Metropolitan Times 2/2023

MAGAZI NE FOR VISITORS

2/ 202 3

IN THIS ISSUE The happiest people in the world Page 10

Eating Finland Page 12

Winter swimming is for everyone Page 14

exhibition in the Ateneum Art Museum

Colour & Light Page 21

Hero and/or Villain Page 26

A column by Antti Tuomainen

please leave this magazine for the next guest – thank you!

I miss you, Madame

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CONTENTS Welcome to the Metropolitan area 8 The happiest people in the world 10 Eating Finland 12 Winter swimming is for everyone 14 Map of metropolitan area 16 Hotels providing Metropolitan Times 18 Colour & Light 21 Hero and/or Villain 26 I miss you, Madame – Column by Antti Tuomainen 28

Metropolitan Times Magazine for Visitors Issue 2/2023 Autumn-Winter-Spring www.metropolitantimes.fi ISSN 2489-2688 (print) ISSN 2669-8277 (online)

Editor in chief Roope Lipasti

Published by Mobile-Kustannus Oy Brahenkatu 14 D 94 FI-20100 Turku, Finland

Sales Pirkko Puurunen pirkko.puurunen@aikalehdet.fi Tel. +358 40 507 1002

Sales manager Raimo Kurki raimo.kurki@aikalehdet.fi Tel. +358 45 656 7216

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Graphic design & layout Petteri Mero Mainostoimisto Knok Oy

Cover photos Pitkänsillanranta in the night.

Photo: Jussi Hellsten / City of Helsinki Huvilakatu street in Eira, Helsinki.

Photo: Jenna Pietikäinen / Helsinki Partners

Printed by Newprint Oy

Spring sun.

Photo: Jussi Hellsten / City of Helsinki Ice swimming.

Photo: Mika Ruusunen / City of Helsinki Antti Tuomainen.

Photo: Jonne Räsänen / Otava

Publisher Teemu Jaakonkoski

4041 1018

Metropolitan Times map application for mobile phones and tablets: m.metropolitantimes.fi.

The magazine is available in selected hotel rooms and lobbies in Espoo-Helsinki-Vantaa metropolitan area (see pages 16–17 and 18).

Next issue will be out in May 2024.

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VANTAA

HELSINKI

ESPOO

photo: Yiping Feng and Ling Ouyang / Helsinki Partners

Welcome to the Metropolitan area

photo: Olli Urpela

Urban culture and experiences in nature!

Located just a metro ride away, Espoo is a vital city, offering each and every one interesting things to see and experience.

Espoo has a lot to offer for those craving culture: visit a fascinating museum in Exhibition Centre WeeGee or participate in one of our city’s many events.

Large natural areas are characteristic of Espoo: seashores, the archipelago, the wilderness in nature reserves and the waterways of the lake highlands.

The cultural landscapes, constructed environments and natural areas of Espoo are like Finland in miniature.

The special feature of Espoo is an urban structure that relies on five different centres. All of them along the railway or the metro line.

Espoo is growing fast, and the growth is focused strongly around the metro stations.

Espoo has twice been ranked as the most ecologically, economically, socially and culturally sustainable city in Europe. We have also been invited to act as one of the pioneering cities implementing the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in cooperation with Aalto University and companies. We want to ensure that our city will grow in a manner that will provide future generations with equal or better living conditions than those enjoyed by us.

Welcome to Espoo!

photo: Jetro Stavén

Dear reader,

Welcome to Vantaa!

A warm welcome to our beautiful Helsinki!

You have made an excellent choice for your travel destination. Of course, from my point of view, Helsinki is one of the most exciting and interesting cities in the world, and I am delighted you chose to experience the many adventures our capital has to offer.

Helsinki is a creative, safe and unique place where bubbly urban life meets fascinating, diverse nature. Our city is a joyful, surprising, and experientially rich city with an international feel – a place where art and culture are held in the highest esteem. Also, Finland has once again been ranked as the World's Happiest Country, and I can assure you that Helsinki, as the capital of Finland, reflects the atmosphere of the world’s happiest nation exquisitely well.

Helsinki lives and breathes throughout every season of the year. Sometimes this means sun or snow, other times slush and rain. But don’t you worry – Helsinki is always exciting and provides unexpected experiences regardless of the season.

I can assure you every day is a new adventure in Helsinki, and I can’t wait for you to explore our best features! We have collected all the best tips for your stay into one service: myhelsinki.fi.

Enjoy your stay – and I hope to see you back soon!

When you land at Helsinki Airport, one of the best airports in Europe, you have arrived in the city of Vantaa!

Airports Council International granted the airline company FinAvia the Airport Service Quality award, which was based on passenger feedback on customer service and guidance they had received, as well as check-in, shopping and dining options. Finavia also received an honorable mention for its long-term efforts to maintain customer satisfaction.

The airport has been redesigned so that all passengers depart through the new departure hall. The departure hall consists of check-in areas, a baggage drop-off, as well as a security check and currency exchange. The security check utilizes next-generation technology: you can now keep electronics and liquids in the bag during the security screening.

There is also a separate line for families with children.

