Window Walkabout is the all-time largest art event in the Tampere Region (i.e. Pirkanmaa), where windows serve as the stage. The windows provide viewers wandering the streets on an autumn evening with visual art, circus, installations and light art, among other things. More than a thousand people in the 20 municipalities of the region have been involved in creating a variety of experiences, with up to 200 screens.
A browser-based map service has been launched for the event, which is free of charge and accessible to all, at www.ruuduntakaa.fi. On the map, the information on the Window Walkabout works of art is available in both English and Finnish. The map service, implemented by Zoneatlas Oy, retrieves events from the City of Tampere's event calendar, where the performance times and venues of all the works are entered.
Viewers can visit or end up by a single window, but making use of the map service also allows them to preview content of interest and plan their own itineraries.
The Festival of Light opening in Tampere will feature 60 windows from 24 to 26 October, at 18–21. Around 20 of these will have performance content, such as circus in the Winter Garden, shadow theatre in the City Hall, kantele carving in the railway station tunnel and dancing at the main entrance to the Metso Library. The remaining 40 windows in Tampere will contain installations, as well as light, video and visual arts, and they will be displayed until 3 November. The Tampere exhibition has been curated by Meri-Maija Näykki.
Other municipalities will exhibit locally curated content, coordinated by community artist Tuuli Pollari and producer Sipriina Ritaranta. In Orivesi, performance art will be combined with crafts. In Nokia, performances will be seen in addition to visual and video art. In Lempäälä, icon art, among other things, will be on display. In Mänttä-Vilppula, visual art will occupy the screens of the city centres, and chainsaw art will be shown in Ylöjärvi.
Window Walkabout is the highlight event of Operation Pirkanmaa (2022-2024). In addition to Tampere the participating municipalities are Akaa, Hämeenkyrö, Ikaalinen, Kangasala, Kuhmoinen, Lempäälä, Mänttä-Vilppula, Nokia, Orivesi, Parkano, Pirkkala, Pälkäne, Ruovesi, Sastamala, Urjala, Valkeakoski, Vesilahti, Virrat and Ylöjärvi.
The map will be updated and completed during October, and there might be changes in the program.
www.ruuduntakaa.fi
www.operaatiopirkanmaa.fi
#ruuduntakaa2024
