Gallery Rajatila: PEEP SHOW – Directions for a Viewer by Vera Arjoma

Vera Arjoma’s photographic installations between 6th – 28th of February 2010 in Gallery Rajatila.
(Hämeenpuisto 10, Tampere)

Opening in 5th of February at 6 pm. Welcome!

Ultimately looking is a private process. The experience it produces is can not be directly shared.  In art the spectator is nevertheless directed to see the art work’s intended meaning. The name given to it, with the texts released by it tend towards directing the process of looking to the “right” interpretation.

“Peep show – directions for the viewer” photographic installations disclose the act of looking itself. The works and the texts form a subtle labyrinth of meaning. The body builds up a space, where the role of the viewer is highlighted.

In the series “Peep show – directions for a viewer” I play with representations of glamour and sexual desirability. The guises are like stale cocktails, a mix of intoxicating entertainment, sweetness and ominous crapulence. Finally in the center rises something which is not present.

Vera Arjoma is a student of TAMK School of Art and Media Degree Programme in Fine Arts. She will graduate this spring.

Art on my Way to School!

If you are in part of those students that use bus for coming to school and back from main bus station, likely you walk over “Kivikirjasto”, the Stone Library, twice a day.

Usually on the speed of walking, people take a glance and read one of these poems. Or is a good chance to pause for seconds and let the poem take you beyond city life and cheer you up!

In addition, it can be more interesting if you are learning Finnish language like me then there’s a new word to learn every day just by walking over them.

Artist is Radoslaw Gryta sculptor, was born in Poland in 1955, studied sculpture Repin Institute in Leningrad, and Krakow and the Finnish Academies of Fine Arts. He moved to Finland in 1979 and was granted Finnish citizenship in 1986. He lives and works in Riihimäki.

I tried to translate of my favorite ones into English:

Wideshouldered city
breaths the morning into its lungs
and starts a new era
(Viljo Kajava)

Live you must
and to realize that you live
(F.E. Sillanpää)

Rain opens the ears to the sleeper
Rain opens the shadows to the walker
Rain opens the hearing, the walking inwards
(Eeva-Liisa Manner)

Story and photos: Amir Abdi

All the poems of the Stone Library (In Finnish)

Postcard from DETVET meeting, Östra Grevie

The second DETVET (Development of Educational Techniques in Vocational Education and Training) project meeting was today and yesterday in Östra Grevie, Skåne, southern Sweden.

The winter has been like in the good old times here as well. Yesterday we experienced a heavy snow storm. Good we had a working day and could stay indoors. Today it's bright sunshine, thats good, because I'm going to fly home tonight.

The meeting has learned more about pedagogical methods and techniques in the participating countries and prepared a questionnaire DETVET uses to collect data from VET teachers.

DETVET is an EU funded project with participants from Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Lithuania and Sweden. Tampere University of Applied Sciences is the Finnish partner.

The next project meeting will be in April in Sant'Angelo, Italy.

DETVET Project

Pictured: Östra Grevie Folkhögskola, the venue of the meeting

IMP students are runners-up in Virus art competition!

Neil's entry (titled 'Nipa's Virus Pants')

Congratulations to Danko Pantovic and Neil Hopkins who both entered the Norton Virus Art competition. Their task was to visualize what a computer virus looks like in an online competition that spanned all of the Scandinavian countries. After a long and arduous process, both entries were voted as runners-up.

Danko's work (titled 'Network')

Virustart competition

IMP students are students of our Degree Programme in Media (International/Interactive Media Programme.) The programme is run completely in English. The application period for this year is until February 13. More info:
Degree Programme in Media

A Group has been IMPD!

The design group the Interactive / International Media students formed in the end of last semester has taken its baby steps towards some serious action. Since the line will (hopefully) be from now on called IMP (previous years saw the Finnish versions), we changed the group's name to IMP Design, IMPD for short. This acronym gives some tickling food for thought and freedom for artistic expression also.

One of the first tasks we faced was to plan a channel which we could use to our advantage. We created an IMPD account to deviantArt where we post some artwork we’ve been designing and then commenting on each other’s works. Some really fancy pieces of work are already presented. Next we are going to pay a visit to a newly opening exhibition about Alien movies in Tampere Art Museum and arrange some more workshops and get togethers at school.