All passengers will enter the same baggage hall from their flights. You can get to Vantaa from the entrance hall on public transport or a rental car. How would you like visiting the SFT-certified Fazer Experience Visitor Center as your first destination, where you can see how Finnish chocolate is made?

Pekka Timonen Mayor of Vantaa

Juhana Vartiainen Jukka Mäkelä

photo: Sakari Manninen

Mayor of Helsinki

Mayor of Espoo

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LÖNNROTINKATU 11, 00120 HELSINKI

MIKONKATU 18, 00100 HELSINKI

photo: Laura Dove / Helsinki Partners

Written by Roope Lipasti Translated by Christina Saarinen

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Family in Uutela Nature Park in Eastern Helsinki.

The happiest people in the world Finland has been named the happiest country in the world six times in a row. How can that be?

very year, the World Happiness Report is released, which asks citizens of different countries to rate their lives on a scale of zero to ten. Respondents are asked things like how many times they laughed or felt joy the previous day. They are also asked whether they experienced negative emotions, such as worry, sadness or anger.

In addition, the report evaluates the countries where people live.

The metrics include standard of living, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and corruption.

Even Finland has room for improvement, however, falling short of a 10 with its score of 7.8, while Denmark came in second with 7.6.

The other Nordic countries were in the top ten too. Less surprisingly, the unhappiest countries are Afghanistan and Lebanon.

But if you ask Finns what it feels like to live in the happiest country in the world, they will probably laugh and suggest you try

measuring happiness in November, when it’s always dark, and if it isn’t raining, it’s sleeting or hailing.

And yet the study can’t be wrong year after year, can it?

All the basics in order Happiness researcher Ilona Suojanen thinks that the reason Finns laugh when asked about the report is perhaps our self-deprecating sense of humor. Besides, the laughter has died down as the same result has been announced year after year, which has also forced us to reflect on the matter: “Maybe we haven’t always thought of happiness as the foundation of well-being. Perhaps instead it brought to mind big, outwardly visible things, like laughing a lot. But so many things in Finland 10

really are so good that respondents were probably forced to choose the higher end of the scale.”

Suojanen also reminds us that when Swedes joke that Finns do so well in the happiness survey because we’re satisfied with so little, there is a touch of truth in that too. The welfare state and general prosperity are very young phenomena in Finland. Maybe that’s where our modesty comes from.

“Today, in any case, things are pretty good in most people’s everyday lives. People are healthy, have those who are important to them nearby, have a roof over their heads and a steady income.

These basic things are probably precisely what many respondents are thinking about. Of course, you could just as well think that you’ll only be happy when you have three cars and this and that. But in Finland, we don’t usually think like that,” Suojanen says. She tells a story about a Finnish startup company: “It was sold and the owners became very rich. But in their own words, they already had everything, and they didn’t know what to do with the money, so they started a foundation that gives money to all kinds of good causes. It’s a story that somehow captures Finnish happiness.”

Happiness researcher Ilona Suojanen, there is a saying “Each man is the maker of his own happiness.” Is that true?

“No, it isn’t. In a welfare state, we help each other in that work. When we support each other, it also increases our own happiness. Few people are happy alone. I highly recommend taking up the role of helper.”

What about the Finnish expression “Let he who is happy hide his happiness”?

“It probably comes from the old-fashioned idea that happiness is like a cake that gets cut into pieces, and if someone is really happy, he has helped himself to other people’s share.

But happiness is not a zero-sum game. It increases when we share it.”

The World’s Happiest Countries 2023: 1. Finland 2. Denmark 3. Iceland 4. Israel 5. Netherlands

Happiness is other people

6. Sweden 7. Norway 8. Switzerland 9. Luxembourg 10. New Zealand

But even if the basic requirements for happiness are in order – so that, for example, a person wouldn’t move to Afghanistan to escape a bad situation, but rather head to Finland – happiness does not necessarily follow. Happiness is linked to many factors, including genetics: some of us are happier from the get-go. Of course, the cards you are dealt at birth matter too.

“Nevertheless, we know that some things easily lead to unhappiness, like perfectionism and, a lot of times, competitiveness. Similarly, if you want to be happy, it’s worth investing in human relationships.

That isn’t always easy, of course, but that’s where happiness comes from,” Suojanen says.

So, what creates happiness, even if it’s the modest sort? There are very different views and definitions of happiness, and happiness is influenced by so many things that it’s difficult to get a handle on.

In her recent study, Ilona Suojanen allowed people to define their own happiness: “I asked them to take pictures of things and of moments when they were happy. The study in question was related to people’s working lives, but the results were consistent with other happiness studies.

For one, the pictures of happy moments featured other people, something that always comes up in these studies: good and lasting human relationships,” Suojanen says.

Another thing was meaningfulness: “In the context of this study, it was the meaningfulness of one’s work, but meaning can likewise arise from one’s hobbies or volunteer work.”

The third important topic that emerged was nature. (In fact, the happiness researcher herself was at her summer cottage at the time of this very interview.)

“Nature is something that is especially important to Finns. That they can see it from their window or on their way to work. It’s about belonging to the world around you.”

The fourth thing reflected in the pictures of happiness was autonomy, that people were able to affect their own life and work.

