„A beautiful and rich year is about to end. By looking at these numbers we are happy that everyone who wanted – and these are more than Estonia’s inhabitants – found something in the programme of the European Capital of Culture,“ says the board member of Tallinn 2011 Jaanus Mutli. „We presented Estonian culture in all its variety, offering traditional next to contemporary, large and small scale events and showed the creativity of all nations living here.“

Although the programme offered quite many large scale events like the Tallinn Maritime Days (100 000 visitors), song and dance festival (77 000 visitors), concert „Song of Freedom“ (75 000 visitors), the final day of the European Capital of Culture „Happy End“ (25 000 visitors) or the Tallinn Marathon (17 884 participants), the biggest ambition of the foundation Tallinn 2011 was to breathe life into smart, fresh and unique ideas and the events that bring culture into the city space. „We wished to create as many cultural start-ups as possible and give this unique opportunity to local creators instead of imported performers,“ comments the head of programme of Tallinn 2011 Jaanus Rohumaa. „We wish to thank the makers and our courageous public who curiously embraced even the most unexpected and new ideas.“

Thanks to the Capital of Culture unique projects like „Silent movies go loud“, „Cinema in the city space: Rooftop cinema and Guerrilla cinema“, „MIM goes sustainable“, „SIGNA: Bleier Research Incorporated“, „World of Glass“, „60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero“, „Song of the Tower Bells“ and many others were created. Also the city space was engaged in a completely new way by „Object no 2011“, NO99 Straw Theatre, urban installations of the festival LIFT11 and many other events. The latter provoked a lively media discussion about using the city space more skilfully in the future.

Worth a special mention are the world premieres of musical compositions: “Adam’s Lament” by Arvo Pärt, „Awakening“ by Erkki-Sven Tüür, opera „Two Heads“ by Timo Steiner, Tallinn mass „Dance of life“ by Roxanna Panufnik,  choir opera „Labyrinth“ by Urmas Sisask, „Salt“ by Helena Tulve, opera „From the roof“ by  Jarek Kasar aka Chalice, the mystery „Mother of God’s prayer“ by Galina Grigorjeva, „Dance of Death“ by Gergory Rose and new pieces by Tõnu Kõrvits, Helena Tulve, Tatjana Kozlova and Mirjam Tally at the NYYD new music festival. As the last specially created composition the „Song of Tower Bells“ by Margo Kõlar was performed on the final day of the European Capital of Culture.

In addition to the exciting cultural programme the foundation Tallinn 2011 started a sustainable volunteers movement (1500 volunteer joined it), promoted Tallinn to become a more bicycle friendly city, introduced a hospitality programme and initiated a young audience programme to bring children from outside Tallinn closer to cultural events.

One of the main targets of Tallinn 2011 was to bring cultural life to the former wastelands by the seashore in town centre. One of the main centres of these activities was the former power plant, today Kultuurikatel. In spite of the delay in reconstruction works the architecturally and historically interesting building inspired many directors. Sasha Pepelyaev staged his neck breaking „Dancing Tower“ in June, Peeter Jalakas the existentialistic „Gilgamesh or the Button of Eternity“ and Christian Römer „The Black Rider“ by Tom Waits. In autumn Kultuurikatel was a venue of several exhibitions like Raoul Kurvitz’ anniversary  „VOOL works“ and „On the Road to Heaven“ by Finnish artist Kaisa Salmi.  The final party of the Club 2011 series in Kultuurikatel attracted 1600 people.

Next to Kultuurikatel the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (CAME) is located in the same complex of buildings. Its summer programme of four exhibitions was started by the successful launch of a new contemporary arts prize Köler Prize.

In addition to stirring up the cultural life in the city and promoting the international cooperation of the culture sector, the year as Capital of Culture had a positive influence on tourism, and most of all cultural tourism. By the end of September the number of overnight stays by foreign tourists has risen by 23% compared to the year before resulting in 494 909 added hotel nights. To compare, this year’s other European Capital of Culture Turku in Finland attracted 6% more tourists leading to 42 989 additional hotel nights by the end of October, mostly by domestic tourists.

International media has covered the European Capital of Culture Tallinn in nearly a thousand publications reaching an audience of hundreds of millions. In addition to the opening and closing ceremonies international media focused on events like  Tallinn Music Week, Punkt Tallinn – Jazzkaar opening, international youth art triennial „Eksperimenta!“, Treff theatre festival, song and dance festival, STALKER – festival, „gateways“ new media art exhibition and NO99 Straw Theatre.

„The passing year has had a strong influence and left a mark into Tallinn’s and Estonia’s life: a talented and hard-working team has realised the biggest involvement and image project of the past dozens of years, whereas the real impact will be felt in the years to come,“ says Tallinn 2011 board member Jaanus Mutli. „Passing on the title doesn’t mean that good ideas and ventures will stop. Tallinn has always been a cultural city and will stay one also after the year as European Capital of Culture.“

Thank you for this year!

