Turku's year as the European Capital of Culture comes to an end

A dazzling New Year’s Eve

The Capital of Culture information point 2011 Corner has closed its doors, but on New Year’s Eve the Corner will once more take centre stage as the video work Unveil, creating impressive visual illusions, is projected on the outer walls of the building at Kristiinankatu 1.

The 3D piece Unveil, created by means of video mapping, will bring the rich shapes of the Art Nouveau building to life with lights, colours and a variety of moving patterns and figures. Digital technology and art are used to create strong visual and optical illusions and their impact is further emphasised with electronic music that echoes the rhythms of the piece.

The ten-minute work will be shown four times on New Year’s Eve at 6 pm, 8 pm, 10 pm and 11:30 pm. Between showings, the director of Unveil, animator Sumit Sarkar, will create a live digital image on the wall of the building.

Unveil brings the Eurocultured Street Culture Project to a spectacular conclusion. During 2010 and 2011, the Eurocultured Project by the EU Culture Programme has included several festivals and workshops and various new works have been created by local teenagers in Finland, the United Kingdom, Slovakia and Romania.  In May 2011, a large Eurocultured Street Culture Festival was held in Turku as a part of the Capital of Culture year programme.

The Unveil work that will be projected onto the walls of Kristiinankatu 1 was created by 15 artists from six different countries: the United Kingdom, Finland, Brazil, Portugal, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Contributors from Turku include puppet-makers from the Kuuma Ankanpoikanen Puppet Theatre Group and dancers from the Taina Kovalainen Dance School.

Unveil brings the series of Capital of Culture events to an end, and also acts as the farewell work for 2011 Corner, which for the past year has operated as an information and meeting point. During the past year, Corner attracted a total of 230,150 visitors. Event and Exhibition Centre Logomo, the other meeting point of the Capital of Culture year that was open daily, was visited by 248,000 people between January 16th and December 18th, 2011.

The artists and production of the Unveil project:

Artistic direction and video mapping: United VJs
- VJ Zaz , VJ Spetto, Roger S. and Viktor Vicsek
The international crew of United VJs have previously performed projections with similar 3D technology in countries such as Brazil, Hungary and England.

Music: Adam Freeland and Nico de Transilvania
Adam Freeland is an English electronic music DJ and producer. He has released 8 albums under the record label Marine Parade.
Nico de Transilvania, a DJ now residing in Brighton, has created her own unique musical style by blending the Balkan sounds of her native country with the sounds of Swing and Electro, among others.

Direction and animation: KrikSix
KrikSix is a moniker for the London-based artist Sumit Sarkar, who has not only created the digital characters of Unveil, but also directed the entire work. Sarkar's animations were last seen in the Envisions project in York at the end of October.

Breakdance: Mouse
B Boy Mouse, who created the dance moves for Unveil, is a former winner of the UK World B Boy Championships. He has featured, among others, in computer games and Madonna music videos.

Choreography: Zuzana Sliacka (S3T Stylerz)
12 dancers from the Taina Kovalainen Dance School and the S3T Stylerz from Bratislava, Slovakia feature in the footage used in the video projections. They were directed by Zuzana Sliacka, a Bratislava-based dance school director.

Puppetry: Kuuma Ankanpoikanen
The puppet-makers of the Kuuma Ankanpoikanen group created finger puppets that were filmed and featured in the work. The group also visited Manchester to take part in  brainstorming for the entire project. They have been an integral part of the Eurocultured project throughout its existence.

Production: Spearfish
Spearfish, a Manchester-based arts organisation, has produced the work in co-operation with the Turku 2011 Foundation: Eurocultured

Local production: Soul Productions
Soul Productions from Helsinki has provided the local event logistics solutions in Turku.

Funded by the Turku 2011 Foundation and the European Commission’s Culture Programme

Additional information:

Marika Lamberg, Production Coordinator
the Turku 2011 Foundation
Tel. +358 44 9075 708
marika.lamberg(a)turku2011.fi

Ben Reed
Spearfish
benr(a)spearfish.co.uk