In other words, the freedom to realize oneself.

A joint effort Though it’s generally countries with a welfare mindset – that is, where we happily pay taxes so that everyone can be better off – that rise to the top in happiness studies, there are a couple of exceptions, and they demonstrate the importance of human relationships. The Central American countries of Mexico and Costa Rica have fared quite well in happiness surveys, despite the fact that Mexico, for one, is rather unstable, at least according to Finnish newspaper reports.

“The reason for those countries’ happiness is human networks, communities that give support. There, the individual is not so important. Instead, it’s the surrounding community,” Suojanen says.

Could it be that in Finland, the state plays the role of the supportive community? After all, in Finland, a significant amount of care has been outsourced to the state.

“That’s true, but recently people have started to question the idea that once we’ve paid our taxes, we don’t have to do anything more.

Because it’s the taking care of each other that creates happiness. In Finland, we’re happy to pay money to get ourselves out of working together on various things, but it isn’t worth it, because helping other people increases happiness more than things like money,” Suojanen concludes. s

Security, freedom and trust Ilona Suojanen says that in the bigger picture, an important bedrock of Finnish happiness is trust – in other people, the media, decision-makers and public authorities. This in turn gives rise to another requirement for happiness, a sense of security.

“Security – like trust and freedom – is seen as self-evident in Finland. They are so taken for granted that we rarely even stop to think about how much they affect happiness as well. They also make Finland attractive to people coming from elsewhere.”

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photo: Aarne Pietinen/ Helsinki City Museum

Helsinki in 1937. Restaurant Savoy's roof terrace.

Eating Finland Finnish restaurant culture is still relatively young.

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But what’s so Finnish about it?

Written by Roope Lipasti Translated by Christina Saarinen

Salt and pepper

lean water, clean air, the Northern midnight sun – that’s what Finnish food is made of. Or at least that’s what Finns like to think.

Undeniably, Finnish new potatoes in particular are better than those grown further south. But in general, Finland’s short growing season is more of a limitation. Of course, the long summer days also offer opportunities. For example, we have many distinctive forest berries and mushrooms – and, of course, it’s a big country with plenty of game.

Finnish food is often described as simple, clean, fresh, safe and healthy. The same words are also used to describe Finnish design, architecture and engineering expertise. When it comes to food, minimalism has turned a necessity into a virtue: here in the harsh conditions of the North, simple and trendy local food has always been eaten, but mainly for a lack of alternatives.

The flavors of Finnish food owe not only to local ingredients, but also to the methods of preparation: boiling and stewing in the oven have traditionally been favored. The flavors obtained by smoking, cooking over an open fire or using amylase reactions for sweetening are also common here. Finnish food has often been criticized for being tasteless and overcooked, which may not be completely untrue.

Traditionally, the spices used in Finland were limited to two: salt and pepper. And of those, it was best to use a light hand with the pepper.

So it’s no wonder that when new foods and flavors started arriving from around the world, they were often dialed back to suit the Finnish palate. For example, when German sausages, made with seasonings and a high meat content, started to be imported in the early 1990s, no one wanted to buy them at first. Finns were used to 12

Burgers & pizza

eating tasteless sausages made with a lot of fillers. But the world and people’s tastes change.

Even so, when Finns move abroad, they often miss the traditional flavors of their homeland, flavors that hardly anyone else would miss: rye bread, salty licorice, weak Finnish coffee and pea soup.

In a poll that was organized in 2017, rye bread was even chosen as the country’s official food. It won in a landslide. Other popular candidates were Karelian rice pasties and fried vendace, both delicacies from eastern Finland.

These days, a typical Finnish restaurant is pretty much the same as everywhere else. You’ll rarely come across the most traditional Finnish dishes, except in lunch restaurants, where you can still get things like Karelian stew, sausage soup and meatballs.

It’s no wonder that the most recent report on restaurant trends by the Finnish Hospitality Association (MaRa) says that Finns are most apt to choose an internationally popular hamburger, chicken or pizza as their main course in a restaurant.

Burgers in particular can be found on nearly every restaurant’s menu at the moment. The popularity of steaks, meanwhile, experienced a collapse during the COVID pandemic and is still clearly behind 2018 levels.

The number of vegetarian dishes in Finnish restaurants has at the same time risen slightly. It may be related to the general growth in the popularity of vegetarian food, or to the fact that in the study in question, student cafeterias were mentioned more often than in the past as the last place respondents had gone out to eat. Young people are trendsetters in this area, after all.

The study also revealed that while 40 years ago, going to a restaurant was a major event, in 2022, four out of five respondents had eaten restaurant food at least once in the previous two weeks.

Times change, and we change with them!

And of course, a burger isn’t the only option: a Finnish restaurant received a Michelin star for the first time in 1987, and last year, there were already seven one-star and one two-star Michelin restaurants in Finland. Bon appétit! s

Casual dining?

Food culture is one thing, and restaurant culture is another. The latter is a fairly new invention in Finland. In the past, it was more like restaurants carefully chose the people they were willing to serve, but from the 1980s onwards, people were finally free to choose the restaurants they wanted to go to.