Story: Eeva-Kaisa Ahlamo
Picture: Eisbrecher by West468 from IMPD Deviantart

Previous story about the design group

Online College Listed ArtMedia Blog on Top 100 Art Blogs Selection

Online College (USA) has included our blog on their "100 Great Blogs for Art Students & Enthusiasts" selection. We are very happy and proud for this recognition and thank Online College for this expert's opinion.

The selection has chapters like "Art History and Museums", "Art News", "By Artists" and "Medium Specific", our blog is one of the seven blogs under the title "Art Education".

The presentation of our blog is: "TAMK School of Art and Media: On this blog you can learn how art education may differ across the pond, with updates from the School of Art and Media at Tampere University of Applied Sciences in Tampere, Finland."

Online College presents itself:
"Online College is your one-stop source for going back to school. If you want to change your career or advance your current one, online college may be the best, most convenient option for you. Read through our site to learn all you need to know about online college admissions, accreditation, student loans and aid, and more. We’ve selected the top online colleges so you can be sure you’re getting a high-quality education for your tuition dollar.

Read through our Online College blog to find out what it takes to excel in college and your career. Stay on top of higher education news with our up-to-date and insightful articles. We provide the tips and tools you need to earn a degree and and gain a valuable, real-world education. Let our team of experts help you find the best college path for your career goals."

100 Great Blogs for Art Students & Enthusiasts
Online College

Creative Guests from Lithuania and Portugal

Delegations from Inteli, Lisbon Portugal and Economic Development Agency, Klaipeda Lithuania visited Tampere University of Applied Sciences today. Both organisations are members of the European creativity Movement Creative Clusters.

The host of the delegations Creative Tampere took the guests to some of the most innovative and exiting places in Tampere like Demola, Himmelblau and the Hub. At TAMK Finlayson Campus the guests got familiar with the School of Art and Media and the proAcademy.

Inteli
Klaipeda Economic Development Agency
Creative Tampere

Pictured in the School of Art and Media studio from left to right on coaches: Raimonda Lauzikiene and Goda Giedraityte (Klaipeda), Daniela Guerreiro and Inés Cunha (Lisbon) and Liina Kangas, Creative Tampere. Sitting front Ignas Kazakevicius, Klaipeda.

Visit by Photo Art Professor Walter Bergmoser from Seoul

Professor in Photo Art Walter Bergmoser from our partner Chung Ang University in South Korea paid a visit to Finland. He was invited by our Degree Programme in Fine Arts as a part of our exchange programme.

He became familiar with the degree programme and gave lectures to our students. We also discussed future cooperation which will include a joint workshop, an exhibition and developing of international learning environments.

Story and photo: Juha Suonpää

Photo: Professor Walter Bergmoser (left) is introduced to Finnish winter net fishing under expert supervision by fisher Olli Klemola from Pälkäne.

First BarCamp in Tampere in Demola

In following Saturday January 23th there will be first BarCamp session held in Tampere right near you on Demola premisses starting at 10am.

BarCamp is a conference which is organiced by principles of open, user generated unconferences. Idea for BarCamping comes from Tim O'Reillys yearly FooCamp conferences.

What to except when you come to BarCamp:

There will be no agenda beforehand about presentations. Everyone is free to come with his presentation to site. One rule is that each one participate to sessions during and after the conference by contributing to wikis, websites, blogs, microblogs etc. Everyone will make presentation or otherwise is available for helping organizing the meeting for example cleaning. In the beginning of session participants write subjects of their presentation to whiteboard and timeslots for presentations are scheduled after that. There will be short introduction of principles on BarCamp in the morning.

Please feel free to come and be part of creative BarCamp community!

Hash tags on twitter, flicker, jaiku, younameit,... are #BCTMP and BarCampTampere.
Use them.

http://barcamp.org/BarCampTampere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp

Campus Party Europe in Madrid 15-18 April

The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation will celebrate the Spanish EU presidency this spring by inviting the most innovative young talents to the greatest event of Internet and Digital Media ever, the Campus Party Europe in the Magic Box, Madrid April 15-18.

Asociación E3 Futura is responsible for organizing this stunning celebration of young creativity; creators of the best projects in all 27 EU member states are invited with trips to Madrid, meals and accommodation covered. There will be three villages of knowledge: Science, Innovation and Digital Creativity.

