issue 03 · volume 12 19 Thursday JULY 2012 Tonight: LECTURE ---> Casagrande
PARTY BOY
QUESTION OF THE DAY What is your favourite wasteland in the sun?
The night never really got started . Maybe because in Helsinki there is no darkness. Nevertheless we started drinking ‘long drink’ cans in the bar in anticipation of the upcoming nocturnal activities. We ended up joining the spanish team for a few copitas which is a sure way of making the night last longer. They live for the twilight hours and don’t decide the party has started until well after midnight. Unfortunately the pub crawl which started at 9pm in a Helsinki dive bar had already reached it’s final stop in sangria-nightclub Pacifico. Maybe if the spanish had known they could have soaked themselves in sangria and reminisced about cadiz we might have left the easa-site earlier. We arrived at Pacifico to find a crowd of EASAIANS coming the other way who brought us to the Plan B destination. The bargirls just about served everyone a drink when the last orders were called. Despite our best efforts to get the music pumped up and the lights turned down, the dancing mood never really came over the crowd. It could have been an epic night if only we could stay up past curfew. On the flipside, at least people are more well rested for working every morning. Let’s hope the Punk Rock band tonight can ruffle a few feathers and make the crowd go wild. Just make sure you don’t wait until darkness to get WASTED!
1. Patrick-Lichtenstein The beach
6. Clemens-Austria Hoke Bus Clemens rooftop
2. Bogdan-Serbia The stairs
7. Kieran-Ireland Little green benches…it’s a little piece of garden, you can take it anywhere you want
3. Sam-Uk Go to the bar, get a beer, sit on a swing
8. Baris-Turkey Top of the gas central
4. Philip-Germany Café next to the sauna…every place that has a strong form is my favourite place in the sun.
9. Mariette-France In the middle of the field
5.Michal-Poland Southern tip of Suvilahti peninsula
10. Willem-Netherlands The treehouse
u m b r e l l a n e w s p a p e r @ g m a i l . c o m h t t p : / / E A S A N e w s p a p e r . t u m b l r . c o m
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day 2 of spying on workshops
W O R K S H O P. R E V I E W S WRITING IS BUILDING I met these pen-people at the lunch stand. Writing is hungry work, especially when you have to produce a building at the end. In the meantime they have been describing a wasteland site around Helsinki in their beautifully bound notebooks. Tutor Michael Hayes has been introducing them to books, films and texts from his oversized baggage as inspiration to counteract potential writers block. The next step should be to make some of the words materialise in space. Possibly through a street art project or film. Laura Linsi, a well read estonian who likes to dress in librarychic has been making the first steps towards creating a book. We are looking forward to publishing the first words that are released to the press.
ZEN AND THE ART OF BLANKET FORTS Hanging blankets is not all this workshop is planning to do. They aim to create a flexible chill out space in the lounge area for everyone to use. Blankets, cushions and other fabrics will be placed inside this “fort”, in which users are encouraged to modify the space depending on the situation. Tonight, just drop by to try out this experience for yourself!
GATHERING WASTELANDS This workshop is basically dealing with the issue of wastelands all across Europe. Yesterday, participants were encouraged to recall any of their memories which might have included wastelands and express these memories in the form of models and writings. It was a very emotive exercise, dealing with emotional attachments to places that became wastelands. Thanks to this exercise, wastelands were studied, the reasons why these happened and the story behind them. The common factors were noted and this will eventually be used so as to come up with solutions for such spaces. This workshop will be seen walking around Helsinki, talking to locals, and from this try and come up with a solution to the universal problem. GATHERING WASTELANDS will be exhibiting their works and findings at the WORLD DESIGN PAVILLION, on the coming Tuesday and Thursday, presenting both the process that led to their findings and also the final strategy together with theoretical solutions.
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day 2 of spying on workshops
REFUGE This workshop might be the one that deals with one of the most sensitive issues presented here this year. As Noora (tutor) explained, the centre for European nomads houses mainly people from Bulgaria and Romania, who would make use of the place for a short time during the day. The place is only open for 4 hours a day, providing the nomads with a place to accommodate basic human needs such as toilets, showers, wash clothes and rest for a bit. It also turns one of its rooms into a classroom for 1 hour per week for children. The participants have visited the place personally and got a chance to talk to some of the people there. From this visit, they were able to notice what the present problems at this place are, and sort these problems into groups. Today then, participants were coming up with all types of possible solutions to the above-mentioned problems and shared ideas about what could be done. Eventually, all the combined ideas will be narrowed down to a feasible and tangible solution to try and at least solve some of the problems found at this place. Apart from tangible interventions, the workshop will also offer help such as writing CV’s, which will benefit the users in the future. Well it sounds like a very promising workshop which we will definitely keep an eye on.
WASTED LIGHT Well this workshop seemed so under the weather today (couldn’t figure out why). They have been working in small groups, trying to come up with solutions of how they could build their final product. Models of 1:20 and 1:50 were used to experiment upon. They aim to start construction by tomorrow and their final structure will be placed in the main courtyard for everyone to use.
TRASH ART Seems like this workshop has finally decided what to produce from the waste lying around – a GARDEN. This garbage masterpiece will be placed in the middle of the main yard, which all the participants hope will be finished in time for the final presentation. Since there are really no chilled out placed where Easains can sit to have their breakfast and dinner, TRASH ART thought of creating a semi-covered garden which will have benches , bushes and flowers, all made from materials which we would normally throw away. We might actually be lucky enough to see one of their trees by tonight and maybe some bushes which were in the making process.
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VISIONING HELSINKI In a boardroom plastered in postits from the morning workshop I met with Diarmuid Lawlor, Head of Urbanism at Architecture and Design Scotland who dropped in to talk about the ‘Wicked Problems’ of the world and how they can be solved by talking things through with the people who are affected. What do people want? What makes a good space for interaction? We rely too much on the ‘masterplan’ of the architect who sits an an ivory tower and decides how people should live. Using EASA as a case-study for non-hierarchical decision making, the participants tried to understand what makes it so successful. The key is to involve the community through discussion without having a pre-determined direction. Often people are reluctant to offer their opinions unless they are engaged directly. So in EASA terms that means the tutors should involve their participants in the design process if they want them to do the hard work in the last days of easa and be proud of what they have achieved together. So don’t be demotivated if your tutor seems clueless - take the opportunity to make your own impact and bring the lessons of collaborative design thinking back to your own community.
19 Thursday JULY
more workshop reviews
ILLUSION
KONE WORKSHOP
Check out this cool picture from participants Nina, Julia and Lydia. It is part of the photo exhibition in the corner of the bar. Playing with scale, orientation and their imagination they are subverting the perceptions of the viewer causing them to question reality. How often are we tricked into believing a lie? But these participants are tuned into deception and are starting to look at everything with a critical eye. But they are also just having fun playing practical jokes, tutors Thomas, Kamila and Romea have been trying to make things disappear from a young age, there is something sinister about their power to remove objects from existence, so don’t leave any chocolate lying around your desk or you might never see it again. Tutor Cecily has been attending with the EASA of performing artists for the last few years too so she also has a few tricks up her sleeve - watch out!
Yesterday one-day workshop Uplifting landings started preparing the participants’ brains for the innovative look at the perception of space inside and outside lifts. EASAians are lucky to be under the leadership of director at Alvar Aalto Academy, member of the Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA) and as we all have noticed , person inspired by what he is doing as an architect. Laaksonen shared his ideas about human perception part of the design process, emphasized the importance of involving human senses in design. The architect divided senses into two groups 1 – sight / taste / touch / sound / smell 2 – proprioception / tension sensors / pain / chemoreceptor / stretch receptors / thirst / hunger / magnetoception / time We were shown different pictures where we could clearly see the beauty of spaces where these senses played an important role in creating the atmosphere/ environment. The presentation together with Laaksonen’s inspiring speech gave the impulse for deeper thinking of space design. So the first day was to get together, get acquainted with the task and start thinking of innovative way of perception this specific kind of space concerning with the lift area, which is located at the Nokia Cable factory that was closed 25 years ago and now it houses completely different kind of industry – Art. Nowadays the building is used as a cultural centre and has 1.5 million of visitors per year! On second day at the presentation of the participants’ concepts it was clear that they got the main point of the workshop task. There were many proposals which were based on the differences between perception inner and outer space and on effect of surprise. On Friday the participants will be totally involved into the building process. Their inspiration will be sup-
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easa fm dr.love
ported by the KONE Company with lunch and dinner at the restaurant, and with drinks provided during the whole day. It’s really thoughtful of KONE and food always helps! And also KONE did their best to make participants feel free in inventing and not to bother about the any kind of material. And all EASAians are welcome to join the PARTY on FRIDAY at 18.00 – 20.00 which is going to take place right there – in ART CENRE in the Cable hall. It’s easy to get there. Just take the tram 8 and go to the bus stop called Kaapeli (cable factory). As for me I’m looking forward to it) Hope to see you there. Guys!
