Finnish Institute in Japan: Information to all visitors

 

The safety of our visitors and our staff is our top priority. The Finnish Institute in Japan takes the following measures in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19:

  • An alcohol-based hand sanitizer is placed at the entrance and at the event venue
  • Our staff members wear face masks to protect visitors and themselves from infection
  • All tables, chairs and door handles are regularly sterilized
  • The event spaces are appropriately ventilated

When coming to the event organized by the Finnish Institute in Japan:

  • Every visitor’s body temperature will be checked at the entrance
  • We kindly ask the visitors to wear a face mask and practice good coughing etiquette  
  • Keep social distancing
  • Please let our staff know when you feel sick

Kindly refrain from participating the events if:

  • you have cold symptoms such as a fever of 37.5 degrees or above, cough, sneeze, and a runny nose
  • you don’t feel well

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

*Updated on 19.11. Coming this autumn: versatile academic and cultural program

The Finnish Institute in Japan continues its versatile academic and cultural program this autumn! (Kindly notice that the program may be subject to changes).
Venue: Metsä Pavilion, 3-5-39 Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo and online in Zoom (If the event will not be held in the Pavilion, you can find more information in the subjected events).

  • EXHIBITIONS AND OTHER CULTURE EVENTS
  • 【November】
    25th: Finnish dance course
    27th-December 8th: Sauna People Photography Exhibition
  • 【December】
  •  1st: Sauna People Photography Exhibition Artist’s Talk *Online only
    • KNITTING CLUB

    30th November and 16th December

     

    SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES

    【November】
    24th: Sustainable materials seminar (inc. reception)

    【December】
    3rd: Women’s empowerment conference (inc. reception)
    8th: Finnish Architecture seminar (inc. reception)

    FINNISH HIGHER EDUCATION SEMINARS

  • November 26th: Schools on the Move information event webinar *Online only
  • December 7th: Schools on the Move kick-off event
  • Contact usFinnish Institute in Japanemail: info@finstitute.jpwebsite:www.finstitute.jp
  • (Photo: The staff of the Finnish Institute in Japan at the Crayfish party November 8th, 2019).

Wild at Heart – Modern Finnish Design

 

Wild at Heart – A Collection of Modern Finnish Design and Art offers a look into the exciting world of contemporary Finnish design. Originality, boldness and use of vibrant colour characterise the design language. The exhibition is a tribute to the lesser known side of Finnish design and culture, with a wild sense of humour and passion to be found and enjoyed. The eleven designers move boldly at the intersection of art and design, with wild hearts and open minds.

Wild at Heart

2.–12.10.2020
Metsä Pavilion, 3-5-39 Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo

weekdays 10–18, except Thursday 8.10. 12–20
weekends 11–17

Free entrance, a reservation is required.

<<Reserve your tickets here>>

Children under 12 years of age don’t need to book a ticket.

Bookings are accepted only via Peatix through the above link.

An accompanying online program will be held on Zoom. The program is free of charge and will be translated into Japanese.

 

Program link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88984312754?pwd=RGdhS1cyVUNiaXQ0ZWd5UFg1TXFtdz09

 

Accompanying online program:

6.10 18:00- Tour of the exhibition with curator Tero Kuitunen

8.10 18:00- Artist talk with Milla Vaahtera

 

Wild at Heart is curated by Finnish designer Tero Kuitunen.
“I especially want to highlight how multifaceted Finnish design is. I think we are currently living in a design Renaissance, where people move more freely between different creative territories”, says the curator.

The exhibition consists of three stages. The Raw Beauty stage focuses on material and strong visual language. The young master carpenter Antrei Hartikainen’s pieces are both functional products and pure works of art as well as a modern ode to craftsmanship. Photographer and visual artist Sofia Okkonen explores how femininity is performed in her own distinct visual language while Tero Kuitunen works with the concept of touch and how different materials, especially ceramics and clay, invite touching. Klaus Haapaniemi’s magical world is filled to its brim with folklore references and his painstakingly detailed illustrations grace rich textiles.