Innovation Village

If you have developed software, an Internet or Mobile application or Social Media Service that you proudly know is unique and brings digital media further; nominate yourself to be invited to the Innovation Village of the Party.

Innovation area participants will present their projects; participate in workshops, challenges, parties and other activities of Campus Party. Everybody has also the opportunity not only to be invited, but also to be awarded at the event.

TAMK is cooperating with Campus Party; the head of the Media Programme Cai Melakoski is coordinator of the innovation village. You can also contact him (cai_aet_tamk.fi), if you have a project that deserves to be present in Madrid.

Campus Party Europe

Photo from Campus Party Valencia 2009

Preparing the Fourth Edition of MA in Screenwriting

The joint study board of our joint masters programme with Salford University, MA in Screenwriting gathered this week at TAMK School of Art and Media in Tampere. At University of Salford the programme is arranged by the School of Media, Music & Performance.

The MA in Screenwriting fourth edition application time will start in April and the course starts in the beginning of September in Tampere. The second semester will be in Manchester.

Our cooperation with Salford School of Media, Music & Performance has been intense 15 years already, covering staff and student exchange, joint projects and the MA in Screenwriting Programme. One outcome of the coopreation is the short film The Electrician.

The Electrician had premiere last spring, and has been invited to numerous film festivals all over, already awarded in Germany, Russia, China, Italy and Finland.

Read more about MA in Screenwriting in this blog
Read more about The Electrician in this blog

MA in Screenwriting Salford
MA in Screenwriting Tampere

Pictured from left to right participants of the joint study board meeting: Tommi Tuominen (MA in Screenwriting student), Colin Muir (Head of MA in Screenwriting, Salford), Ari Koivumäki (Head of MA in Screenwriting, Tampere), Arto Koskinen (MA in Screenwriting senior lecturer) and John Sweeney (Director of Administration, Salford International Media Centre)

Alternatives for maps in mobile pedestrian navigation

TAMK’s media production student Timo Pietilä has studied in his final thesis “Alternatives for map-based pedestrian navigation with location-aware mobile devices” different methods of presenting navigation information to pedestrians using mobile devices.
"Maps have functioned as traditional aids in navigation for centuries but some inherent constraints of mobile devices, such as a small screen, make it difficult to present information this way", Pietilä writes.
He presents four different alternative methods of presenting navigation information to users: augmented reality, auditory display, tactile display and radar display. In addition the compatibility of these alternatives for pedestrian use is examined.
"The visual interfaces - augmented reality and radar display - are especially effective in showing information on points of interest around the user. The auditory and tactile displays are for tourists as they provide navigation information without taking the user's visual attention away from his surroundings", Pietilä concludes.
Timo Pietilä was a member of a student team that created a prototype called Local Buddy of a city guide system for mobile devices that uses a radar display. The prototype was one of the Demola Innosummer '09 projects.

Want to Study Media in English? Application Period Started Today

Want to study Media in English in Tampere?

We offer 20 study places in our BA Degree Programme in Media. But hurry up, you have to do the pre-task and send it to us by February 12.

If your pre-task is rated among the 60 best, we will send you an invitation to our entrance exam in April.

Wait no more, log on www.tamk.fi/media to find all the details.

Ikuinen Gallery Presents: "Space of Delusion"

Ikuinen Galleria
14.1.-29.1.2010
Mari Hallapuro & Laura Konttinen: Harhatila
Open Mon-Fri 12-16
Finlaysoninkuja 3 Tampere

Welcome to the opening on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 at 4 PM!

Harhatila ("space of delusion") is a mixed-media installation, in which manifestations of truth and illusion form a room-like space. Pieces of reality and irreality construct a story of a fictitious dweller, through the mediums of drawing, screenprinting and photography.

Two different artists, their themes and subjects divide the space in two, leaving the halves to interact with each other.

Mari Hallapuro and Laura Konttinen study in the fourth and final year of the Fine Art degree programme. Hallapuro utilizes the imagery of the religious world and mysticism in her works, in the mediums of the graphic arts and drawing. Konttinen prefers to work with photography and deals with, among other things, the problematic of photography and the structures of place and memory.

