Oma Taidetalo

24/12/2021

In Oma Taidetalo we celebrated Christmas already in September, with two festive days of international traditions and food.
Here are a few stills from the upcoming documentary film about our project.
Hyvää joulua Oma Taidetalosta!

21/10/2021

Apologies for the long silence - we're fully aware of how hopelessly behind we are with our online sites, but more documentation will come when there's time (Xenia is very busy editing a big documentary film about the whole project).

Oma Taidetalo has officially closed the residency doors, and we warmly thank all the 48 people (+ 2 dogs) who stayed here between May-October: you were a crucial part of what we created together, and we are so happy you joined us!

Here are a lot of newspaper prints about us, which you can read if you speak Finnish (we can't even read them ourselves, but we trust the local press to shine a nice light on us).

16/08/2021

Alvia "Inspiring Alien" Crescens (FI) sent us an application in May for a spontaneous residency, and two days later he came to stay for a month.

During his time in Simpele he spent time relaxing and reflecting, working on his various projects.
He created a nest for himself in our tiny cabin in the garden, where he lived during most of his stay, and turned it into a video/photo installation for our June group show.
He also helped Jussi set up the DJ gear for a party weekend, and got to try out the decks himself; natural talent revealed itself in our livingroom!

In his work, Alvia mixes spirituality and graphic design. He runs two Youtube channels and designs space-themed tarot cards, which we of course got to take a look at and learn a bit about.

Alvia's own sites:

Website: https://inspiringalien.com
Main Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/InspiringAlienCreations
Second Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKTXD6iFL_Kd5IZsiyGwilg

12/08/2021

In two weeks our next exhibition opens!

This time we are exhibiting at two venues in the town which means also two openings ;)

Come by in Simpele from the 26th to the 29th of August

Photo by Paula Ruusuranta

09/08/2021

Danish musician, DJ and sound artist Nikolaj Gerstenfeldt spent a week in Oma Taidetalo, in the beginning of June.

He recorded sounds in and around the house, resulting in a 20 min. abstracted ambient piece titled 'The Sound of Simpele'.
Him and Xenia had an all night A/V jam session, experimenting with the field recordings and home recorded VHS tapes from the local second hand shop.
Xenia presented the collaboration at our AV Festival in July, by live-mixing VHS tapes to Nikolaj's sound.

Nikolaj has a thing for Easter, so we improvised a midnight Easter-lunch party.
He also got to visit the infamous garage of our local friends, playing old school video games and talking till late - and they let him bring home an exclusive selection of old Finnish classics on vinyl.

08/08/2021

Wiktoria Gazda (PL) was with us for 3 weeks in May/June.
She came shortly after graduating her MFA in Bergen, so she spent the first time of her residency helping us clean and organise the house. And she made Polish doomsday dumplings for us in the thunder!

Used to weaving and working with textiles, she created some new pieces with materials found in the house and garden, as part of our group exhibition in June.
Her and Salling ended up working parallelly in the garden, collaborating and impacting each other's process, while making individual works.

Wiktoria's Instagram: wiksa_jazda

04/08/2021

Photography Workshops in Simpele!
Hosted by the art residency Oma Taidetalo

Workshop 1 “Camera-in-residence” 5th-8th of August
In the workshop we are building our own camera in the house. Participants can learn how to develop prints and use a camera obscura.
5th: 10.00 – 18.00
6th: 10.00 – 18.00
7th: 10.00 – 18.00
8th: 13.00 – 17.00

Workshop 2 “The traces we leave” 12th-15th of August with Finnish translator
We are learning how to use analog cameras and are developing and printing with natural resources. This workshop is looking into how we can make photography more sustainable
12th: 10.00 – 18.00
13th: 10.00 – 18.00
14th: 10.00 – 18.00
15th: 13.00 – 17.00

Workshop 3 “Organic Matter” 20th – 22nd of August with Finnish translator
We are making photographic prints with household items. Participants learn how to print with different plants. This workshop is in collaboration with the artist Laura Kaker.
20th: 10.00 – 18.00
21st: 10.00 – 18.00
22nd: 13.00 – 17.00

The workshops are open for everyone and can be visited all days, or just a single day. There is no fee or previous skills required.

For questions and if you want to sign up: [email protected]
Contact person: Cosmo Grossbach

04/08/2021

The backyard boys from Trotski Gallery/Kino Club came for a weekend in the beginning of June.

Verneri Salonen, Teo Tornberg, Tomasz Sekular and Aleksi Salminen spent a few days of proper Finnish holiday in Simpele, and enjoyed not talking about art. Due to the pandemic, it was more than a year since the group had been all together.

There was a lot of: lake-visits, mosquitos, barbecue, drinking and 5AM power sauna. And Verneri took over our Instagram with dedicated enthusiasm!

Verneri's website: www.vernerisalonen.com
Verneri's Instagram:

25/07/2021

Thank you to all performers and audiences, co-creating yesterday's experiences!

Today we have another Kino Club screening, with a selection of fictional and documentary shorts about communities, (dis)connection, communication and relationships.

We start at 17:00, and Simpeleen Nuorisoseura is opening the café with candy and popcorn!

24/07/2021

Join us for tanssi-oke tonight! We will all feel rhythmically inadequate together

finnish guy shows how to disco.

24/07/2021

Unfortunately Heta Bilaletdin had to cancel her concert tonight, due to illness.
But don't worry, we have a great programme happening from 20:00 onwards!

Eoin O'Dowd is giving an extra show, playing his homemade instruments and various machines.

Xenia Ramm is glitching up old VHS tapes that she found in Simpele's Mission kirppis, accompanied by an ambient sound piece "Sounds of Simpele" created by Nicolaj Gerstenfeldt in Oma Taidetalo in June.

Laura Kaker, Cosmo Grossbach and Xenia Ramm are doing a typewriter performance, writing about the end of the world and escalating the sound of the machines.

Aliina Lindroos is performing contemporary dance to sound by Eoin O'Dowd.

We end the night with a blast: not only will we have karaoke for everyone to participate in, we will also have a collective session of tanssi-oke! Which means we will all be dancing together, trying to follow the moves from a selection of music videos.

Come join us in Simpeleen Nuorisoseurantalo for a great evening of fun & arts!
Free entry! Bring your own drinks! Party on!

24/07/2021

More local press about Oma Taidetalo!

Photo by Paula Ruusuranta

Festivaaleilla on luvassa on muun muassa simpeleläisiä ääniä, vanhoja videoita ja kirjoituskoneita.