1 minute read
Culture Shock – and How Good It Feels
Ever since the days of Minna Canth, the city’s renowned writer and social influencer in the late 1800s, Kuopio has recognized the versatile positive effects that cultural experiences can enable. The selection of cultural venues and events is wide; the more conventional museums, theatres, movies and music festivals are joined by quite exceptional and creative cultural services.
TEXT TIMO MANSIKKA-AHO PHOTO KUOPIO COMEDY FESTIVAL, WILLE MARKKANEN
There is the ANTI Contemporary Art Festival, Dance Theatre Minimi and its street performances, and plenty of others that show that culture is, at its best, a thing that lives and develops with the audience.
All it takes is a little thinking outside the box, and new levels of enjoyment are suddenly within reach. For example, have you ever considered attending a stand-up show in the middle of the forest?
That is what comedian Teemu Vesterinen arranged, based on the idea of Juha Jylhäsalmi, Director of Kuopio Comedy Festival. He cycled
through local forests, found the perfect location – and set up a show that became an instant success.
“There was a certain charm of novelty that both the audience and I experienced”, Vesterinen recalls. “The script was rough, the setup bare; it turned out to be an eye-opening experience for everyone.”
Vesterinen says that the muscle of comedy is, in many ways, no different from other muscles: it has to be trained using a versatile routine, with various kinds of stimuli. The versatile offering of the cultural scene in Kuopio provides a suitable session for every taste.