Even in the 1970s, a woman who went into a restaurant alone was likely to be looked at askance. There was no such thing as a family night out at a restaurant. Dress codes were carefully regulated. It was common for neckties to be required – if you didn’t have a tie, the doorman might be able to rent you one. For a long time, you were also required to order food in a restaurant if you wanted to be served alcohol, which is why many places had a “common” sandwich that you could order but which was not intended to be eaten. The pretense allowed you to have your beer.

The sandwich was returned to the establishment and sold again to the next customer.

Serving alcohol was such an occult science all the way into the ’90s that it’s hard to comprehend from today’s perspective: alcohol was sold, but you weren’t allowed to get drunk. You couldn’t walk through a restaurant with a glass in your hand. You couldn’t buy two drinks at a time, meaning you couldn’t bring a friend a drink from the bar while getting your own. The status of bouncers was somewhat higher than God.

Five tips about Finnish restaurant culture

1. Do Finns tip?

Generally, no. However, tipping has become more common in Finland, and when paying by card, you may be asked if you want to leave a tip. Of course, it is always okay to do so, in which case the good old 10 % rule is valid. But it’s not frowned upon to not leave a tip.

Learning from lunch restaurants

2. Do Finns buy rounds?

In the 1980s, things began to change. The economy was strong, and people had more money. Lunch vouchers were introduced as a job benefit, which taught the workforce to eat in company cafeterias.

Packed sandwich lunches slowly disappeared, and the step towards eating dinner in restaurants became easier.

Around the same time, hamburger chains became common in Finland (Finland’s first McDonald’s opened in Tampere in 1984), and with that, the strange idea that the whole family could go out to eat together spread.

When new customers showed up in restaurants – women and children, the working class – it also affected what was offered. Instead of the perennial steak, you could order a salad! Wine culture also started to flourish, and little by little, chefs became celebrities.

In the 1990s, Finns had already started going to restaurants without needing a special occasion. At the same time, restaurant menus became international. Of course, you could already get pizza in certain places in the 1970s, but now many other things started to appear: Asian flavors, Mexican food, even sushi, although that wouldn’t become popular with the general public until the 2010s.

In Finland, it isn’t usually customary, even among friends, to buy drinks for the whole group. But in this case too, it’s not a strict rule, especially if you’re out with close friends.

3. How should I dress?

It’s always nice to dress up for dinner, but there are very few places where anyone is paying attention to how other people are dressed.

4. When is last call?

It depends on the place. In pubs, last call, indicated by flashing the lights, is generally at 1:30 a.m., or at the latest at 2:30, after which you have half an hour to finish your drink. In restaurants, the kitchen usually closes around 10 p.m.

5. Who pays on a date?

In Finland, everyone generally pays their own bill. But it’s also okay to ask your companion if you can pay their bill too!

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photo: Maija Astikainen / City of Helsinki

Winter swimming is for everyone

Written by Roope Lipasti Translated by Owen F. Witesman

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In Finland, we swim outdoors in the winter

Ice swimming in Furuvik in Helsinki.

you a little breathless, but the air feels warm, and you can really feel the blood coursing through your veins full of hormones that make you feel euphoric and young again.

Next you head to the sauna, where hot steam warms your arms and legs, and soon you’re sweating out all the cares and stress of daily life. Ice swimming gives you what your body needs: either refreshment or relaxation, depending on what you need and how you feel.

- it’s both healthy and fun.

here it is: the hole sawed in the ice that you’re supposed to jump into and swim – or at least take a dip. The sea stares back at you through that opening, black and cold, and not terribly inviting.

But there’s nothing for it. Into the water you go!

No point standing around shivering on the dock! Brrr... barely above freezing, at first the water takes your breath away, and even though more experienced bathers really do swim, a beginner climbs out almost as soon as he gets in.

But as soon as you’re back on the dock, a pleasant feeling spreads over your whole body, maybe tingling here and there and leaving

Come and join the fun!

Ice swimming may sound a little extreme to some, but it continues to gain popularity in Finland. Every big city has several places where you can do it. And because Finland has 187,888 lakes in addition to the coastline, you can DIY it, too.

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All you need is a swimsuit and a towel. Slippers can be of use, for they insulate the feet from the cold. Some people also use a cap and gloves, which let the swimmer stay in the water a little longer.

Most winter swimmers do have a sauna after being in the water, but some don’t have sauna at all. The latter say that without the sauna the endorphins keep going all day! On the other hand, the sauna prolongs the fun because one can take breaks to warm up.

The most important thing is overcoming yourself In Southern Finland, the sea doesn’t always freeze at all anymore, but that doesn’t get in the way of ice swimming. The water temperature is more or less the same in the winter with or without ice – just above freezing. There’s actually been a linguistic change with ice swimming often being referred to as winter swimming these days.

Even though the thought of swimming in ice-cold water may be startling, it isn’t dangerous. On the contrary, a healthy body can withstand the cold. But if you suffer from a heart condition, then you should consult a doctor before climbing in. Swimming alone is also not recommended. It’s always safer with a friend, since you never know when you might trip or slip.

The cold also won’t give you the flu or any other illness, although if you intend to stay in the water a really long time, there is the danger of hypothermia.

