Greetings from Kevin Pontuti, UW-Stout

The partnership between University of Wisconsin and TAMK has now been extended to involve Fine Art and Media. Professor Kevin Pontuti will participate in Finlayson Campus International Week and Tampere Art Factory in April. We asked him to introduce himself and his department:

I am a transmedia artist and photographer currently in my 2nd year of teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. I received my MFA from Syracuse University in 1993. Presently, I teach Digital Narrative, Animation, Video and Digital Painting courses, as well as, the Senior Project course for our Multimedia Design Concentration.

Prior to moving to Wisconsin, I lived in Los Angeles for 13 years where I founded Studio P Inc., a digital art production studio that collaborated with Advertising Agencies, Entertainment Studios, Artists, Designers, Galleries and Museums to create a wide range of art and media related projects.

My creative research, pedagogical and curricular interests include transmedia narrative and entertainment design, primarily within animation, digital cinema, photography and games. I am currently developing and producing a number of projects including a short film, a motion comic, as well as, a continuous stream of photography related projects.

I am pleased to be participating in the TAMK School of Art and Media International Week. One of the main goals for my trip will be to explore exchange opportunities and to look for ways to foster collaboration between our respective universities. I’m also very excited to see what the students at TAMK School of Art and Media are up to and learn about their creative interests, as well as, the interests of the faculty. This will be my first trip to Finland and I greatly look forward to visiting Tampere.

UW-Stout, is located in Menomonie, Wisconsin, which is about an hours drive from Minneapolis/St. Paul. As a member of the University of Wisconsin System, one of the largest systems of public higher education in our country, UW-Stout is a Polytechnic University that offers of 40 undergraduate and 17 graduate programs across a wide range of disciplines.

The Department of Art and Design is one of the largest units on the UW-Stout campus with a fall 2010 enrollment of 887 students, providing a 4 year Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with 5 concentrations: Studio Art, Multimedia Design, Industrial Design, Interior Design and Graphic Design. We also recently added a new and very popular Game Design and Development major, which is taught in collaboration with our Computer Science Department. We’re launching a new MFA in Design Program, which will start in 2012.

Kevin Pontuti
Assistant Professor
Department of Art and Design
University of Wisconsin - Stout
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Tampere Art Factory

TAMK’s English degree programmes again increased popularity

The number of applicants to Tampere University of Applied Sciences increased by more than 10 per cent compared with last year. Tourism was TAMK’s most popular degree programme in the joint application for degree programmes conducted in English. The national joint application for English degree programmes ended on 15 February.

TAMK had 1119 primary applicants this year. The most popular degree programme was Tourism with 258 primary applicants (12.9 applicants/study place). The Degree Programme in Media had 195 primary applicants (9.8 applicants/study place), International Business 366 primary applicants (9.2 applicants/study place), Nursing 136 primary applicants (8.5 applicants/study place), and Environmental Engineering 164 primary applicants (5.5 applicants/study place).

In all, there were more than 3000 applicants for TAMK’s five English degree programmes. The educations starting in the autumn 2011 offered a total of 126 study places. The joint application data are based on the Finnish National Board of Education’s current statistics.

Joint application for the Finnish education and master’s degree programmes begins on 7 March and expires on 12 April. It is also possible to apply for TAMK’s English Master’s Degree Programme in Information Technology through separate application.

Only two days to go: Application time closes Tuesday!

The joint application for degree programmes run in English of Finnish universities of applied sciences  will be closed on Tuesday February 15th 16:15 Finnish time.

Tampere University of Applied Sciences offers five degree programmes conducted in English starting in autumn 2011:

• Environmental Engineering (Bachelor of Engineering)
• International Business (Bachelor of Business Administration)
• Media (Bachelor of Culture and Arts)
• Nursing (Bachelor of Health Care)
• Tourism (Bachelor of Hospitality Management)

Applying to Bachelor-level programmes conducted in English at universities of applied sciences takes place through a joint application system. Applying takes place online at www.admissions.fi. Applicants can use the same on-line application form to apply for a maximum of four different degree programmes conducted in English at up to four different universities of applied sciences.

The application form must be submitted before the application period closes.

Note! The applicants of Degree Programme in Media must return also the required pre-task by 15 February to TAMK.

All details about the application
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Languages Through Lenses 2010: Experiences

The Prix Europa -festival opening gala, Berlin

Third year film students Outi Hartikainen and Hannu Koivuranta took part in a shortfilm competition Languages Through Lenses last year organized by the EU and European League of the Institutes of the Arts (ELIA). The mission was to produce a 60-90 second shortfilm promoting the importance of foreign cultures and languages.

