants, usually in collaboration with the chef Jyrki Tsutsunen. The restaurant needs to something one-of-a-kind. There needs to be something new and surprising that makes people think differently about things. One of these pop up-restaurants was Kimchi Days, which was opened in Helsinki at the Kustaankatu street for three days in 26.-28.2.2015. The working space was turned into a pop up restaurant, where we served a dish that used the Korean fermented cabbage kimchi as one of its main ingredients. The kimchi enthusiast Jyrki Tsutsunen was responsible for the menu and the atmosphere was completed by the music from DJ Ström. At the end of the day I asked the asylum seekers’ from the nearby reception centre to come and eat the rest of the food. And what a fun day it was! Oh and why organise Kimchi Days? Well, why not?
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The Cake Exhibition is an exhibition, an event and a coffee time for all those who love cake. A bunch of baking enthusiasts bring out their favourite cake along with its story and its recipe. Anyone can take part in any kind of cake they want. The cake might have special meaning: it might be learnt from your mother, you might have made it up yourself or you just might love it for other reasons. This exhibition is not about competition, so any kind of ugly try-outs and failed attempts are welcome! The definition of cake in this event is also somewhat broad, so changing the meaning of cake is completely acceptable!
The exhibition itself (and eating the cakes) is for the bakers, but each of them can invite four other friends to enjoy the treats of the exhibition. The cakes are first there just to be admired, after which they are eaten together. An hour later everyone can come and enjoy the exhibition.
The Cake Exhibition started from an idea to combine an art gallery, sweet treats, sharing recipes and enjoying a cup of coffee together. I have organised the Cake Exhibition since October 2015 in the gallery/coffee shop Rupla in Helsinki.
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“The dinner under the sky” organised in June 2013 by Yhteismaa at Pohjoisesplanadi street in Helsinki was such a big success that we wanted to make an another event – but this time, in the whole city. We got the city on our side and encouraged people to mark their dinner locations on the map, carry their tables out and have fun together. People ended up throwing dinner parties in many different places: yards, streets, in front of buildings, beaches and parks.
Yhteismaa arranges the event “The dinner under the sky – everywhere” annually at the beginning of August.
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The idea for “The dinner under the sky” came up, when we at Yhteismaa started to wonder, how we could celebrate Helsinki’s birthday at June 12th. We thought that the best – and the most natural – way would be to organise a huge dinner for all the people in the city.
“The dinner under the sky” was first organised at 12.6.2013 in Helsinki at the Pohjoisesplanadi street as part of the Helsinki Day celebrations. A dinner table for 1000 people was set up on the street, which was closed from traffic that day. The participants brought their own dinner and enjoyed each other’s company. The 1000 places for this free event were filled within the matter of a few minutes. Even when it started to rain, people still stayed at their tables and enjoyed themselves.
The first event was such a big success that it was made an annual part of the Helsinki Day celebrations. It is now organised by both Yhteismaa and the city of Helsinki. The event has also spread to many other cities.
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Gallery Wednesday brings people from the streets to the galleries to have fun. Everyone is invited and the galleries are open the whole night. At the gallery you can mingle, laugh, get inspired or get passionate – or just hang out and meet your friends. You are allowed to enjoy and to stay as long as you want. On Gallery Wednesday the galleries keep their doors open until late and possibly offer the audience something out of the ordinary, such as openings, performances, discussions, workshops or little drinks and snacks.
Gallery Wednesday started from my wish to make art more accessible and everyday, as many people often hesitate to step into the galleries. The event, organised in many galleries at the same time, makes it easier for both art enthusiasts and newcomers to get familiar with art.
Gallery Wednesday has been organised six time since it’s launch in the fall of 2014. The event takes place six times a year: three times in the autumn and three times in the spring, always on the first Wednesday of the month. Gallery Wednesday was first organised by Yhteismaa and since 2017 it has been run by the galleries themselves.
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Helsinki is full of saunas that are often empty and seldom seen by most. What if we did something about this for just one day and invited everyone over for a sauna? This idea turned into Helsinki Sauna Day, which is an event that opens the doors to the city’s saunas for everyone to enjoy.
Helsinki has experienced an increase of new, communal activity in recent years. Majority of the saunas in the city, however, are still in private use, although traditionally going to the sauna has been a very communal action. Even though there are currently about three million saunas in Finland, most of them are very rarely used. At the same time there are many who would like to go to the sauna more often. This was the starting point to organising this wacky, communal event in Helsinki. The summer in Finland might be short, but that’s no reason not to have a lively urban culture. The event is organised together with Helsinki Marketing.
Helsinki Sauna Day was organised for the first time on March 12, 2016, and was a great success. People opened up saunas (altogether more than 50) in their apartments, hotel rooms and even tents and got to enjoy one of the first sunny days of the spring. The event was also loved by the visitors, who filled all the saunas as full as possible. The next Helsinki Sauna Day will be held on March 10, 2016.
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What to do when there is no weekly, open space street market, when there is a need for one? Well, you create it yourself! The idea for a flea market at the street Aleksis Kiven katu in Helsinki was sparked when I visited a weekly, independently produced flea market in Paris in the spring of 2014. If this kind of informal activity works in other countries, then why wouldn’t it work in Finland, which is after all the “promised land” of flea markets? So I went and discussed the idea on Facebook, soon after which the Facebook page Aleksis Kiven katu flea market was created. The page informs people that every Sunday they can go to buy and sell their things at Aleksis Kiven katu. And that really happened: at the Dallapé park near the street there is now (as long as the weather is on our side) a flea market every Sunday.
