Helsinki City Theatre continues popular home performances remotely this spring

In autumn 2019, the Helsinki City Theatre will continue its highly popular Art for Homes performances in people’s living rooms. This spring, the poetry performance for a couple from Tapanila, who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on 15 May, will be performed in the backyard instead of the living room and via a remote connection, allowing even a larger audience to enjoy the performance.

In early 2020, an open call was launched for the Art in Homes events in the Northeast Helsinki area to find residents who wanted to register their homes. The performances, which are designed together, according to the resident’s wishes, are open and free of charge for all audiences. In the spring, five homes and their residents signed up, but due to the coronavirus epidemic, three of the performances will be postponed to next autumn, and in the spring, only one Art for Homes performance will be carried out – and that too in the backyard of the residents’ homes, taking into account safety distances, while the rest of the audience follows the event remotely via Facebook or Instagram.

“Erru and Ponu, who live in Tapanila and are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, love poetry and nature. From this point of view, a poetry performance was tailored for the couple in honour of their wedding anniversary, Puiden oksalla on valoa (There is Light on the Branches of the Trees), which includes poems about nature and love by Finnish poets. The performer will be Marjut Toivanen, an actress from the Helsinki City Theatre,” says Laura Ikonen , the project’s artistic designer and director, from the Helsinki City Theatre’s audience outreach.

“The performances that take place in the residents’ living rooms are always intimate in nature, although a special feature of the performances is always that people who do not know each other meet each other at home. The events are open to anyone who has reserved their place, not just acquaintances of the residents. Hopefully, in the autumn, we will be able to enjoy these living room encounters again. On the other hand, now is a good opportunity to try out new formats and open up the performance to a wider audience through social media,” says Laura Ikonen.

The Art for Homes performances are part of the Spotlight in the Northeast art project, and they are implemented by the Helsinki City Theatre’s audience outreach in cooperation with the North Helsinki Band School. The first four highly popular ones were seen in November-December 2019 in the homes of the residents of Siltamäki, Alppikylä, Puistola, Tapanila and Tapulikaupunki.

In the Spotlight is a three-year joint project of the Helsinki City Theatre, Zodiak Centre for New Dance, North Helsinki Band School and Teatteri Tuike, which aims to increase the range of arts and culture in the districts of Tapulikaupunki, Suutarila, Siltamäki, Puistola and Tapanila in 2019–2021.

The poetry performance Art for Homes will be seen on Friday 15.5.2020 at 3 p.m. as a live broadcast in Valokeila via Koillinen’s Facebook and Instagram live: www.facebook.com/valokeilassakoillinen and https://www.instagram.com/valokeilassakoillinen/
 

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Further information:
Audience Worker Laura Ikonen, laura.ikonen@hkt.fi,  050 475 8701
Kaisa Pelkonen, Communications Manager, kaisa.pelkonen@hkt.fi, 040 552 3788

www.valokeilassakoillinen.fi
www.hkt.fi

Helsinki City Theatre, Ensi linja 2, 00530 Helsinki