The Social Impact stage offers a closer look at how design influences society. Milla Vaahtera breathes new life into glass blowing and Tuuli-Tytti Koivula’s clothing collection deals with plastic waste and ways to reuse and repurpose the material. The company Mifuko was born out of its founder’s wish to employ and empower women in rural Kenya. The work is flexible and safe, and the regular income financially enables the women’s independence.

Playfulness and humour are woven into every aspect of the exhibition, but it is especially pronounced on the stage of Wild Humour. Eero Aarnio is one of the most important designers in Finland and over the years his works have been characterised by their originality and conceptual bravery. The rich and colourful design language of Teemu Salonen’s design-sculpture hybrids contains multitudes: it is both gaudy, glamorous and cultivated, while COMPANY’s Aamu Song and Johan Olin celebrate craftsmen and women all over the world in their designs, combining a strong appreciation for tradition, timelessness and the joy of making.

Wild at Heart is an international exhibition project initiated by the Finnish Institute in Germany, in collaboration with the Finnish Institutes in Hungary, Sweden and Japan, and interior, design and furniture fair Habitare. It premiered at Vienna Design Week in 2019 and has since been shown in Budapest and Stockholm and Helsinki.

The Finnish Institute in Japan kindly thanks Lapuan Kankurit and Hokuouzakka / P.O.S. for supporting the exhibition.

Photo: Maija Astikainen Styling: Tero Kuitunen

Tom of Finland exhibition’s auxiliary program

 

 

 

 

The Finnish Institute in Japan organizes an auxiliary program in conjunction with the Tom of Finland exhibition that will be held at the Gallery X at Parco Shibuya September 18th – October 5th, 2020. The program consists of lectures that will give highlight the multitalented artist’s art from different perspectives. The audience will also have the possibility to ask questions after each lecture.

Lectures are held at 18:00-19:30PM (lecture 18-19:00 and Q & A for 30 minutes) online in ZOOM (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81362557801?pwd=RmFLbHgxT05CcXZ5Q1NPMy9vU3JaUT09).

Lectures will be in English and interpreted in Japanese and they are free of charge.

LECTURES

September 18th, 2020:
The Heavenly Creatures of Lust – The Male Body made desirable in Tom of Finland’s Drawings
Dr Juha-Heikki Tihinen / Curator, Pro Artibus Foundation, Finland
Attention: this lecture starts at 17:00PM

September 23rd, 2020:
There’s always a meaning in a seemingly meaningless landscape – the National romanticism in Tom of Finland’s drawings
Dr Anna-Maria Wiljanen / Director, Finnish Institute in Japan

September 25th, 2020:
Tom of Finland’s Long and Winding Road to the Center of the Art World
Dr Leena-Maija Rossi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Cultures, University of Helsinki, Finland

September 29th, 2020:
Tom of Finland Foundation – Protecting, Preserving, and Promoting Art For Over Three Decades
Durk Dehner / President & Cofounder, Tom of Finland Foundation, Los Angeles, USA
Valentine Hooven / Author of Tom of Finland, The Official Life and Work of a Gay Hero 

October 2nd, 2020:
Before Gucci and Gaultier, there was Tom of Finland”. On the legacy of Tom of Finland to fashion
Dr Annamari Vänskä /Adjunct Professor, Department of Design, Aalto University, Finland

October 5th, 2020:
From Under the Counter to the Gallery Walls – The Impact of Tom of Finland
BA Pasi Järvinen / Project manager, Finnish Institute in Japan

 

DISCUSSION EVENT

September 30th, 2020:

Your happiness is my happiness – a discussion about the LGBT rights in Japan
Participants: Georgie Ichikawa and Kazue Chan. Moderator: Anna-Maria Wiljanen.

