Tampere Art Factory Soon Ready for You

The second edition of Tampere Art Factory (TAF) is taking shape. You can already find the basic programme information at TAF website, and shortly there will be loads of more.

TAF is above all a demonstration of the skills and talent of the graduates and other students of the School of Art and Media at TAMK University of Applied Sciences, and their friends. This year also the music and media students of Pirkanmaa University of Applied Sciences contribute to TAF programme.

The main structure of both festival days, May 15 and 16 is the same, there will be:

• Screenings of fictional short films, documentaries and animations. There are seven sets of screenings, each with its own titel like "This Story is True - Documentaries", "Escape or Decision - life is a set of choices" and "Tobacco, Booze and Wild Ladies - Music Films". A schedule of the screenings will later be published also in English.
• Diskurssidisko – Fine art students' graduation exhibition at Art Centre Mältinranta and TR1 Exhibition Centre. Diskurssidisko has a website which will soon be published in English.
• Games and web media at Demola
• TAF lounge – music videos, animations etc. all day long
• Clubs at restaurant Laterna both nights
• much more

Also the workshops of the International Week of the School of Art and Media will present their results at TAF. Some 40 teachers and students from our international partner universities will attend the international week and TAF.

On Saturday there are two other events TAF is going to cooperate with, the Night of The Museums and the Markets of Possibilities of Tampere Social Forum. TAF will contribute to both with dance shows and performances.

Tampere Art Factory
The Night of the Museums
The Markets of Possibilities
Demola

Read all stories about TAF in the School of Art and Media blog

TAMK Short Films Successful in Berlin

KYKY, a brand new short film event was held in the Finnish Institute in Berlin, Germany. A group of students from TAMK UAS School of Art and Media and Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences organized an evening that included six finnish short films and a panel discussion with two directors, AJ Annila and Maria Kaurismäki. Pekka Ollula, who is studying producing and creative thinking, and sound designer/composer Miro Laiho a.k.a. Michael Law joined the discussion about the films that were shown, culture export and finnish short films in general.

KYKY was launched in fall 2008 by Jussi Laaksonen, Pekka Ollula and Pauli Kopu. Later, Emmi Nuorgam joined the group. The connections to the Finnish Institute in Germany came from inside the group and the co-operation between the our group and the institute was tremendous.

Yesterday, on April 23rd, it was finally time to present the films to the audience in Berlin. And what an audience it was! The co-workers at the institute counted approximately 110 participants, which is a great number! The people enjoyed the show, the applause was nice after every film and many people took part in the panel discussion - that could be called a successful night in Berlin. It was nice to recognize, how everybody was able to make international connections and to discuss about the Finnish film scene in general with a nice glass of wine or even juice.

A project like this made it possible for us to give the audience a nice piece of Finnish culture. The feedback was very positive and we are looking forward to take more Finnish short films to other culture institutes all over the world, which was the main goal to achieve with KYKY. Thank you Berlin, we'll be back with more films and creative ideas! If you are interested getting your film abroad, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Story by KYKY

The films:
Winterlong Director: Timo Puukko
Hard Student IV: The Ultimate Battle D: AJ Annila
Ennustus – Rain Must Fall O: Anna-Kaisa Haapala
Norjalainen huora - Norwegian Whore D: Timo Vuorensola
Sivutyö – Sideline D: Maria Kaurismäki
HERA D: Sanni Rajapolvi

The Finnish Institute in Germany, presentation of films (in German)

Hard Student IV, Rain Must Fall, Sideline and Hera are made by TAMK School of Art and Media students.

Rain Must Fall and Hera are also screened at Tampere Art Factory May 15-16

EMMA went fishing

European Modules and Mobility in Agricultural education-students went ice fishing on Näsijärvi March 21. Liisa Rikala from TAOKK had kindly invited the group to their cottage. The program included ice fishing, sauna and dining. Fortunately for the fish, none of them were caught. The "pilkkijät" still had a nice sunny outing on the lake, had a good sauna and excellent food. A successful outing by all accounts!

"Take me to the fish!"

TAMK Goes Green on Thursday

Students, teachers and staff are warmly welcomed to discover ways to work and live green.

'Go Green' examines the future of green business and research; in addition to introducing ways to get involved in green actions both locally and globally. 'Go Green' presents lectures and challenging films to spark dialog.

