Local yarn bombing

There’s been much to enjoy outdoors recently and not only naturewise. For the two last weeks in May, a stretch of the downtown riverbank was once again adorned with a Knit ‘n’ Tag event. This time the theme was ‘My Finland’ to celebrate the centenary year of our country’s independence.

In addition to knitting and crocheting, diverse other kinds of handicraft techniques were also presented in the creations mounted on the trees: weaving, sewing, quilting, appliqué, even macramé and felting.

I couldn’t help feeling some of the pieces had been just patched together out of a pile of random items, which is of course a perfectly valid way to demonstrate each contributor’s individual relationship to crafting. However, I always prefer those with a more tight-knit approach to the theme, especially those designed to the finest detail taking every lump and bump on the tree trunk into account.

My favourite creation entitled The Landscape of my Childhood was one of those holistic pieces of art. The swellings on the trunk had become clouds. An orange sun was resting where the trunk branched out into three.  There was even an owl sitting in a hollow.

My other favourites included a couple of striped pieces just because of their colourful beauty, the wrap of crocheted portraits because of the brilliant idea, and the piece with a string of lemons because of the positive message. When life gives you lemons use them to make lemonade the last one was indicating. Some optimism would certainly be welcome for a nation with ‘a brutal sense of realism’ as Jared Diamond characterises our people. It is naturally a strength in our kind of a big picture, but many of us could use a generous dose of joviality in the less grave things.

I didn’t know about the event beforehand and will try to keep better track in the future to consider reserving a tree for myself next time. I took most of the photos around mid-May when the riverside lindens showed hardly any shoots yet. Now the scenes are completely transformed into an intoxicating greenery, my favourite season under the sun.

Have a look also at my post of the previous yarn bombing event in 2015 here.

Belated winter

Remember I told we haven’t experienced proper winter in Turku this season? You see, the Nordic winter should be white. Well, there was some rather heavy snowfall in early January but we happened to be in Helsinki then. This all changed a couple of days ago when the winds brought a temperature drop and a serious amount of snow.

Yesterday, already a short walk downtown made you feel like a snowman. I have nothing against an occasional downfall of big fluffy snowflakes. But I could have managed without the piles now ploughed at every second street corner. I guess when something sounds too good to be true – such as an early spring – it often isn’t.

Light festival 2017

A week ago, we took a short break in Helsinki. The original idea was to attend the annual Lux Helsinki light festival we missed last January. However, as the special anniversary of a friend of mine coincided with the event I persuaded her and her husband to join us for a proper little weekend holiday in the capital. We saw some great exhibitions well worth a blog post but let’s have a look at some of the highlight of the Lux Helsinki 2017 first.

This time, the event concentrated on a rather limited area around the Cathedral. The route started at the Market Square where the façades of the neoclassical buildings facing the square and the sea were lit in delightful bright colours. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the buildings looked something like this in the evenings all through the dark and cold season! You could almost imagine you were far away in the Mediterranean.

The white marble cube of a building also facing the Market Square by the sea is the head office of the forestry products company Stora Enso. An installation with animation and sound entitled Cube was projected onto its façade nonstop. It was designed by a Finnish three-man group calling themselves Shader (Messr Tavi, Kunnari & Yliräisänen).

Another star attraction, probably the most popular one this season, entitled  Flowers of Life was installed in the inner courtyard of the University of Helsinki Topelia buildings where spotlights were cast on delicate web fabrics with colourful symmetric geometric patterns. The magical designs by the Flowers of Life collective looked different depending on the direction you saw them from. I am not happy with my photos but you will get the idea: a path leading through a small park with 70s hippie-like patterns hanging all around. Enchanting!

After zigzagging around the Cathedral for a while the route winded up at it. This time all four sides of the church were illuminated each with its own motif and style. The installation entitled Domus 360° – Four Homes was inspired by the idea of the home and that of the structures people build their existence on, their spiritual homes. The animation was designed by Tarja Ervasti and the sound by Willie Budsko. I am sure it was very well thought of and beautifully executed but, nevertheless, not as powerful as some installations seen on this site earlier. My posts on two of them here and here.

The Senate Square in front of the Cathedral is an ideal place for interactive installations requiring some space. There were two of those there this time. Visitors made Petri Tuhkanen’s People Power come to life by stepping on the scales controlling it. The greater the weight the brighter the lights of the installation.

The Light Pipes by Rölli Ridanpää and Tero Laine was built of copper pipes and light bulbs. Visitors could adjust the brightness of the lamps by turning the valves on the pipes. This installation was designed to demonstrate the diverse opportunities offered when living in a city. 

Diverse, indeed, to make a difference and to attend. Even a free urban art event in the middle of the darkest and coldest winter together with half a million fellow attendees in only five evenings in a city with a metropolitan population of no more than some 1.4M! Our desire for light certainly is limitless this time of the year. This must be not only the Lux Helsinki record but a world record of its kind! How about arranging a voluntary collection for a worthy charity on the side next time? If everyone donated, say, as little as 10 cents on the average that would already sum up to €50,000. What a difference that could make.

Below: Christmas lights in the Esplanade Park.