Culture Capital year could bring new life to Turku’s Kakola Prison

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By Kirsikka Moring
     
      “Is that the Turku Castle?” ask tourists when they look at Kakola Prison standing alone on a hill overlooking the River Aura.
      It is not, but the prison, which has held some of Finland’s most infamous criminals, attracted a record 35,000 visitors to its guided tours last summer.
      “There were also some who pointed out cells where they had spent time”, says guide Markku Laakso. “And then there are those who did not mention it, but who walked around as if the place were home.”
     
The prison round was chilling - literally, as the buildings, which were left empty two years ago, are not heated during the winter. Each cell, hallway, sauna, and church bench have a story to tell. The National Board of Antiquities has sealed off part of it for use as a museum, as nobody knows what the future will bring for the prison.
      The Turku Cultural City Foundation would like to have it available for cultural activities, at least temporarily, in 2011, but Senate Properties, which officially owns the building, has not made any decisions.
      Managing director Cay Sevón of the Cultural City Foundation describes how there are plans for a hotel, restaurants, business premises, art studios, and so-on for the compound. “However, there is no shortage of equivalent space in the Turku region. The problem is, how to get continued financing for their use. The recipe of the [Helsinki] Cable Factory has been carefully looked at here.”
     
The time is not the best possible for new openings in culture and art. Or then, the opposite might be true. People in Turku believe the latter. The recession leads to fire in art. Turku is on fire.
      Turku is also turning into a capital city again, and its status as European Cultural Capital, alongside the Estonian capital Tallinn, is expected to give Turku a boost. Overnight stays in hotels are expected to increase by 15 per cent. Statistics indicate that previous cultural capitals have raised their visitor figures by an average of more than 12 per cent.
      The budget for the cultural capital year remains at the EUR 55 million that was agreed upon earlier. A third of the sum is to be paid by the state, a third by the City of Turku, and the rest is to come from various sources of finance.
      According to Sevón, in addition ticket revenues and foundations, corporate financing is being collected now. “The Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland (Svenska kulturfonden), the University of Turku, and the Swedish-language university Åbo Akademi are heavily involved.”
      “Naturally it is not easy to get businesses to work with us under these conditions.” Sevón nevertheless believes that the goal will be achieved. “If the input declines, the number of supporters will need to be increased.
     
The central theme of the year will be the Baltic Sea and cooperation of the countries on its shore in the arts and in the protection of the sea. The old King’s Road from St. Peterburg via Turku to Stockholm will be part of the cultural route.
      When Turku was chosen from amongst the Finnish applicants, its biggest competitor was Rovaniemi, with its northern dimension.
      The strengths of the application, which emphasised the Baltic Sea connection, included the existing cultural events and buildings, the surroundings, and the use of the Internat. The international dimension is evident in the present plans, involving invitations not only to Stockholm and Tallinn, but St. Petersburg as well.
      A delegation from Turku just visited Stockholm, where several concrete exchange projects emerged. Stockholm’s August cultural festival, as well as a number of institutions are open to Turku projects. New music, circus, and authors from Turku are being presented to Stockholm residents.
      For instance, Leena Lander and Riku Korhonen have established a group of artists by the name Burning Bridge to focus on the year of culture.
     
The sea also means cultural contacts. In 2011 there will be “showboat” cruises between Turku and Tallinn. Various cultural ships will sail to Stockholm, carrying with them the best of the events.
      There were a total of about 1,000 proposals for projects, of which 162 have been picked for further consideration. In addition, there are 225 ideas on which the possibilities of cooperation are being negotiated. Some of the projects will be linked to form bigger wholes.
      Most of the ideas - about two thirds - come from the Turku region.
     
The River Aura and the Turku Castle are highly in demand as venues for events.
      The themes range from the Middle Ages to the new circus. The City Theatre will hold an international theatre competition about the Baltic Sea as a sea that unites or divides.
      The events at the City Theatre will begin already in 2010, when Ukrainian Andrei Zholdak, one of the most visible figures in European modern theatre, will direct his own version of Leo Tolstoi’s Anna Karenina, says the theatre’s artistic director Raija-Liisa Seilo.
      Turku’s role as a city of culture is not just a one-year frenzy. The foundation plans to remain operational until 2016, with the purpose of establishing continuity for the year of culture.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 4.3.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland nominates Turku for European Capital of Culture (20.6.2006)

Links:
  Turku 2011 website

KIRSIKKA MORING / Helsingin Sanomat
kirsikka.moring@hs.fi