However, that isn’t usually a problem, since especially beginners tend to get out of the water very quickly. The most important thing in this sport is to listen to yourself and swim as much as feels good.

Even though ice swimming is all about overcoming your own limitations, there are competitions. What else would you expect? In Finland, the race distance is usually 25 meters. The rules are a little different than in normal swim races, though. For example, you can’t put your head under the water when doing the breaststroke.

Until a few years ago, this sport was mainly for senior citizens, but now there are also many young people, especially students. The youngest competitor in the recent Finnish championships was 2 years old and the oldest was 88. The most active group is probably the 40–60 crowd, both men and women.

Ice swimming is healthy The ancient ancestors of the Finns almost certainly practiced ice swimming, but in more recent times, ice swimming was related to treatments for rheumatism.

Cold therapy was developed when it was found to alleviate pain. In addition to decreasing pain, the cold also increases the secretion of pleasure hormones.

And that isn’t all. There’s a long list of health benefits: regular ice swimming has a positive effect on mood and increases immune response. The cold enhances muscle recovery from exercise and also makes it easier to sleep. In addition, sauna lowers blood pressure after the cold temporarily raises it, but overall, the effect is lower blood pressure. Ice swimming is also a stress killer, it constricts peripheral blood circulation, and noradrenaline makes you feel like you just won something! Dopamine and endorphins decrease symptoms of depression.

And of course, there’s also a social aspect, since ice swimming is usually something to be done in a group. Finns sit in the sauna, swim, and what is most odd, they might chat with friends and strangers.

And if that all isn’t enough, the cold also promotes fat burning as it speeds up the metabolism. Unfortunately, one swim hasn’t had much effect on the undersigned. s 15

How about a nice little Sauna?

In Metropolitan area you can find a variety of new and old public Saunas.

Allas Sea Pool Katajanokanlaituri 2a, Helsinki Allas Sea Pool is a marine spa at the heart of the city. It is open all year round, has three saunas, two warm water pools and one (filtered, clean) sea water pool. There is also an outdoor gym and restaurant & café -services.

Kotiharju Sauna Harjutorinkatu 1, Helsinki Kotiharjun Sauna is the last genuine wood-heated traditional public sauna in Helsinki – it is from 1928. Hardy washing ladies are still on hand to scrub your back should you wish, and massage, cupping and manicures and pedicures are also available by booking in advance. Washing available Sat at 16-19. Towels to rent.

Kuusijärvi Kuusijärventie 3, Vantaa Kuusijärvi is a popular all-season outdoor recreational center. Kuusijärvi offers the only traditional smoke saunas in Helsinki Metropolitan area open to public on regular basis. Swimming all year round.

Löyly Hernesaarenranta 4, Helsinki Public sauna and restaurant complex in Hernesaari. There is a traditional Finnish smoke sauna, two other wood-heated saunas, a year-round terrace and a restaurant. It is possible to take a swim in the sea.

Oittaa Outdoor Recreation Center Kunnarlantie 33-39, Espoo Sauna and swimming in Lake Bodom all year round.

Sauna Hermanni Hämeentie 63, Helsinki Sauna Hermanni is one of the three remaining public saunas in Helsinki serving its customers since 1953. The Iki-Kiuas stoves give a nice relaxing experience. The saunas are separate for women and men. Towels to rent.

For more information: myhelsinki.fi and visitespoo.fi.

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YOU ARE HERE! Hotels providing Metropolitan Times are marked on the map with numbered dots.

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© Helsingin, Espoon, Vantaan ja Kauniaisten kaupungit 2023

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MAP OF THE METROPOLITAN AREA

Helsinki Helsinki became the capital of Finland in 1812.

Back then, it was merely a village, although it was founded as early as 1550. Nowadays Helsinki has got 665,000 inhabitants and is the largest city in Finland. More information: myhelsinki.fi.

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Espoo The first mention of Espoo dates back to 1431, but it was not granted city rights until 1972.

There are several centres in Espoo, of which Leppävaara is the largest. It is the second largest city in Finland with 305,000 inhabitants. More information: visitespoo.fi.

Vantaa Vantaa is Finland’s fourth largest and the oldest city in the capital region: the first mention of it dates back to 1352. Helsinki Airport is located in Vantaa. Just like Espoo, Vantaa has several centres.

Inhabitants: 243,000. More information: visitvantaa.fi.

Kauniainen Kaunainen is the smallest commune in Finland with only six square kilometres and 10,000 inhabitants. It is surrounded by Espoo and renowned with its wealthy residents. More information: kauniainen.fi.

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Greater Metropolitan Area The metropolitan area and the municipalities or cities of Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Nurmijärvi, Sipoo, Tuusula, Mäntsälä, Pornainen and Vihti form the greater metropolitan area with a population of about 1.4 million inhabitants. Together with the cities of Porvoo, Lohja and Riihimäki, the population of the greater metropolitan area rises to about 1,600,000.

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photo: The Finnish National Gallery / Jenni Nurminen

Paul Signac: Antibes. The Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum. Collection: Antell.

