TORSO UNDER CONSTRUCTION

By Zina Marpegan

What’s in store

goer from

inside

Photographs by Samu Pitkänen

??

What’s Paradise to You ??

You’re just sitting there on a sandy beach, watching the sun set into the horizon on a warm summer night, enjoying a couple of cold beers together with your very best friends and just vibing. That’s paradise.

Car-less city centers

Sun on my face.

...where you find peace. It may be a place, it may be a person, or just a state of mind. There’s no more anxiety, no more worries, no hate, just a fulfilling and endless peace. Paradise.

A small collection of personal interpretaions of paradise.

Gathered through an anonymous form <3

For me, paradise is an image of a calm and sleepy morning during winter, when you can feel that the weather is cold but you yourself are warm inside. Its a midnight blue sky at night with stars in the sky and pure silence as the surrounding sound.

El paraiso es la sensación que te da la inmensidad de la naturaleza de sentirte en tu hogar. El paraiso es mirar al cielo y sentir los olores de tu pasado, las camisas de tu abuelo, el perfume de tu madre, el olor natural de tu mascota y el talco de bebé. El paraiso no es felicidad sino el mero sentimiento de plenitud y satisfacción en tu interior...

Paradise is vegan, inclusive and full of health, a place where open communication defeats wars, a place where our differences brings us together, and a place of understanding, equality and equity.

Paradise is a place where I can

disappear but still be present

Succesful deception!

Look into MASKERAD’s

History

ARTS turned 150 years, students did not notice anything!

Totti Korpua (TOKYO chair 2022) interviews Antti Mattila (TOKYO chair 2004, something else earlier, too. Nowadays working as a scenographer in Helsinki City Theatre).

When working on this Maskerad issue, I remembered the meeting with TOKYO alumni last spring. Antti Mattila and some other millennium boardies paid a visit in Otaniemi and told all their secrets. The meeting was fast and there was a lot to cover, so Maskerad’s history wasn’t the only thing discussed that evening. That’s why I had to crawl all the way to the Helsinki Ciry Theatre’s remote administrative wing, where the scenocrapher Antti Mattila’s office resides. Antti knows everything about Maskerad (reportedly) and has been bringing it back in the early 2000s. This is a clumsy summary of the interview because the editorial board didn’t allow me to take all the space.

Totti (T): The TOKYO History book says Maskerad ball has been organised the first time in the beginning of the 1900s and the tradition ended in the 50s, when there was no restaurant left, which had not issued a ban on TOKYO’s parties. The ball was attended by both students and faculty.

Antti (A): The word is most likely based on the 130 years anniversary publication of UIAH, the Ateneum Maskerad book. My grandpa studied in Ateneum after the wars and there were no masquerades back then. My great aunt (sister if the one mentioned before), however studied in art ed in the 30s and they had masquerades still. May be that the tradition was revived for a small bit in the 50s and ended quickly again, but there are no facts supporting. The bans were a problem of the 60s and as a solution people found different odd mansions where to throw parties. This had nothing to do with Maskerad tradition. There were no suitable spaces in the school either because UIAH was spread all over the city after all teaching could not fit in Ateneum. Ateneum had some big drawing classes where one could have organised bigger parties but Maskerad was a fancier event and needed a fancier environment.

T: The first Arabia Maskerad was organised in the Lume centre and 800 people attended.

A: As a backround story: UIAH had its 130 years anniversary and I wrote a piece in Torso with a headline “UIAH turned 130, students did not notice anything”. [Phone rings, Antti can’t turn it off] The celebrations were for other people. There was the President of the Republic and the Minister of Education and such. The issue was highlighted when the publication to celebrate the anniversary

got its name, Ateneum Maskerad. I was in an email exchange with the School’s President Yrjö Sotamaa about it and underlined that the official representation by the student union was invited, but it wasn’t enough for the majority of the student body. I why would it? TOKYO’s secretary general Kaisa Yliruokanen suggested that TOKYO would organize the ball itself and asked the restaurant Ravintola Kaisaniemi to act as the venue. However, the board did not have the energy to begin the organizing. It was the time when the members of the representatives’ council Karolina Kiil from Art Ed and Laura Virnes from Clothing took the responsibility to organize the party for themselves. Joonas Juutilainen and Mika Soikkeli took care of the advertising. The head of Lume was Jarmo “Elukka” Eskelinen, who was known from the legendary parties of Image magazine in the 80s. The permission was granted quite easily.

T: There were no other parties thrown in Lume so Karolina and Laura didn’t take the easy route.

A: No. The bureaucracy was enormous and there were more and more papers and drafts and plans and tricks to do before we got the alcohol license. I was also running Kipsari and handling the bureaucracy fell on me because of that. We made a good job because Lume center’s head producer Samppa Murtomäki told no restaurant with only beer rights had got both full rights and extra time. In the following years the school praised our correctness and paid Lume’s overtime and cleanings costs. Sotamaa saw the event organised at school as important for the school’s identity. At some point the idea was questioned because the organizing took so much energy and money.

T: The first ones were a celebration for both students and faculty?

A: At least tried. The head of HR was thanked for a great outfit in the first year and used his efforts to encourage others. Sotamaa could not make it to the first one, neither the second. On the other hand, it is usually smart for the boss to leave pre-christmas parties early, too. Later, when Maskerad moved out of the school, the faculty did not come either. The parties were organised in Korjaamo, Gloria and elsewhere, when I already graduated.