For nearly 20 minutes, ten churches around the city will be filling the Old Town with a unique sound: the harmonious concert of the bells of the city’s church towers, some of which have gone unheard for years. They will once again ring out and be heard by all of the old Hanseatic city’s residents with the help of modern technology. The churches and cathedrals participating in this unique performance include St. Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral, the Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker, the Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, the Roman-Catholic Church of St Peter and St Paul, Episcopal Dome Church, St. Olaf’s Church, the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit, the Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church of Charles XI and St. John’s Church.

The audio-visual experience will be made complete by a video mapping by artist Taavi Varm who will be using the architecture of St. John’s Church as a unique canvas. As such, Freedom Square will be the meeting place for ancient and modern Tallinn and both remote and contemporary culture.

Following the unique “Song of the Tower Bells”, the mixed choir of the Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR), conducted by Hirvo Surva, will perform Christmas songs. At the same time, Tallinn`s Freedom Square will be submerged in a shimmering sea of candlelight. Many candles were given as a gift by Tallinn city districts, volunteers will be handing out more candles to the public during the course of the event and adding to the glow will be the candles on Taavi Varm`s video mapping. We kindly ask everyone to bring their own candles along as well to give even more brightness and power to this united sea of culture.

Following the performance of Christmas songs by the ERR mixed choir, it is time to look back on Tallinn’s year as the European Capital of Culture. Reflecting on its success will be Edgar Savisaar, the mayor of Tallinn, and Jaanus Mutli, a Member of the Management Board of Foundation Tallinn 2011.

The closing ceremony of Tallinn 2011 will end with a fire show on Harju Hill (Harjumägi). Burning the 8m wide and 2m high fire sculpture called “2011” will celebrate the winter solstice, the darkest night of the year and the end of the European Capital of Culture year. The fire sculpture was made by the fireworks’ company Ruf.

The entire closing ceremony will be lead by Urmas Vaino, a TV presenter of Estonian Television (ETV) who was also in charge of leading the opening ceremony of the European Capital of Culture together with singer Lenna Kuurmaa on Theatre Square on 31 December 2011 and the Tallinn Maritime Days’ programme on the Admirality stage on 15-17 July.

The closing ceremony of Tallinn 2011 will be held on Freedom Square tonight and it is free of charge.

Stories and poems were submitted in six languages from nearly 20 countries. One third of the authors wrote about farewells, break-ups or death by the sea. Beach as a division line between water and land is definitely one of the strongest boundaries in the nature. A farewell depicted in stories can either be temporary or final, unwanted or longed-for, real, a memory or simply a vision. A personal relationship was also one of the main themes in the stories – the beginning, the highlights, the end of a relationship or merely a memory of what seems intense when reminiscing on the beach.

Many of the stories were written by German-speaking authors who have also used the website of e-Stories to publish their other writings. It was surprising that there were many stories submitted from outside the European Union: Russia, Ukraine, Israel, El Salvador and also the USA. So the proverbial creative “stone” which the organisers of the storytelling competition threw into the sea in Tallinn “created waves” even on the other side of the ocean.

The stories will be read in the Tallinn Art Hall gallery (address: Vabaduse väljak 6) at 18:00-20:00 in six languages by actresses Anu Lamp, Jekaterina Novosjolova and theatre students of the Old Town Educational College, Mona Mi Mikkin and Ott Raidmets. The audience can read the translations on the screen. At the same time, there is an exhibition “Viewfinders” by a young artist Paul Kuimet open at the gallery. The doors are open to the public during the course of the event; hot tea and gingerbread are offered to the guests.

Before the storytelling event you are welcome to visit museums – in collaboration with the Tallinn City Museum and the Puppet Museum, 10 museums will open their doors to the public free of charge. Bring your children to participate in workshops in the Puppet Museum and the Miia-Milla-Manda Museum, listen to medieval music by Corelli Music in Kiek in de Kök and discover the secrets of gingerbread art in the Design and Architecture Gallery (address: Pärnu mnt 6)

After the storytelling event we recommend “O’Adonai“,  a concert by Tõnis Mägi, Vox Clamantis, Robert Jürjendal and The Girls Choir of the Old Town Music House in St. John’s Church (address: Vabaduse väljak 1). At 20:00, the final ceremony of the European Capital of Culture will begin with Margo Kõlar’s unique composition “Song of the Tower Bell’s” and Taavi Varm’s video projection on the facade of the St. John`s Church.