Text by Suna Vuori

Colour

I

In the Ateneum Art Museum's

Light

mpressionism is an art movement that emerged in France in the 1860s, in which immediate perceptions and momentary impressions were highlighted. Along with the new style, art became flooded with bright colours, outdoor air, and light. Lying in the background was an increase in leisure time, thanks to which the bourgeoisie began to spend weekends in parks and on beaches.

exhibition of Impressionist art, to open in October, works by Finnish artists shine alongside well-known international masters.

21

photo: Kansallisgalleria / Yehia Eweis

photo: The Finnish National Gallery / Hannu Pakarinen

Wilho Sjöström: Kesäilta (1912). The Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum.

Magnus Enckell: Puistokuva San Remosta (1913). The Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum.

“Impressionist plein-air painting changed the way artists work and revolutionised the whole idea of what painting is”, says Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff, one of the three curators of the Colour and Light exhibition. “That you can just have coloured spots on canvas. Or that colours are, as it were, sliced directly from a prism, and that they can be anything: pink trees or blue people. After that, art was no longer the same. You could even say that modern art would not exist without Impressionism.”

Since the artists who painted in a new way were not initially accepted in exhibitions at Paris salons, they began to organise their own sales exhibitions, for the first time in the history of art.

Art collectors, especially the American and Russian nouveau riche, took a liking to colourful paintings that brought life to their large mansions. Art trade also made the phenomenon international, as merchants began to take their exhibitions on tours from one country to another. This is how, for example, Claude Monet became one of the most famous artists in the world in a short time.

Rethinking the palette “Colour theory, simultaneous contrast and perceptual psychology – many questions in science developed hand in hand with art”, says von Bonsdorff, “and many artists were very interested in the sciences”.

The French artist Georges Seurat’s interest in colour theories specifically led to Neo-Impressionism, a technically more limited form of Impressionism. Within Neo-Impressionism developed the pointillist technique of painting, and then divisionism. In addition

to Seurat, representatives include Paul Signac and Alfred William Finch, who moved from Belgium to Finland.

In 1904, the Ateneum held an exhibition that introduced works

by French and Belgian Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists to the Finnish art audience. Meanwhile in Paris, there was a stir caused by the fauvists, literally ‘the wild beasts’, whose bold colours and wild brushstrokes were unheard of in the world at that time.

"You could even say that modern art would not exist without Impressionism.”

According to Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff, these sparked a major debate in Finnish art circles and a significant enthusiasm for colourist art: “Almost all the Finnish artists of that time reformed their palette, at least momentarily, to be brighter.”

Some 120 years later, opening in October when the days begin to shorten, we will stage an exhibition that, true to its name, will again bring colour and light to the people.

Two thirds of the works come from the museum’s own collection, and one third are on loan from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The exhibition will include works by, for example, Monet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and Auguste Renoir – but also by Finnish artists, and New Impressionists in particular.

22

“There are a large number of people working in art museums. For example, the curators decide the contents of exhibitions, while the exhibition technicians are responsible for presentation and the conservators for the condition of the works. Once the curators have compiled a wish list of the works for an upcoming exhibition, the work of the registrar begins.

We send requests to museums whose works we wish to borrow.

We describe the exhibition, and the curators explain why the work in question would be important for the whole. Borrowing is based on trust, but connections and networks also matter.

After that, we answer questions, negotiate loan terms and, if all goes well, conclude agreements. It is unlikely that we will ever succeed in getting each and every one of the works on our wish lists, because not all are loaned out: some are in too poor a condition to travel, the most sought-after ones are booked well in advance, and there are many who are interested.

The curators of the exhibition, the Ateneum chief curator When the list of works in the exhibition is finalised, production Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff and the Ateneum museum director Marja Sakari. scheduling starts, and is revised along the way. The registrar obtains insurance for the works, and in some cases, seeks guarantees from the authorities as required by the Museums Act, and arranges transport. Most loaned works are carried by companies specialised in art transportation, while the most valuable works and the most demanding ones in terms of presentation have their own escort, that is, a courier.

The diversity of our own collection surprises us time and time again. I’m certain that, in this exhibition, the Finnish artists will shine just as brightly as the international names. I think this is going to be a wonderful exhibition!”

COLOUR & LIGHT – THE LEGACY OF IMPRESSIONISM IN THE ATENEUM ART MUSEUM From 20 October 2023 to 25 February 2024 ATENEUM ART MUSEUM Kaivokatu 2

Tickets

00100 Helsinki

Standard admission €20

Opening hours

Discounted admission €12

Tuesday–Friday: 10–20:30

Under 18-year-olds €0

Saturday–Sunday: 10–17

www.ateneum.fi/en

“I think it is wonderful to present Finnish artists

alongside the big, renowned international names in Impressionism."

photo: The Finnish National Gallery / Hannu Pakarinen

The curators of the exhibition, the Ateneum chief curator Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff and the Ateneum museum director Marja Sakari, as well as the British expert serving as an adviser to the exhibition, Anthea Callen, have chosen the most representative artists from the Ateneum collection. Magnus Enckell and Ellen Thesleff were the first in Finland to change their palette and rethink their subject matter.