Starting at 18:00

ComMunE ROOF TOP BAR

PARCO SHIBUYA,

15-1 Udagawacho

Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-0042

 

MOVIE SCREENINGS Tom of Finland (2017)
Award-winning filmmaker Dome Karukoski brings to screen the life and work of one of the most influential and celebrated figures of twentieth century gay culture: Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds postwar Helsinki rampant with homophobic persecution, and men around him even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specialising in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhabitations. His work – made famous by his signature ‘Tom of Finland’ – became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution.
Director: Dome Karukoski
RUNNING TIME: 1h 56 min
2017 / Finland / Sweden / Denmark / Germany
© Helsinki-filmi Oy, 2017

18.–24.9.2020
WHITE CINE QUINTO(ShibyaPARCO 8F)
for times and tickets, visit www.cinequinto.com/white

​​25.9.–8.10.2020
UPLINK​ Shibuya
for times and tickets, visit shibuya.uplink.co.jp/

 

SATELLITE EXHIBITION An ode to Tom of Finland

21.9.–30.11.2020
The Container Gallery, Nakameguro​
Presenting Japanese artists inspired by Tom’s works: Gengoroh Tagame, Goh Mishima, Jiraiya
the-container.com

 

The auxiliary program may be subject to changes.

Works of the iconic artist Tom of Finland exhibited in Japan for the first time

 

 

We are pleased to announce the first exhibition in Japan of the works of the iconic Finnish artist Tom of Finland (born Touko Laaksonen, 1920-1991). The exhibition, at GALLERY X, is a collaboration between the Finnish Institute Japan, the Embassy of Finland in Japan, the Tom of Finland Foundation, The Container gallery, and PARCO. The exhibition is curated by the Tokyo-based curator and director of The Container, Mr. Shai Ohayon. The exhibition coincides with Tom of Finland’s 100th birthday anniversary – #TOMs100.

Reality & Fantasy: The World of Tom of Finland

2020/09/18~2020/10/05

GALLERY X (B1F, Shibuya PARCO)

Opening hours: 11:00-21:00
*Last entry time 30mins before close
*Close at 18:00 in 10/05
Admission: 500yen
*Pre-school child not allowed in
https://art.parco.jp/galleryx

The exhibition features a selection of 30 historical works, ranging from 1946 to 1989, covering the artist’s entire professional career, and highlighting both his artistic versatility and presenting his identity as an LGBTQ legend who paved the way for LGBTQ rights worldwide and helped to shape gay culture.

The Finnish Institute in Japan organises an extensive auxiliary programme including a lecture series on Tom of Finland. There are also film screenings and a satellite exhibition of Japanese artists inspired by Tom of Finland.
See the auxiliary programme

About the exhibition

Reality & Fantasy: The World of Tom of Finland, brings together a selection of works, covering the artist’s entire four decades of career, and presents works on paper using a variety of mediums, such as graphite, gouache, markers, and pen & ink. Historically, the images highlight milestones and artistic stylistic developments in Tom of Finland’s life and practice—starting with his 1940s and ’50s paintings in gouache, of men in stylish attire and uniforms, such as sailors, soldiers and policemen, in fantastic and romantic compositions, influenced by his army service in Finland—to his stylized depictions of leathermen and muscle men in the ’60s and ’70s, and the cleaner, high contrast and graphic drawings of his later career when he was working in Los Angeles.

The exhibition also features many works commissioned by the Athletic Model Guild (AMG), founded and headed by Bob Mizer in 1945. Tom of Finland and Mizer had a long-time professional relationship. It was Mizer that added “of Finland” to Tom of Finland’s name as was the fashion of the day. Reality and Fantasy, includes a number of drawings that appeared in AMG’s magazine Physique Pictorial, including two drawings that appeared on the cover of the magazine (Untitled, from the AGM “Men of the Forests of Finland” series, 1957; and Untitled, from the AGM “Motorcycle Thief” series, 1964.)

The exhibition puts emphasis on Tom of Finland’s role in promoting sensual and erotic depictions of the male body as a catalyst for social change and the acceptance of gay people, while facing a legal and social reality they were fighting to change. Delving into a world of fantasy, with sexual freedom, Tom of Finland depicted a new “gay masculinity”, adding to the vocabulary of what gay men were allowed to be by society.