15 scripts were selected to the competition and all received a 5000 EUR production grant. Three works from Finland were selected: “Connection Lost” from TAMK, “The Forest of Babel” from Aalto university and “Pancakes” from Turku Arts Academy.

Getting selected to the competition turned out to be a bigger thing than expected. In addition to the production grant the main applicant student were sent to Amsterdam to a two-day scriptwriting workshop held by BBC screenwriting veterans Guy Meredith and Roger Gregory. During those two days students presented their projects' scripts while Guy and Roger helped to develop them even further. In the meantime Amsterdam presented a great opportunity to meet fellow filmmakers and art students.

The featured projects were very diverse. The competition had selected more art students than film students and it was clearly reflected in the projects. Several art projects found it difficult to be developed in a more traditional scriptwriting way.

"Connection Lost" team members at the Prix Europa festival. From left
director Outi Hartikainen, cinematographer/script writer Hannu Koivuranta,
sound designer Arttu Hokkanen and producer Niilo Gustafsson

After Amsterdam each project went on to develop independently. “Connection Lost” was shot in July and it employed approximately 25 people. One month was spent in post-production. During the production ELIA was kept up to date about the project and the use of the production grant. Screenwriting lecturer Arto Koskinen served as a tutor for the project.

When the collective deadline was due the final projects were supplied to Berlin on DVDs where they would take part in Europe's largest TV- and radio festival Prix Europa. Four students from Tampere went on to represent Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Art & Media: Outi Hartikainen, Hannu Koivuranta, producer Niilo Gustafsson and sound designer Arttu Hokkanen. They were accompanied by Senior Lecturer Arto Koskinen.

All the 15 selected projects competed in their own category (Languages Through Lenses). During the three days in Berlin the students had the opportunity to take part in workshops, cocktail parties and film screenings at e.g. The French Embassy.

The students and ELIA representatives rated each project in order to shortlist top three projects. Among them was “Connection Lost”, “The Forest of Babel” and “Langbeat” from MOME (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design*) ,Hungary. The stay of these students was then extended until the end of the festival and the closing gala where the festival would present the winning productions. These three days were quickly spent watching documentaries and films, getting to know Berlin and meeting new people.

The main prize of Languages Through Lenses -category went to “The Forest of Babel” (dir. Elina & Mike Pohjola) while the other two projects received special commendations.

It is important to understand how magnificent the six month journey with Languages Through Lenses was and how much it taught about handling a project with this size budget and resources. In the end the final productions were meant for use by the European Union and ELIA. Having enriched our lives with some new experiences we definitely want to encourage our students to take part in competitions – not necessarily because of the winning but because of the experience. We hope to see you in this years Languages Through Lenses!

“Connection Lost” is will be shown next time at Tampere Film Festival's Kino TAMK -screening.

Languages Through Lenses 2011 competition is now active and the deadline for scripts is 25th of March. For more information check out the link below:
http://www.languages-lenses.eu

Hannu Koivuranta

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Read the previous stories about the competition (TAMK Art&Media Blog)
Watch "Connection Lost"
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Prix Europa
ELIA
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* happy comment by the blog editor: MOME (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design) and TAMK are about to sign an agreement about staff and student exchange. Zsófia Ruttkay from MOME will give a workshop during TAMK Art&Media International Week April 11-14.

TAMK's Principal Lecturer Marjukka Dyer received Honorary Fellowship from the University of Glamorgan

TAMK's Principal Lecturer Marjukka Dyer received Honorary Fellowship from the University of Glamorgan.

The invitation letter telling about the honour was given to Marjukka Dyer by Doctors Peter Evans and Dawn Story from the University of Glamorgan. Marjukka Dyer received the invitation letter at the graduation ceremony of TAMK's and the University of Glamorgan's MsC Sustainable Business Risk Management students at TAMK on 28 January. The official ceremony related to the honour will be held at the University of Glamorgan in July.

As a long-term Head of Degree Programme in Environmental Engineering, Marjukka Dyer has already cooperated with the University of Glamorgan for 15 years. Marjukka's other international achievements also affected conferment of the honour.

The honour was a well-kept secret, and came as a delightful surprise to Marjukka Dyer.

Picture: Peter Evans, Marjukka Dyer and Dawn Story.