Turku will take the Capital of Culture year offering to the opening of the Capital of Culture Maribor

The 2011 European Capital of Culture Turku will have a high profile in the opening of one the two Capitals of Culture in 2012, Maribor. Turku will take various films and circus art, and electronic music  from the Turku Capital of Culture year 2011 to Maribor, Slovenia at the opening weekend 13–15 January 2012.

On Friday night 13 January in Maribor, circus Sirkus Sudenkuoppa from Turku will perform fire acrobatics both at the gallery and in the centre of Maribor. The evening will continue at the Turku 2011 Night Moves club, where multi-instrumentalist Jimi Tenor and DJ Esko Routamaa will perform, as well as Digital Delight from Maribor.

Also on Friday, films related to the Turku Capital of Culture year will be shown for the first time at the opening of the new Vetrinje Mansion Gallery in Maribor. The films will be played on several screens simultaneously, and they will be on display until the beginning of February.

At the film exhibition, the biggest role will be played by the three short films related to the Contemporary Art Archipelago art exhibition. In the films by artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen and film-maker Henrik Andersson the islanders themselves have filmed the dreams and fears they have about the future of the archipelago.

The famous film of Documentary Director Jouko Aaltonen's Battle over Turku will also be shown. It was well received all over Finland and also on television after the opening night at Logomo in April.

A comprehensive image of the Turku Capital of Culture year will also be portrayed by the video compilation of the entire year, produced by the Turku 2011 Foundation, and the follow-up documents made by students of the Turku Arts Academy about the different projects of the Turku Capital of Culture year. The students have made short films of the River Aura Symphony, Song Castle, Cirque Dracula performance, Grand Prix Downhill Race, Passion dance performance, Tom of Finland exhibition, and the Pots, Sandals and a Tent events.

In addition, Mobile Animations made by Turku Arts Academy students are seen in Maribor. 20 short animated snapshots of Turku will be shown.

Friday will open the Maribor Finnish-Estonian month

The exhibitions and performances are offered by the Finnish-Estonian-Hungarian month, which is part of the Maribor Capital of Culture programme. Both the programme for the opening and the works and performances shown until the 4th of February are produced by the Turku 2011 Foundation, the Finnish embassy in Ljubljana, and the Estonian Embassy in Budapest.

The Finnish-Estonian month will also offer an art exhibition by Turku artist Markku Haanpää, a Finnish-Hungarian jewellery and clothes exhibition, and a Finnish-Estonian-Hungarian comic strip exhibition.

The official opening of the Maribor Capital of Culture year will be held on Saturday 14 January 2012. The opening of the other Capital of Culture, Guimarães in Portugal, will take place on 21 January.

Aleksi Randell, Mayor of Turku, and Cay Sévon, CEO of the Turku 2011 Foundation will travel to the Maribor opening. Cay Sévon, CEO of the Turku 2011 Foundation and Suvi Innilä, Programme Director, will travel to the Guimarães opening.

Further information:

Saara Malila
Communications Manager
Turku 2011 Foundation
tel. +358 (0)44 907 5710
saara.malila(a)turku2011.fi

Leena Jeroncic
Project Officer for culture and media
Embassy of Finland, Ljubljana
tel. +386 01 3002120.
leena.jeronic(a)formin.fi

Nataša Kos
Deputy Program Director for International Cooperation
Maribor 2012
tel. +386 31 305 005
natasa.kos(a)maribor2012.eu or Aljaz(a)maribor2012.eu