Ikuinen gallery is a contemporary art project space located in the old factory complex Finlayson in central Tampere. The gallery is run by a board of fine art students in Tampere UAS School of Art and Media as part of their study program.

Ikuinen gallery’s main focus is in presenting interesting and high quality student work, whereas work from other art school students and teachers as well as visiting artists are regularly also at show.

Artmedia Blog 2009 Report

Artmedia Blog started in September 2008, so 2009 was its first full calendar year. The blog had 11 868 visits, which is satisfactory for a blog with such a specified small target audience: people interested in art and media studies in Tampere. Our sister blog in Finnish had 41 728 visits. The artmedia blog published 139 posts, our Finnish TTVO blog 257. The artmedia blog had 8045 absolute unique visitors and 19148 page views.

Almost one half of the readers of this blog came from Finland, second largest audience we have in United States, third UK. The other top 10 countries are South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Czech Republic and India. Top international cities are Seoul, London, Wigan, Prague, Barcelona, Uijongbu, Dublin, Singapore, New York and Berlin.

Searched and Found

More than half, 56% of readers came from referring sites, 31,5% from search engines. The biggest traffic source was Google, tamk.fi was second followed by Facebook and Networked blogs. During the last months also Twitter became an important traffic source. A lot of readers came also via our Finnish sister blog and Sombiz.net. Referring sites sent all together visits via 241 different web sources.

Top keywords used by readers coming from a search engine search were related to the film The Electrician, to media studies at TAMK and this blog. Fans all over the world of the band Jääportit found our article about their new album Voimasuo. Also posts about game education and the game development club Score and our events like Tampere Art Factory and MindTrek were often found via Google. The MA in Screenwriting Programme and the Reverse Graffiti exhibition of our fine art students got a high number of hits.

Most Popular Contents

The most searched and found persons were Maria Kaurismäki (Director of Sideline), Miina Alajärvi (Director of the Electrician), Anna Ciuba (Web Designer of Soundly Sleeping Dragon), Riikka Kuoppala (Director of Visitor in My Body), Hannaleena Hauru (Director of If I fall) and Hanne Zenjuga (Animator of "It Dwells in the Depths").

Also lecturers of MA in Screenwriting Marianne Connor, Laurence Davey and Colin Muir got many hits.

The most popular posts were "Results of Media Programme Entrance Test", "Pre-task for Media Programme", the posts about the Electrician and MA in Screenwriting, Guerilla Lighting, Reverse Graffiti, Jääportit - Voimasuo, TAMK Goes Green and Soundly Sleeping Dragon got a big audience. Also posts describing our Degree Programme in Media taught in English and the adventures of its students, the IMPs were very popular reading.

Source: Google Analytics
Pictured: Editor Arttu Salmi and director Miina Alajärvi of Electrician at Up-and-coming International Film Festival, Hannover.

3rd International Week and TAF Blog online

TAMK School of Art and Media will host the 3rd International Week May 3-7 and the opening of Tampere Art Factory Festival May 7-8.

The promotion of these events is done and the preparations reported in the TAF blog, which now is again alive and kicking.

This blog will of course follow the news about the both brilliant events, but following the TAF blog let's you see the whole picture all the time.

Tampere Art Factory Blog

Photo: TAF'09 Poster

The Joy of Sussing Out - Apply to TAMK

The application period to degree programmes run in English of Finnish universities of applied sciences will start on Monday January 11th.

This is already viisible in the streets of Tampere; Tampere UAS rallies the campaign with the slogan "Oivaltamisen iloa", the "joy of sussing out" on the posters in central spots of the city.

The merger of TAMK UAS and PIRAMK UAS is implemented today with the new year 2010. The new Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) is born. Five degree programmes completely taught in English welcome applications until February 12.

One of the BA programmes at TAMK School of Art and Media, the Degree Programme in Media, works in English. The areas of application of this four year programme include web design and services, games, mobile media, multimedia, cross media and interactive installations.

More information:

Media Programme Home (also information about application and pretask)
TAMK Admission

You can read about the everyday life of the students of the international media programme reading posts labeled IMPs in this blog.

The application period for the degree programmes run in Finnish starts on March 1st.

Photo: TAMK poster in the front of the entrace to TAMK School of Art and Media