T: I try to open TOKYO’s website and get the list of themes open, but the site is broken again. (ed. note: Totti fixed the pages later) Tell us more about the themes.

A: The first ones did not have a specific theme, but galactic space future and free latino theme like pekkajapätkägoesmexicomuchosgalientesbuenasnochesdearabiaviatorremolinos was given for the next ones. Childhood heroes and such.

T: Later was decided that three words is a good maximum for the theme, so that people actually can remember it.

A: The budget of the first Maskerad was 15000 FIM. The idea was not that TOKYO would earn something with the parties, but the question was how much can we make minus.

Intermission: Antti and Totti looks at old pictures. Some are not publishable, some kinda nice. People have played with the shutter speed.

T: The file name says Cocktail hour. Did you actually have one?

A: Maybe one year when it was TOKYO’s decennial. We invited other student unions and others. Other had an annual ball...

T: Did you get any complaints about Maskerads?

A: No nothing that we would have had sort our afterwards for example.

Antti throws Totti out of the theatre, because he’s busy. T: thx!

Looking through old pictures of Maskerad we expected to find photos of a lot of shitfaced (drunk) people. Instead, we found a lot of blackface costumes. Not only that, we found images of costumes that were insulting to several ethnic minorities in Finland. This shouldn’t have come as a shock to us, Finland in the 2000s wasn’t the most inclusive place when it came to media and representation. It was a shock because we are people living in 2022. We know the harm that dressing up as a caricature of an ethnicity or a disabled person can do and we were disgusted that this was our (arts students’) past.

Just so we’re clear, if you show up with blackface or any sort of culturally/socially insensitive costume nowadays you will get really bad looks and lose some friends, I wouldn’t rule out being kicked out.

Arts strives to be inclusive and open, let’s keep working towards that goal. Especially at events where everyone should be welcome.

Reportaasi TaiYon vuosijuhlilta 7.10.2022

Totti tai Carlos ei kumpikaan ollut koskaan sitseillä tai Maskerad-lippua kalleimmilla vuosijuhlilla. Pukeuduimme hienosti, rikoimme AYY:n nauhaohjesääntöä ja soitimme huonosti leluhaitaria akateemisten hanuristien edessä. Cocktailtilaisuudessa nolasin itseni eikä tilliviina pelastanut, Carlos suoriutui puheen espanjankielisestä käännöksestä hienosti, ylioppilaskunnista vain HYY halusi olla meidän kanssamme missään tekemisissä ja vastapäätäni istui kala. Tarkemmin: hauki. Esitykset olivat hienoja ja formaaleja ja laulut olivat pelottavasti nuotissa. Jatkot Allas Sea Poolilla olivat paskat ja kalja kallista. Jatkoilta synttärisankarit lähtivät taksisaattueella erään toisen ylioppilaskunnan kämpille

siellä oli niin tylsän näköistä, että piirsin sinne koiran seinään. Se putsattiin käsidesillä. Mahtavaa 5/5.

A quick report from ArtSu’s annual celebration

Totti nor Carlos had never been on a sitsit nor attended an annual ball costing more than a Maskerad ticket. We dressed up nicely, broke AYY’s ribbon regulation and played a toy accordion terribly in front of academic accordionists. I made myself a fool in the cocktail hour and the dill vodka didn’t help. Carlos’ Spanish translation of the speech was good. From all student unions present, only HYY wanted to even talk to us. In front of me sat a fish. More specific: a pike. The performances were nice and formal and the singing was terribly correct. The afterparty at Allas Sea Pool was shit and beer expensive. After the afterparty the birthday royals took a bunch of taxis to another student union’s home and it looked so boring there I drew a dog on the wall. It was removed with a hand sanitizer. Great 5/5.

There are other options you know... like fishface.

Carlos playing the toy accordion (above). Totti picking up thetoy accordian (below).

NuDe’s QUALITY PARTY is happening on 17.11 at Kipsari!!

Students and Faculty come together to discuss the past, present and future of Design.

There will be snacks and after the guided discussion there will be KARAOKE!!

Remember to take your vitamin D everyday <3 Otherwise your mental health will decline!!

Treasures can be found in TOKYO service point

I’m back from Dubai -Ilona

I found a really good bread place: Primo. For all fellow bread lovers… this is THE place.

Never stop the madness ja kohta kipsarin jono yltää vanhaan arabiaan asti.

Notifi cation board

2001 in Arabia some people had made costumes (dresses with criolines) of paper.

We are ready to create some (memories) this year.

I was amazed of the effort people had put on their outfits. I just had funny glasses.

Kaveri tilas lavan kaljaa ja jakoi sitä kaikille tanssilattialla, never forget.

Best costume parties I’ve ever been to. And the vibes allows me to make up wild costumes as well.

Pirikeijut räjäytti pankin 2018.

The aha moment for me to get creative: someone dressed as pack of condoms in Knights of Hearts.

Maskerad ---memories the end

Do you have something on your mind? Is there a tip you’d like to share? Give a shoutout to your favorite cat? Or just an event you wish people to know about?

new notficiation board is here to help you with that! Share your info to us and your message might show up on next issue of Torso. Send a message to: