2011-08-11
Stories of the Seashore - Tallinn 2011
Tallinn is the European Capital of Culture in 2011. The present article is written in August while half of the year is over. Some summary how successful the Culture year has been and what kind of changes it has emerged can already be done. Though the real long-term effects of the year we can make after several years.
The planning and preparation that Tallinn will be the European Capital of Culture in 2011 started already in 2005 and the process came through several phases. It started with the discussions and brainstorming of working groups where belonged officials from different city departments as well as art people. Those groups prepared also the official application to the European Commission. In 2007 an independent organization The Capital of Culture Foundation Tallinn2011 was founded by the City of Tallinn with the functions of preparing and coordination of execution of the program. The infrastructure projects were performed by different city departments or state institutions.
The expectations what kind of problems the process of Capital of Culture will solve were very different: artists and culture people hoped to fulfil their dreams and ideas that could not have done in "ordinary year", marketing people found that the most important aim is the rise of foreign tourists, city planners stressed the need for developing disused districts of the town, etc., etc.
The preparation of such a big project takes several years and therefore it is quite natural that some ideas are changing, some dreams do not come true and instead some new ideas come up and realize. In addition one must add the results of international financial crises: the financial situation of the State of Estonia and City of Tallinn were much better in 2006 while the first application to the European Commission was made than at the end of 2009 while the final program and budget was confirmed for the year 2011.The reduced finances demanded much more cooperation and cleverness from all parties and at the end of the day everybody learned from it.
The main topic of Tallinn2011 was chosen: "Stories of the Seashore". The reason behind is twofold: sea offers poetic inspiration for the program but there is also very practical and pragmatic need to reopen the city to the sea.
Although having forty-nine kilometres of coastline, Tallinn has been cut off from the sea in the city centre during the Soviet occupation and the connection has not been re-established during the recent years either. In order to enliven the area and bring people back to the sea several infrastructural projects were planned for the year of European Capital of Culture. Some of them met the deadline, some are still in the middle of construction.
Estonian Maritime Museum will open an amazing new exhibition in the Seaplane Hangars of the former Seaplane Harbour. The hangars were built in 1916, architect Danish company, Christiani & Nielsen. These seaplane hangars are unique shell concrete structures, which demonstrate engineering 20 years ahead of its time.
Not far from Seaplane Hangars, Nargen Festival uses old factory Noblessner Foundry as its biggest performing place. The artistic director of the festival is one of Estonian most famous conductor Tõnu Kaljuste. The whole idea of Nargen Festival is to draw people to various seaside areas and join together the audiences both from overseas and the mainland in a common enjoyment of opera, drama and concerts.
Independent and alternative art initiative - The Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (CAME) uses the building which was formerly the office of Tallinn Heating Plant near the sea. Former Tallinn Power Plant (built in 1913) will be renovated into contemporary art and creative industry centre Kultuurikatel (Culture Cauldron). It will be interdisciplinary art space of 10 thousand square meters.
All these objects are connected by Culture Kilometre, a pedestrian walkway and cycle path that is built on the former railway permanent way that leads from the harbour to Kopli (residential area in the North-Tallinn). Along Culture Kilometre also smaller establishments were created: Fish Market and Eco-Island in the Old Fishing Harbour, community garden Katlaaed next to Kultuurikatel and CAME as well as different urban installations.
From the poetic point of view, storytelling gives birth to meaning and understanding. Through 251 different projects of Tallinn2011 programme, the stories help discover and preserve the image of Estonia. Stories give rise to Estonian history as they relate to Europe and the modern world, as well as the face and achievements of the Estonian people.
Several new initiatives and festivals found their existence during the past two-three years thanks to the preparation for the European Capital of Culture. For example, Tallinn Maritime Days, that has 25 thousand visitors in 2008, by 2011 the festival has grown to a real big family event of 100 thousand people. Tallinn Flower Festival took place for the third time in 2011, having exhibitors from ten different countries. Several projects has taken place in Telliskivi Creative Centre, an old industrial complex that has taken into use as a self-operating environment for creative industries. Today more than 60 organizations with 250 people are working in Telliskivi. The Volunteer Programme of Tallinn2011 has been very successful. The list of volunteers include today 1500 people out of which 500 are actively involved. The age ranges from 14 to 82. All these and many other initiatives of Tallinn2011 are planned to be continued in the future. Does this materializes depends on decision-makers and one can write about that after the end of Culture Capital Year.
There are also several unique projects that has only meant for the year 2011. One of the highlights of such kind of projects is the Straw Theatre realized by NO99 Theatre well-known through its unconventional ideas. The idea was to build a theatre building-installation that would create an effect not only by way of its function but also through its form, idea and material. Straw Theatre is an object standing on the verge of being a pure functional container on one hand, and an art installation on the other.
The Straw Theatre is built on top of the former Skoone bastion not far from the seaside. At the beginning of the 20th century, the bastion worked as a public garden, and during the Soviet era it was more or less restricted recreational area for the Soviet navy with a wooden summer theatre and a park on top. For twenty years after the summer theatre burnt down and the Soviet troops left, the bastion remained a closed and neglected spot in the centre of town. In such a context, the Straw Theatre is an attempt to acknowledge and temporarily reactivate the location, test its potential and bring it back to use.
It is a temporary building, built for a specific purpose, programme and location. It will last for only five months. Whatever happens here this summer will never happen again. But I am sure it will have the effect on the city life of Tallinn.
Although the Culture year is not over yet, the project of European Capital of Culture in Tallinn has definitely had positive effects on cultural life, urban development and tourist increase. The important issue now is to continue the processes that has been started.
Note: The August issue of KM Magazin, the German e-zine for arts managers, is dedicated to Tallinn 2011. You can download the magazine for free: http://www.kulturmanagement.net/beitraege/prm/39/v__d/ni__1940/index.html
An article by Anu Kivilo, Former Head of Culture and Heritage Department of Tallinn, exclusively for Arts Management Network
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