Plektrum Festival - a long term partner of Club 2011 – that helped to shake up Helsinki’s club scene last year at „Night Moves“ will introduce one of the most unique tech house artists of the world Redshape. Dutch origin Redshape, who always wears a red mask on stage is one of the most idiosyncratic techno musicians today who can combine the past and future of techno giving this otherwise overproduced genre a new breath of life.
In cooperation with Mutant Disco the last party of Club 2011 will be hosting Lil Silva (UK) and 2562/Made Up Sound (Netherlands). Lil Silva is one of the most talked about base music artists who combines among other sounds American house, funky and grime.  2562/Made Up Sound explores the borders between dub step and techno being sometimes more abstract, sometimes more experimental but also using danceable disco rhythms.

Search of Sounds, who this summer brought to Estonia James Blake and Hudson Mohawk presents Dorian Concept to the Club 2011 guests. The Austrian origin pianist belongs to the new wave of electronic and instrumental hip-hop music. He is interested in a symbiosis of analogue and digital music and his energetic lives are being praised for improvisations.

As ambassadors of CitySonic 3 Pead and Kreatiivmootor will perform at Club 2011. 3 Pead plays bright Estonian hip-pop, Kreatiivmootor is a unique psychedelic rhythm orchestra that has performed on a few European festival stages lately.
Also the winner of this year’s student band contest Uebanda will perform at the party. Their music can be characterized as a mix of reggae, hip-hop, Balkan beat, and afrobeat.

Club 2011 is a party series that has throughout the year 2011 presented Tallinn’s club and alternative music scene to wider public. Each event has focused on one of the most viable club music scenes in Tallinn as Mutant Disco, Search of Sounds, Bashment, Telescope and others. Club 2011 final party is part of the closing programme of the European Capital of Culture Tallinn 2011.
Tickets on sale at Piletilevi, pre-sale 8 €, door 10 €.

CLUB 2011: Final Party
22 December at 22–04 in Kultuurikatel

MUTANT DISCO presents
2562 / Made Up Sound (live)
Lil Silva
Aliina
Mutant Disco dj-s: Rhythm Doctor, Siim Nestor, Ajukaja

PLEKTRUM presents
Redshape
Plektrum dj-s: Madis Nestor, Jaagup Jalakas, Sten Saluveer

CLUB 2011 presents
IIRIS (single „Melyse“ presentation concert)
Uebanda

SEARCH OF SOUNDS presents
Dorian Concept (live)
B.L.B

CITYSONIC presents
3 Pead
Kreatiivmootor

SIGNA’s project in Tallinn during the European Capital of Culture year focuses on search for a new human race and changing the world. To fulfil these ambitions a special scientific laboratory has been established in the former Standard factory building. The lives of actors / test subjects get mixed up with the lives of audience /potential foster parents. This way the outcome of each performance depends on the willingness of the audience to join the game.

One of the experimental actresses of  ’BLEIER RESEARCH Inc.’ Ave Ungro explains, that there are very few possibilities in life to truly enter the game and completely forget the surrounding reality. „Now  actors and audience alike have this possibility. Nobody is protected from what is going on in our subconsciousness. And even the consciousness plays trick on us. But – why not get involved in a world, that maybe seems far, bleak and impossible while entering it, but will seem more than real and close while exiting.“

The actors of ‘BLEIER RESEARCH Inc.’ experimental laboratory were chosen in September in a public casting from more than 50 brave Estonians. Participating are Alice Aaviksoo, Anna-Christi-Karita Aruksaar, Arthur Köstler, Ave Ungro, Helena Huul, Jevgeni Romanovski, Kadri Raiend, Karin Lehari, Kelli Kõrgemaa, Mikk Siemer, Signa Köstler, Simmo Sirel, Teele Kušvid, Thomas Bo Nilsson, Triin Vaino and Vootele Vaher.

‘Bleier Research Inc.’ works in Standard building (Kopli 25) on 8–11 December and 13–15 December 2011. Performances start daily at 16:00 and 20:00. Tickets are available in Piletilevi at 12€,reduced price for students and retirees 10€.

Concept: Signa Köstler
Sound and media: Arthur Köstler
Design and costumes: Thomas Bo Nilsson and Signa Köstler
Directors: Signa & Arthur Köstler and Thomas Bo Nilsson

More about  Signa:
http://www.signa.dk
http://www.facebook.com/signa2011

Directors who have joined the project found the unique idea elating. Finnish director Aku Louhimies stated as a reason for joining 60 Seconds simply „I love life.“
Rafi Pitts (Iran): „I believe in the 60 Seconds project because it's a collective effort to express an emotion in a time where Cinema seems to be ruled by economics. The 60 Seconds project is an expression, a free spirit, not governed by economics, but through the will of film makers to let Art exist.“
Simon Rumley (UK): „I guess I loved the idea of making a film and then burning it immediately after it was screened in a dramatic setting with an audience participating in this unique event; there's something very romantic and melancholic about the concept but also unruly and anarchistic and uplifting at the same time.“
Phie Ambo (Denmark): „I was hooked when I read that the film would be shown on 35 mm on the waterfront and burnt while playing. What a beautiful tribute to the elements! I really like that this project was invented out of pure joy and has absolutely no market value. This is very rare and wonderfully irrational.“