DR. LOVE
Ladies and gentleman, Dr love is back again, ready to guide you through the tough labyrinth of love. The late sixties are over and free open love is now overrated. As you might have noticed, this year’s edition of easa is 70%* female. Love is in the air and unless you’re a lesbian, it’s gonna be hard for you girls to get some sweet time if you’re looking for a partner. Ladies are gonna be queueing for attention so here is some advice for you : Don’t throw yourself at guys!
EASA FM
they like competition and the thrill of hunting, the point is make your intention clear but let him do the first step, it’s hard to be a women, don’t make life too easy for them… Dance on a table! if you wish to get spotted, it is the best place to be, visible from afar, you will show confidence and a certain sense of “specialness”. you’re a very unique person, let the world know!
10:00 - 10:30 - News & Weather
Drink too much!
10:30 - 12:00 -Morningshow win a pair of AKG headphones
According to a top european research program, numbers shows that you are 60% more likely to end up with somebody by the end of the night although you might not remenber what happened with whom. (whoever kissed a easa.tv tutor last night please report to the info point)
12:00 - 14:00 - hosted by: Hugo a journey through french hiphop 14:00 - 15:00 - hosted by: Patrick movement special 15:30 - 17:00 - hosted by: easa.tv no theme is the theme 17:40 - 18:00 - News & Weather 18:00 - 19:00 - Dinner Service + special guest 19:00 - 21:00 - bring your music* + pre-party at the bar 21:00 - 23:00 - EASA FM Live *we will play it. promised!
Do a wet tee-shirt contest This is EASA, every body is sexy but you’re not afraid to show it, the notion of sluttyness is an old relic from the past and hedonism is the EASAsian way of life… So bring back the spirit of Easa006 Budapest style! So spread the love, as love is the only medicine for the world sicknesses… PS. if you have sexual frustration or a relationship problem please send us an email
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19 Thursday JULY
local guide weather
LOCAL GUIDE
Helsinki has already shown us a lot of its sites but I wanted to get to know it closer. A friend of mine showed me the inner side of this city. A bit more private one) And I’m ready to share some tips from him.
Today – places for enjoing the views and feeling the atmosphere. We took the tram and got to the bus stop next to Senaatintori (Senate square). Here you can start you walking tour. Enjoy the view from the stairs of Helsinki Cathedral (Finnish: Helsingin tuomiokirkko) the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral, designed by Carl Ludvig Engel as the climax of his Senate Square. It is surrounded by other, smaller buildings also designed by him. Walking along the tiny streets (Sofiankatu for example) try to drop in the inner courts – you’ll find some private cafes and shops where the atmosphere is completely different from shopping streets. Then you’ll get to Kauppattori market square with a wide range of a very! expensive souvenirs from Finland. Don’t rush to buy them… I’ll find out the cheapest place with souvenirs for us! Promise you! From this point you can take pleasure of the view of the sea mixed with small Finnish islands and take a ferry (free for card possessors – which means us!) to one of the 6 islands where sea fortress Suomenlinna is located. There you walk around enjoying the view of the sea which are different in different parts of the island. Standing on the top of the hill you can see where the impossible seems the be real where the sky meets its love – sea where time stops and you are becoming the part of this love story of the nature elements which however are not destined to be together. In the evening the most romantic view of the whole city can be observed from Hotelli Torni (Tower hotel). Prices there are far from romantic but this experience is worth all money of the world! Also drop in the toilet there) And you will get why the view is an important feature even if you are designing WC)) You know I’ll tell you a first gossip I think I met my perfect match! … And His name is - Helsinki)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY !! Happy birthday Ermioni Garramone! Χρόνια πολλα Ερμιόνη! Πολύχρονη! from the Greek team If you know of anyone celebrating his birthday on EASA, send us an email on umbrellanewspaper@gmail.com
LOST - Black rain jacket - Serbia - Brown Nokia phone - Moldova Please return to INFO POINT
WEEKEND WEATHER