Myymälä2

This week, Inside Out Helsinki takes you to a very special art venue, Myymälä2, an alternative exhibition place and a shop located in Punavuori. 

A little background information on the space : The gallery was founded by Jani Joenniemi and Gareth Hayes on Mechelininkatu-street in 2002. The first exhibition, REBORNLUXURY, was at the same time a shop of Pusipusi-clothes by artists Frida Hultcrantz and Maija Luutonen. A couple of years later Myymälä2 moved to its current location in Uudenmaankatu, where the opening exhibition was the legendary ’Helsinki Hall of Fame’ organized by Karri Kuoppala, where underground graffiti scene gurus were painting the gallery walls all night long. Soon Myymälä2 had gained the reputation of a streetwise art space for all kinds of urban culture and visual art crossovers and Jan Konsin started running the space. Myymälä2 is the first of the ‘new wave’ of artist run spaces that started to appear in the early 2000s. Soon after Huuto! gallery opened and some years later Oksasenkatu11, XL-art space, 00130, SIC, and so on. Myymälä2 is a strong street art advocate. For a long time, the city officials' suffocating zero tolerance approach had an enormous effect on street art's practice and content. During that period, the venue played an active role in defending the banned forms of expression by distributing zines and hosting shows. 

Myymälä2 is unique in the sense that it doesn't have a strict formal line. They aim at connecting with different scenes, not just the visual art scene, but also with comic art, graphic design, graffiti, skate culture and music. Myymälä2 emphasizes content and attitude in its exhibitions and looks for dedication to one’s work and a position outside of what you can find in mainstream culture.

=> Good to know : there are quite a lot of various kinds of events happening in Myymälä2 as well, not just exhibitions, such as concerts, film screenings, talks, which is quite unusual for a gallery space in Helsinki.

The place has a lot of self-published books, fanzines and records, as well as a small selection of clothes. The shop is also a cafe. Myymälä2 tries to give exposure to independent publications and other small edition printed items that have very limited availability in Helsinki in general. 

 A lot of artists work in their studios in the back rooms of Myymälä2. Many of them are part of the co-operative (osuuskunta) which runs Myymälä2 + other enthusiasts. 

The space has open calls twice a year and selects from these. They have a continuous intense programming : in the spring, they organize the Fall programming and in the Fall, the Spring one.  Members of the co-op also have access to the space on short notice to host events. This way Myymälä2 can be the front of the scene in terms of what’s going on in the city and society in general. 

Exhibition images below:
DYSTERBOTTEN
En annan sida av Österbotten / Toinen puoli Pohjanmaasta
Oscar Hagen & Beni Köhler
6-28.2.2016

One of the last shows at the venue, which can be seen in the photographs below, is “Dysterbotten” by artists Oscar Hagen & Beni Köhler which deals with hidden world of Pohjanmaa (Ostrobothnia) which means, basically, drug culture and use in that specific area. The exhibition was not pretty, as it deals with matters of alienation and becoming branded as a criminal and drug user by the society around you.

Further information: 
Address: Uudenmaankatu 23 F, Helsinki 00120
Website: www.myymala2.com
Opening hours: Wed-Sat 12pm–6pm, Sun 12pm–5pm, Mon-Tues Closed
Contact: info@myymala2.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Myym%C3%A4l%C3%A42/566528183462448?fref=photo

Sarjakuvakeskus // Comics center

This week, we would like to highlight a very special and unique Helsinki venue: Sarjakuvakeskus Comics Center. It's all the more interesting to us, as co-founder Hannah is currently preparing her own comics.In 2008, the Finnish Comics Society (Suomen sarjakuvaseura), Kutikuti comics collective and Pitkämies comics shop decided to join forces and create Sarjakuvakeskus in Kallio, Helsinki. Since then, Sarjakuvakeskus has moved, many things have changed and currently they reside here in Arabianranta. Sarjakuvakeskus is the place to go to when looking for foreign or Finnish comics. They also sell special comics which are not always available elsewhere – such as foreign translations of Finnish artists. They have a huge selection from Mangas to children's comicbooks, as well as a very interesting selection of more experimental and alternative comics to chose from. Furthermore, you can just chill, drink coffee or participate in their weekly workshops. The place is very warm and cozy. Sarjakuvakeskus is quite different from your average comic and magazine store, where you just browse and buy. Here, you can also talk with the welcoming staff, and just take your time to hang out. It's more like an open cultural center than a store per se, and teaching is always at the core of their activity.

The center takes into account customer feedback and ideas. For instance, they've even created courses based on customer requests. The center has also developed comics teaching methods. 

=> Interesting fact : On top of their courses and adult and kid workshops, Sarjakuvakeskus also uses comics as a way to work with special groups, e.g. senior citizens, prisoners, disabled people. 

The Finnish Comics Society has offices at Sarjakuvakeskus and the center publishes Sarjainfo magazine, runs an international residency programme and other international networking projects, as well as organizes in September Helsinki Comics Festival.