About the artist

Tom of Finland (born Touko Valio Laaksonen,1920, Kaarina – 1991, Helsinki), was a Finnish artist known for his homoerotic artworks, and for his influence on late twentieth century culture. During his prolific career, Tom produced over 3,500 illustrations, drawings, woodblock prints, and paintings, mostly featuring men in sexualized poses and compositions, to redefine masculinity and the position of gay men in modern society. He signed his work “Tom” and when his drawings were first published in 1957, the now world-famous “Tom of Finland” was born.

Tom’s works are in many permanent collections worldwide, including NY’s MoMA; Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art; Art Institute of Chicago; The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), LA; Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku; University of California Berkeley Art Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Tom of Finland Foundation, LA.

In 2006, The trustee of The Judith Rothschild Foundation, Harvey S. Shipley Miller, asserted about the Foundation’s gift to the MoMA of five of Tom of Finland’s work, “Tom of Finland is one of the five most influential artists of the twentieth century. As an artist he was superb, as an influence he was transcendent.”

About Tom of Finland Foundation

In 1984, the nonprofit Tom of Finland Foundation (ToFF) was established by Durk Dehner and his friend Tom of Finland. As Tom of Finland had established worldwide recognition as the master of homoerotic art, the Foundation’s original purpose was to preserve his vast catalog of work. Several years later the scope was widened to offer a safe haven for all erotic art in response to rampant discrimination against art that portrayed sexual behavior or generated a sexual response. Today ToFF continues in its efforts of educating the public as to the cultural merits of erotic art and in promoting healthier, more tolerant attitudes about sexuality. www.TomOfFinland.org

Free ‘Together Alone’ -outdoor screening shows video art created under lockdown

 

Four video works created during the lockdown last spring will be presented as a free outdoor screening at Musiikkitalo in Helsinki on Saturday 29th August, from 20–22.00.

The works were born out of The Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes’ Together Alone open call. The Institutes launched the fast-paced open call in response to the Covid-19 crisis. The call was aimed at all Finnish and Finland-based professional artists who had lost work opportunities due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Finnish institutes advance international mobility, visibility and collaboration of Finnish professionals in the arts, culture and science. The open call especially looked for projects, which emphasised broad international collaboration – without physical contact.

The open call received 437 applications. Out of this pool of fantastic proposals, 20 projects that explore new artistic methods and ways of thinking were selected. Four video projects will be screened on Musiikkitalo’s media wall:

    • Director Anna Nykyri and her collaborators’ short film In-between explores cities emptied by the pandemic. The film was shot in Helsinki, New York and Mexico City.
    • Dancer and choreographer Emrecan Tanis’ short film H-ome documents the emotional landscape of the pandemic through the medium of dance. The dancers, many of whom under regular circumstances worked at the Finnish National Ballet, filmed their choreographies in their homes.
    • Artist Mikki Nordman’s World Wide Window: Agnus Mundi is a visualisation of WHO Covid-19 data. Emojis transform and move in the work to form a rendition of the baroque painting, Agnus Dei. You can follow the work’s evolution in real time on the artists’ website.
    • Artist Yassine Khaled’s Monitor Man in the Time of Pandemic is an updated version of their previous work Monitor Man. In the work, Khaled communicates with his surroundings and friends through an iPad embedded in a helmet.

One screening set lasts 40 minutes. There will be three showings throughout the night, starting at 20.00, 20.40 and 21.20.
Address: Musiikkitalo, Mannerheimintie 13 A, 00100 Helsinki.
Facebook-event page

Picture: still from Emrecan Tanis’ work H-ome, with dancer Atte Kilpinen.

Trainee’s Diary Vol. 4

 

 

Hi again!

So, at the time this comes out Tokyo is in full reopening mode. And I figured I’d make this the last diary, at least for a while. To begin with corona diaries seemed to me a sort of silly idea, as if the trainees would have more to write about when they are locked in their homes. At any rate I hope you have liked reading this stuff!