“Suddenly, these portrayers of silent spaces with ascetic colours rushed out into the open air and began to paint in these incredible blazing colours!” says von Bonsdorff. “I think it is wonderful to present Finnish artists alongside the big, renowned international names in Impressionism – and at the same time to see what a great source of inspiration this art movement has been for later generations of artists.” s

photo: Ville Malja

Registrar Anna Pirkkalainen

Monday: Closed

23

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Hero and/orVillain Written by Matti Mäkelä Translated by Christina Saarinen

Matti Nykanen celebrates winning Olympic gold in the 90 m ski jump in Sarajevo 1984.

According to Alfred Hitchcock, the villain

Ski jumper and Mr. Hyde

the hero. In real life, too, people are

In Robert Louis Stevenson’s story, Dr. Jekyll develops a serum that allows him to separate the good and evil sides of his personality. The violent, uninhibited Mr. Hyde is his evil side, which Dr. Jekyll, in his arrogance, imagines he can control. Things go badly, of course.

For Matti Nykänen, that serum was alcohol. In his Jekyll form, he won four Olympic golds and six world championships, as well as 46 World Cup competitions. During his active career, he was able to keep his Mr. Hyde under control, and his misdeeds were either minor (breaking into a kiosk at night while drunk) or even endearing (the decision to go party in Spain for two weeks after an argument with team management, returning in time to win medals at the world championships). After Nykänen’s career in sports, he was unable to keep his Mr. Hyde in check. The sad, alcohol-soaked story of the

is much more important to a story than fascinated by contradictory characters, whom we find more interesting than

flawless, one-dimensional lone rangers.

Here are a few examples of such figures from the history of Finnish sports.

26

photo: Alexander Savialoff / Finnish Heritage Agency

ski-jumping legend, who died at the age of 55, included a short career as a stripper, as well as domestic violence and a prison sentence for attempted manslaughter.

The Talented Mr. Myyrä Tom Ripley, the famous character from Patricia Highsmith’s crime novels and numerous films, is an extremely talented criminal who, by use of his wits – and sometimes luck – finds his way out of nearly hopeless situations.

Jonni Myyrä won the Olympic gold in the javelin throw in 1920 and 1924. In addition to sports, Myyrä was active in business, but his success in that field didn’t soar to the same heights as his javelin. For example, a sawmill Myyrä owned went bankrupt without ever sawing a log. To solve his financial difficulties, Myyrä embezzled a large sum from the small municipality of Savitaipale, in South Karelia. After he was caught, he managed to pay back the amount he had embezzled by taking a bank loan, buying himself more time. Myyrä knew he was on thin ice, however, and after the 1924 Olympics in Paris, he fled directly to the United States. He was never seen again in Finland.

Sympathy for the Devil According to medieval myth, Dr. Faust sold his soul to the devil in exchange for infinite knowledge and supernatural abilities. As you might expect, Faust quickly began to suspect that the deal wasn’t such a good idea.

Finnish sport experienced its Faustian moment at the 2001 Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, where six Finnish skiers were caught doping. It quickly became clear that the cheating was systemic, and had been condoned and coordinated by the coaching leadership and team doctors. Worst of all, Mika Myllylä and Harri Kirvesniemi had also made the deal with the devil. They were the biggest and purest heroes of Finnish skiing, who were supposed to be above such things. The shock was the same as that felt by American moviegoers when they saw Henry Fonda, in his first villainous role, shoot a small child at the beginning of Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968).

The Untouchable Algoth Niska was a big name at the dawn of Finnish football and was part of the Unitas team that won the first-ever Finnish championship in 1908. The high point of his career was the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, where the Finnish national team finished fourth (still the best result for Finnish football, by far). Niska himself scored Finland’s second goal in the quarterfinal match against Italy, which ended in a 3–2 overtime victory for Finland. Niska’s football career ended with a gold medal at the 1916 Finnish championship.

Niska’s legendary reputation doesn’t rest on football, however, but rather on his career as a smuggler during Prohibition, which lasted from 1919 to 1932. Niska got most of his alcohol from Sweden and Estonia, and with his fast boats, he became the most famous of the rumrunners and the hero of a thirsty nation.

Niska’s reputation was buoyed not only by the lack of popular support for Prohibition, but by the fact that he never shot at the police or used violence in any way, at least according to his own accounts.

Javelin thrower Jonni Myyrä returning from the 1920 Antwerpen Olympic games after winning gold.

Rather than Al Capone, Niska of folk tales is perhaps closer to Jesse James of Western films: a righteous hero who falls into a life of crime because of the corruption of the powerful, not through any fault of his own. (Of course, the real Jesse James was an illiterate mass murderer.)

There is a nasty twist also in Niska's story: during the Second World War, he helped Jews escape from German-controlled areas, but his motive was greed instead of doing the right thing. Niska is estimated to have earned 2.5 million Finnish marks from fake passports, about €800,000 in today’s money.

The Call of the Dark Side Jari Kurri, Finland’s Mr. Hockey, gained the attention of the Finnish public after scoring the winning goal against the Soviet Union in overtime at the 1978 European Junior Championships. Kurri spent the best years of his career in the NHL, winning the Stanley Cup five times and scoring more than 600 regular season goals. NHL players selected him as one of the hundred best players in the history of the sport, and he was chosen as the best player in Finland nine times in a row, from 1982 to 1990. In addition to his success, Finns loved Kurri for his modesty, humility and desire to play for the team. For example, at the age of 37, he went to the Nagano Olympics to support the team and accepted without complaint the role of a defensive fourth-line player.