Schedule on Thursday April 23

09.30 Material and energy saving through Engineering Mechanics, Dr. Gerd Mühlenbeck (Room D1-02)
10.30 Aspects of Change, mini-lecture series (Room D1-02)
11.30 Lunch break
12.00 Garbage: The Revolution Begins At Home, Documentary Film (Auditorium D1-04)
13.30 Green in Everyday, Sanna Huikuri (Room D1-02)
14.30 Recipes for Disaster, Documentary Film (Auditorium D1-04)

10.00-15.30 Exhibition area open for all

All lectures and films will be presented in English.
Free popcorn for movie-goers!

Lectures

Material and energy saving through Engineering Mechanics, Gerd Mühlenbeck (45 min)

Dr. Mühlenbeck demonstrates what we can achieve by using engineering mechanics to save material and energy in addition to explosion protection in accordance with European Standards such as ATEX.

Being Green Everyday, Sanna Huikuri (45 min)

Sanna Huikuri (Dodo ry) is an Environmental Engineer (Tamk '03), Master's student in Environmental Sciences/Renewable energy and active in environmental organizations. Huikuri will discuss daily green questions and decisions affecting us all. Huikuri emphasizes how meaningful everyday decisions are to the big picture of environmental issues. Choosing green is a modern responsible lifestyle for everyone, not the marginal actions of environmental groups. Huikuri brings new points of views to what changes in our environment affects, not only climate change but it also causes other issues such as poverty.

Aspects of Change, mini-lecture series (50 min)

• The Green Party (Tampereen Vihreät nuoret- Virnu ry) will discuss how environmental issues can be approached and affected from a political point of view.
• The Carrot Mob (Porkkanamafia) will introduce the activities of The Carrot Mob and the successes they have achieved in environmental areas.
• Elle Yli-Ojanperä, Creative Producer - Ethical business and customer decisions.
• Suntrica - Solar charging goes personal. Suntrica will spark a conversation about utilizing green technology and business practices.

Films

Go Green will be presenting two must-see feature length documentary films which will challenge the viewer to rethink the disposable lifestyle that is draining our environment.

Recipes for Disaster (FIN, 85 min)
This is a film about climate change. About catastrophe. And it's funny, painfully funny. We love to blame the corporations and industries for what's going wrong with the planet, but we are mistaken. It's us, baby. You and me. We're the real bad guys.

This film shows that at the core of the impending climate catastrophe are those little failures that we as individuals make every day, and which are so much a part of human nature. All the everyday stuff that we don't do, or that we can't help doing, that eventually lead to destruction. The film shows thirteen of these little recipes for disaster.
A documentary film, a comedy of errors, about a subject too serious to ignore.
-John Webster, Director and Writer

Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home (CAN, 76 min)
Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home is a feature documentary about how the family household has become one of the most ferocious environmental predators of our time.

Concerned for the future of his new baby boy Sebastian, writer and director Andrew Nisker takes an average urban family, the McDonalds, and asks them to keep every scrap of garbage that they create for three months. He then takes them on a journey to find out where it all goes and what it's doing to the world. The McDonalds discover that for every action there is a reaction that affects them and the entire planet.

Everyday life under a microscope has never been so revealing. By the end of this trashy odyssey, you are truly inspired to revolutionize your lifestyle for the sake of future generations.

Exhibition

The Exhibition area will be open 10-15.30, with a selection of green companies, projects and organizations. A variety of tables will be set up around the info café lobby, presenting a variety of goods, ranging from; organic, recycled, fashion, solar energy, thermal heating, etc. Tampere local brand Trad. will be presenting the idea of social design and recycled materials with a gallery of fashion pieces.

Go Green is organized by TAMK Consulting Academy with the support of the Research & Development Department and International Business Programme of TAMK. TAMK Consulting Academy is a group of International Business students working on a variety of projects throughout Finland as well as internationally. The event is produced in cooperation with students from the Finnish Media Degree Programme of TAMK.

Go Green

Couchsurfing Project

Couchsurfing helped me a lot when i decided i would move from Israel to Finland. When i came to do the entrance exam i was hosted in Stockholm, Tampere and Jyvaskyla. After i got invited to study in TAMK, I already knew some members who later become good friends till today.

In the last 2 and a half years since i have been living in Finland i have hosted dozens of guests from all around the world such as Australia, United States, Mexico, France, Germany, Russia, Israel and more.
Some stay for a day or over night while some stay for a few days or even a week.
If you are travellers by blood or looking for some culture exchange and different experiences, you are more than welcome to join the ride. I'm sure you will find it just fit to you as a glove to your hand.

For me, Couchsurfing is a perfect place to gain friends and colleagues, a way to make connections around the world and most important: Have fun !

Yoav Magen. (Israel)

3rd Year Environmental Engineering.