I have plans to go shopping, not that I’d need to buy anything but just to air myself. Been looking forward to going to an arcade but they are a category 3 service and with that the last ones to reopen. Also been looking forward to going to a bar or a club or a concert but that stuff is even more dangerous, or technically equally dangerous, I guess. Lines need to be drawn somewhere. It’s a new kind of consciousness I suppose, most of us already limit or adjust our consumption for environmental reasons. This is an extra layer of similar stuff with similar processes of bargaining and shame.

For now, I’ve decided to start with a hike to nearby Mt. Tsukuba. That at least should be a reasonably safe activity that I can also do while leaving my mask home. I really wanted to do a Fuji hike, but as the trails won’t be opening this season that will have to wait to another year.

At the time of writing they just issued first ‘Tokyo alert’ accompanied with lighting the rainbow bridge red. That is one flashy way of keeping people alert. Especially when just the other week they lighted the bridge with rainbow colours in celebration. I don’t think this stuff is really helping people feel more normal but maybe that’s not the idea either.

Personally, I think that kids are going to have nightmares about red bridges for some time to come. Then again, I’m from the countryside so maybe some nuance is lost on me.

This has been an unnecessarily gloomy last entry! Let me just finish on a positive note and say that I’m excited for whatever lies beyond.

Trainee’s Diary Vol. 3

 

 

Hi again!

 

In this third entry I’m going to talk about what has been going on recently.  Now as I’ve said all of the Institutes physical events have been moved to autumn, which is poised to be really, really busy. In the meanwhile, I’ve been working on planning some events of my own as well as doing various online related stuff.

Staying inside has been horribly boring but yeah. For now it’s probably best to do as asked. In some way it’s also nice to have an excuse to stay inside and play games days on end lol. This would have been a great time to get that new Animal Crossing but everyone else has been thinking along the same lines and the consoles are sold out everywhere! Nintendo could have made bank had they known.

If my tiny kitchen had an oven, I would definitely have picked up baking. Having my social media loaded with pictures of sourdough loaves and flower focaccias really makes me want to try those too. Been thinking about something easier to do in limited space like watercolours or calligraphy, I am going to have to visit a crafts store one of these days. I wonder if this is going to be one of those I’m gonna do this and I’m gonna do that stories.

About crafts stores, a thing that has surprised me here under the state of emergency has been that since the Japanese government lacks the power to impose any real sanctions for not complying, the companies are left to do as they please. This has result in that many absolutely non-essential shops such as hairdressers, fishing-goods stores or dance studios on the close-by shopping street have remained open throughout the state of emergency. It seems that whether to remain open or not has been left for the shop owners to decide.

In Tokyo they are lifting the state of emergency in two weeks. Looking forward to regaining some normalcy! Even if whatever comes will probably be different from before.

Together Alone – third round chosen projects

On March 23rd, The Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes network launched the Together Alone -project: a fast progressing open call for artists and creatives, many of whose projects were cancelled or postponed due to the COVID-19. Nine weeks and 437 applications later, we have now commissioned 20 artists, creatives and collectives around the globe to reflect upon the current situation through diverse artistic practices. We are incredibly thankful for every application and extremely moved by how creatives have mirrored the major social upheavals of our times through the arts, and most importantly – have done so together. For the third and final application round of Together Alone, we have selected eight projects out of no less than 166 applications:

  • H-ome by Emrecan Tanis
  • In-between by Anna Nykyri
  • Out of the Flood by Invisible Flock & SubZero
  • Soft Variations – Online by Sonya Lindfors
  • Untitled by Caracara Collective
  • Untitled by Miila Westin
  • Unum by Sakari Männistö
  • We need to talk about the future by Anne Pajunen and Psychopomp! Theatre Collective

We will soon share more details of the individual commissioned projects, so remember to follow our social media channels and the hashtag #togetheralonefi for more details.

Selected projects from the first round

Selected projects from the second round