Then the pull of the dark side became too strong, and Kurri went down the same road as Anakin Skywalker. After a career as a coach and commentator, he took over as the general manager of his formative club, Helsinki’s Jokerit, who were playing in the KHL – Putin’s league.

In 2019, Kurri, who had served on the board of the KHL, bought the Jokerit team, saying he wanted to get the team back under Finnish ownership. This was generally thought to be a lie from the beginning, and Kurri was seen as a front for and puppet of Russian oligarchs.

The situation was made worse by the fact that Kurri seemed to forget that even if he wasn’t personally interested in the civil rights of Belarusians, the general manager of a professional Western team planning to play in Minsk should at least pretend to be interested (which is easily done by being “strongly concerned,” “following the situation closely,” and “hoping for more dialogue”).

Kurri and Jokerit left the KHL after the start of the war in Ukraine.

At the moment, Jokerit is striving to return to the light, which is to say the Liiga, Finland’s top league. To that end, the team has had to cut all ties, financial and otherwise, to their former icon. s

27

TIMES

COLUMN

I miss you, Madame

O

ur first meeting feels like a combination of a job interview and being given orders by a superior officer. I’m standing in a lobby, which isn’t really a lobby, more of a corridor, and I’m receiving instructions for my stay. My instructor, Madame, is the owner and hostess of the two-star hotel and speaks French, which is to be expected as we are in Le Havre, on the Normandy coast. I have only a passable knowledge of the language, so most of the instructions I’m being given disappear into the winds blowing in from the Atlantic. It’s fair to say that the check-in process and detailed instructions, down to the strict key policy, bear little resemblance to anything I have ever experienced.

I have arrived in Le Havre at the invitation of the local literary festival. Shortly before my arrival, the festival announced that its main funder had withdrawn at the last minute and that the festival had been forced to resort to “slightly lower-cost solutions.” It certainly appears that the festival has succeeded in its objective.

Just when I start to doubt whether the trip was a good idea, from having gotten up in the middle of the night in Helsinki to arriving in this bleak hallway in northern France, Madame concludes her briefing. She hands me my key, gives a few more strict orders, and points the way. I don’t dare argue. Nor is there anything I can do about the memories that come to mind of other trips, other hotels.

For 20 years, I have had an international career as a writer, and I have gotten to travel with my books from Hong Kong to Mexico, Bucharest to Madrid. I have stayed in dozens, maybe hundreds of hotels.

When I attended the Edinburgh literary festival, my hotel room’s ceiling was as high as the room was vast. I had no need for the crystal chandeliers that dangled from a height of 7 meters, nor for the square footage of a tennis court, but the experience was certainly memorable.

In Hong Kong, I stayed on the 39th floor, which offered an unmatched view of the city, especially since one of the walls was entirely windows.

I suffer from a fear of heights, so the visit was unforgettable. In Paris, one particular room, and especially its bed, was so luxurious that it took me half the evening to prepare it for sleeping: there were pillows for a battalion and blankets and bedclothes enough for 10 normal beds. And luckily, the accommodation, which was booked by my publisher, included breakfast: I noted that the cheapest food item on the menu, a single boiled egg, would have cost €12. And I will

Written by Antti Tuomainen Translated by Christina Saarinen

never forget the night I spent in a 15th-century English inn. The low ceilings, creaking plank floors, thick stone walls and heavy silence had a significant impact on my feelings about ghosts.

And what do I find in Le Havre?

A bright room on the second floor, with everything I need. The furniture is sparse, to put it nicely, but the unoccupied space shows how clean the room is. The bed is comfortable, the bathroom shines.

I go out for a meeting. Madame stops me at the front door, asks what I have forgotten. I think for a moment, then take the large room key from my pocket. Madame looks at me, then smiles. Eventually, I dare to smile too.

By breakfast, it’s clear how wrong I have been with my preconceptions. In the breakfast room, Madame maintains the same discipline as elsewhere. But the atmosphere is – perhaps precisely because of it – as sunny as the day dawning outside the windows.

This is clearly Madame’s hotel, and we are here on her terms. She moves between the kitchen and the tables, pouring coffee, bringing bread and other necessities. It feels safe, homey. As the days go by, Madame still scolds me when I forget— encore! – to leave my key or when I try to open the front door the wrong way, but little by little we start to understand each other better.

When my last morning in Le Havre arrives, I thank Madame for a one-of-a-kind visit, and I mean it. Sometimes a two-star hotel offers a six-star experience. When I later hear that, since my departure, the hotel has closed due to the owner’s retirement, I feel a certain wistfulness.

Madame, I find myself thinking, I miss you. s

28

Antti Tuomainen is one of Finland’s most internationally successful contemporary writers.

His works have been published in more than 30 countries. The Times, one of Britain’s most respected newspapers, has named Tuomainen the funniest writer in Europe.

Photo: Jonne Räsänen / Otava

photo: Envato

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