Brian Yuzna (USA): „I loved the freedom that was represented by the 60 Seconds project.  To make a film with no real goal other than what appealed to me at the moment, with no condition other than the time limit, was an offer not to be refused.“

The only screening of the collage film takes place in Port of Tallinn cruise ship area on 22 December 2011 at 7:30 - 9 pm. The extraordinary film night will be accompanied by a spectacular performance – a special screen, projection mechanism and set will be destroyed in fire along with the film strip in front of the audience’s eyes. The projection mechanism is created by Estonian artists Neeme Külm and Villu Plink, it will be destroyed by Margus Terasmees, Eero Druus and Enar Tarmo.

The music for the film is composed by Ülo Krigul: „In the early years of cinema a piano in the corner was the only musical background for film. Music for the film was created  and disappeared at each screening, nothing remained. The pianos used this time have already lost their original substance – the skeletons dug up at the piano cemetery will be reanimated for one last time to be put back to sleep after this one hour.“ Ülo Krigul will offer first aid to these old pianos together with Mart Taniel and Lauri-Dag Tüür.

’60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero’ received lively response in Cannes this spring when Naomi Kawase announced her participation and is an anticipated event for world film media. With this special event  European Capital of Culture Tallinn 2011 reaches a hand to 2012 – a year celebrating the centenary of Estonian film.

A complete list of and information about directors, many of whom will attend the screening in Tallinn, can be found at www.60sec.ee.

Attention! The only screening of the collage film takes place at Port of Tallinn cruise ship area on 22 December at 19.30. Entrance is at the carfax of Rumbi and Logi Street, doors open at 7 pm. Choose your clothing according to the weather.

Warm drinks on us. Free entry.

The film will not be marketed nor distributed in any way, shape or form.

These photographs are now presented in an exhibition, showing at Temnikova & Kasela Gallery. For the first time the gallery shows one exhibition in two spaces, in Müürivahe 22 and the recently opened space in Lastekodu 1. In a similar way as our artists were visiting Japan, they are now visiting each other. The curator of the European Eyes on Japan project and the editor of the exhibition catalogue is Mikiko Kikuta.

The invited artists have rediscovered aspects of Japanese culture that have often been taken for granted or overlooked by the Japanese. In Europe these photography exhibitions have offered an opportunity to reach beyond stereotypes and expose viewers to images of Japan today. This exhibition is the thirteenth during the project, and it shows the results of Kalle Kataila’s (Finland) and Krista Mölder’s (Estonia) visits in 2010 and 2011 to Akita prefecture, which sits on the Japanese seaside of the Tohoku region. Kalle Kataila focused on the landscape which has been moulded by forces of nature and by advanced technology. For her part, Krista Mölder took the characteristically Japanese concept of “MA” (meaning gap, time, space, in-between etc.) as her starting point, and captured it in her images of samurai-era houses and contemporary architecture.

From Tallinn the exhibition travels to Akita. The exhibition is produced by Tallinn 2011 Foundation and EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee. The EU-Japan Fest Committee is an organization founded by Japanese ambassadors to promote cultural mobility. Its operations focus primarily on cooperation with the European Capitals of Culture.

Photo: Kalle Kataila

European Eyes on Japan (08.12.-22.01.2012)
Temnikova & Kasela Gallery
Müürivahe 22 & Lastekodu 1
Tallinn
www.temikova.ee

Open: Wednesday & Thursday, 4-7pm and by appointment.

The artists:
Kalle Kataila (b. 1978) is a Helsinki-based photographer, whose work investigates concepts of landscape and how personal narratives attribute to our understanding of these spaces. His photographs have been exhibited internationally and have been acquired by collections in Finland and abroad.

Krista Mölder (b. 1972) is an artist living in Tallinn. She is interested in the relationships between the substantial and symbolic as well as between humans and the environment. Her main interest lays in intertextuality and the discourses on space, place and location. Mölder has had a number of exhibitions in Estonia and abroad.

From today the web-based application round is open for all interested artists who want to perform at the next Tallinn Music Week. Applications are expected from musical ensembles of all musical styles who feel that they are prepared to engage in international markets and to commit to their career both in musical development as well as professional management.

Also open is the registration of delegates for Tallinn Music Week conference, where world top players will discuss music business and creative industries.

Tallinn Music Week festival takes place from 29-31 March all around Tallinn, the conference on 30 and 31 March 2012 in the conference centre of Nordic Hotel Forum.

More info, band applications, delegates registration:
www.tallinnmusicweek.ee
info@tallinnmusicweek.ee