A very appealing project has been launched and will be on display free of charge around the country, both in libraries and cinemas, theaters, galleries and other cultural venues during 2023 and 2024. It is called VR-taiteen päivät, VR Art Days in English, an art exhibition using virtual reality as a means to bring people closer to different types of art through a technological experience that we are not usually used to. Funded by Kone foundation and produced by the national cultural association Elävän kuvan keskus ELKE ry, this tour is part of a research project and will cover Porvo,

By Ivonne    It was a cold and cloudy Sunday. We already planned to go to Övermark in Närpes for an event called Awake, so we rented the electric mini-LIFTI car from the City of Vaasa. Awake is the name of this project that includes a mural in an old barn in a rural area and music also inspired by the context in which this joint creation was developed.   At the event, the mural made by Valentina Gelain and Bekim Hasaj, as well as the music created by Michele Uccheddu , would be officially presented to the community. Both

By Ivonne C.     The other night, we went to the Sky Bar located in the center of Vaasa, for one of these music series they organize called Roots Nights. We went to see the show of Kokomo Kings , a band originally from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed around 2012 by 4 white men who play blues and rockabilly, and who have already toured several European countries. The event was free, so we arrived a little early to get a good seat because we had not been to that bar before and we didn’t really know what the dynamics were

By Thomas Velissaris Ballad for Sophie by Filipe Melo (Author) and Juan Cavia (Illustrator), is a story about people and their personas, about egos and alter egos. It is about hiding one’s self behind a mask both to avoid and to reveal the truth; to reveal the true self. And the more the mask is firmly attached to one’s face the more it needs to break. It is a graphic novel of exceptional sensitivity, exposing the traumas emerging from life, death, and human encounters. It is also a study about parenthood, boyhood, and girlhood. I have read it twice in

By Ivonne Carlos   For one reason or another, I hadn’t had the chance to write before about the Night or the Arts, my favorite day in Vaasa so far. This 2023, I enjoyed it entirely just as I thought it would be. Music in the streets, happy faces everywhere, some cute tantrums from children with painted faces and balloons in their hands here and there. Delicious food especially from the food trucks parked in Tori, a small but beautiful carnival parade full of energy and Indian dance, a little salsa and even some samba. It’s a pleasure just to

By Ivonne Carlos A few days ago, I went to the play Tre Rum / Kolme Huonetta, written and directed by Filip Alexanderson. The play was performed at Schaumansali in Pietarsaari, northern Ostrobothnia. The innovation of this play is that it is performed real time in three different countries simultaneously. That is, on stage we see the performance of three actresses: Maria Salomaa in Pietarsaari (Finland), Ida Ingels in Trondheim (Norway) and Margareta Stone in Sundsvall (Sweden). It depends on what location you are in, it is the actress you see live. In Finland, Maria Salomaa was performing in person

By Ivonne Carlos The first time I knew about Platform Artspace and Residency, was during the Night of the Arts just last year, in 2022. We were just walking around, experiencing every street performance, and suddenly there it was, an advertisement with some words in Spanish. It got us obviously. It was an exposition with Latin American artists, from Mexico, another one from Colombia and one more from Venezuela. It was a great atmosphere. That’s why after that, I began to follow the gallery’s social networks and to be more attentive to the eve nts they organize, so we came