Window Walkabout major event starts and offers new type of screen time
Window Walkabout is the biggest art event ever in the Tampere Region, with windows in urban areas serving as the stage for the audience in the streets in Tampere and 19 other towns and municipalities in the Tampere Region. The scale of the event is unique: more than 1000 persons are involved in creating some 200 windows with art-related content in October and November. The event is free of charge and will launch the Festival of Light in Tampere o
Lucas Aidoo and the fantasy character Sumus by Piki Rantanen.
Window Walkabout brings a surprising set of magnificently illuminated windows to the autumn darkness. The event covers dance, theatre, circus as well as light and visual art. In the centre of Tampere, 60 windows with their performances can be experienced from Thursday to Saturday 24-26 October between 18.00 and 21.00. After this, about 40 windows without performers will be displayed in Tampere until 3 November. The exact times for both Tampere and other municipalities in the Tampere Region can be found in the map at www.ruuduntakaa.fi.
18 months of preparations
Meri-Maija Näykki, Artistic Curator and Producer of the event in Tampere, developed the idea of the event about 18 months ago.
“Window Walkabout is unique in terms of its scale and character. We aim to highlight the fact that an urban setting with many events and cultural offerings is of paramount importance for the attractiveness of towns and municipalities.”
The event has its roots in the application process for the European Capital of Culture. Operation Pirkanmaa, a follow-up project of this process, produces the Window Walkabout event that culminates the project period. The operators implementing Window Walkabout comprise parties that were involved in the three-year project programme, both professionals and various enthusiasts, as well as a close network of 19 municipalities.
“It has also been great to see here that culture is not always just a target of cut-backs. Instead, the joint efforts of Tampere and the municipalities in the Tampere Region have achieved something quite new over the past three years,” Meri-Maija Näykki says with satisfaction.
Get adventurous with web map and route suggestions
A browser-based map service available at www.ruuduntakaa.fi has been launched for the event, which is free of charge and accessible to all. The map contains the works in both Tampere and other municipalities in the Tampere Region together with their timing in both Finnish and English. The map service implemented by Zoneatlas Oy retrieves the events from the event calendar of the City of Tampere.
Meri-Maija Näykki and her team have planned three routes in the centre of Tampere marked with different colours on the map, each of them covering about 5,000 paces. However, you do not need to follow these routes, but you can navigate according to your own interests or by examining the various categories of the map.
"Bring along your adventurous spirit and warm clothes! You can come and explore the windows over several evenings, as the event is free of charge. Window Walkabout will surely offer interesting experiences for everyone," Näykki promises.
Out of the network of 20 municipalities in the Tampere Region, Virrat will start the Window Walkabout event on 18 October, and the last of the municipalities, Kangasala, will join in on 4 November.
Pirkanmaa schedule in chronological order. Changes are possible.
Virrat 18.–25.10. | Valkeakoski 21.–27.10 | Ylöjärvi 22.–27.10. | Tampere 24.10.–3.11 | Kuhmoinen 24.–25.10. | Ruovesi 24.–31.10. | Ikaalinen 24.10.–3.11. | Hämeenkyrö 25.10.–3.11. | Sastamala 25.10.–4.11. | Vesilahti 25.10. | Pirkkala 25.–27.10. | Pälkäne 25.–27.10. | Akaa 1.11.-10.11. | Mänttä-Vilppula 26.10.–10.11. | Orivesi 1.11.–24.12. | Lempäälä 1.–2.11. | Nokia 1.–10.11. | Parkano 1.11.-13.11. | Urjala 1.11.-10.11. | Kangasala 4.–10.11.