=> One of Sarjakuvakeskus top picks of the moment: check out Hanneriina Moisseinen's works. The center also recommends looking into Finnish comics blogs. Make sure to check out Sarjakuvakeskus' : Sarjakuvablogit.com

A special nod to funny newspaper strips, which are quite a big thing in Finland right now.

=> A little bit of history: 

The Finnish Comics Society started in 1971. At first, it dealt more widely about popular culture but soon focused solely on comics. Sarjainfo magazine was started in 1972 and Helsinki Comics Festival in 1979. 

The point was - and still is - to promote comics culture in all sorts of ways. And, Finnish comics has since then flourished!

Finland is known for having many unique artists with highly visual and experimental styles. For such a small country, the scene in quite big and diverse. Not many people are in it for the money, which explains the seeming lack of conformity and commercial compromises. 

There is no strong comics history such as there is in France (and Belgium), the US or Japan for instance. So the genres and formats are quite free here. That's another reason for Finland's experimental styles. It is also crucial that the industry gets some public funding for arts.

=> Make sure to check out this week Ville Pirinen exhibition! On top of more known things, such as Ornette Birks Makkonen, it features many less known works from Ville Pirinen's past. Also illustrations, album covers et. most of the works here are for sale, at very reasonable prices.They also have Pirinen's original works for sale at the shop, among other artists' works. 

Ville tells about his works here: http://sarjakuvakeskus.fi/blogi/780-ville-pirisen-nayttely-on-satunnainen-retrospektiivi and in the next Sarjainfo magazine there will be long interview of him.

What to look forward to in the future? At some point the center will move to yet another, still unknown location. => The biggest event to come is Helsinki Comics Festival, a free event in Central Helsinki on 2–4 September. 

Suomen sarjakuvaseura // The finnish comics society

Further information:

Website: http://www.sarjakuvaseura.fi/fi/
Address:
Hämeentie 150
00560 Helsinki
Website: http://sarjakuvakeskus.fi/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarjakuvakeskus/?fref=ts
Email: info@sarjakuvakeskus.fi
Phone: 09-6856100
Opening hours:
Mon-Fri 10am - 6pm
Sat 12am - 4pm
Directions:
From the centre of Helsinki, take bus 68, 71 or 74 or tram 6 or 8.

Kahvila Sävy

Here at Inside Out Helsinki, we love a good coffee ! And Finns are usually winners at combining great beans and a cosy atmosphere! It doesn't come as a surprise that we warmly recommend Kahvila Sävy as a must go-to coffee place in Helsinki. Its delicious coffee choice, offering a changing variety of coffees from high quality roasters all across Europe, and great nibble offers (from sandwiches to yummy pastries), and its warm decor, ambiance and feel, is a perfect place to snuggle while waiting for Spring to arrive! We also love their nice and talented baristas as well!

=> Good to know : Finns are the world's biggest coffee drinkers :) !

=> A little background : Originally Kahvila Sävy was founded by Kaisa and Mikko Sarén. A few years ago, Sanni Sointula and her partner Aleksi found out that Kaisa and Mikko were going to sell Sävy. As they knew Sävy's excellent reputation as a one of Helsinki's top coffee shop, they didn't hesitate to seize that opportunity. Aleksi already had an existing enthusiasm about coffee as he worked as a barista. And now coffee is nearly completely ruling Sanni and Aleksi's world :) .  

The speciality/quality coffee scene is small, vibrant and very supportive community in Helsinki. Interestingly, the overall coffee shop culture in Finland is relatively small as Finns mostly like to drink their coffee at home. So, how can small amazing coffee shops like Sävy compete with big coffee chains? According to co-owner Sanni: 

"Starbucks for example is doing a great job by tempting people to drink their coffees in a coffee bar. Of course we can't compete with their kind of marketing budget, but we believe that at some point people will also start to appreciate the quality of coffee, and not just a bunch of chocolate-vanilla-mint-pumpkin-flavored liquids and will understand the sustainable point of view of coffee as well. The more people's awareness grows about quality coffee, the better options small quality businesses like Kahvila Sävy have."

Kahvila Sävy's simple mission is to constantly improve their coffee all the time, and it has a few amazing changing aeropress options available. But if you want espresso based with milk, Inside Out Helsinki would definitely recommend Sävy's silky and creamy cappuccino and for the sweet-tooth, a home-made cookie on the side ;) .  

=> Good to know: From now on, Kahvila Sävy is starting a co-operation with Helsinki-based Good Life Coffee Roastery. The close collaboration with the coffee roastery enables the shop to have an influence not only on coffees they are serving but also on staff training and constant improvement of their coffee.

Further information:

Website: http://kahvilasavy.fi/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kahvila-S%C3%A4vy-120657571290663/
Address: Aleksis Kiven katu 12, 00500 Helsinki
Contact: savy@kahvilasavy.fi
Opening hours:
Mon-Thu - 7:30am - 6:00pm
Fri - 7:30am - 5:00pm
Sat - 10:00am - 4:00pm