Examples of Saari Well activities from 2008-2009
As the following examples illustrate, sharing usually comes about spontaneously. However, staff also continually endeavours to create at Saari Well opportune conditions, meeting spaces and events for inspiring interchanges.
A Finnish painter, young and still in search of her artistic identity, found a mentor in an older Japanese artist while working here. The more experienced artist provided valuable feedback, encouragement and guidance, and the dialogue that developed between the two Saari residents proved very constructive for both.
Choreographer Ulla Koivisto while working at Saari Residence invited the resident writers, poets and painters in the evenings to her dance studio in the stone barn, where she helped them become better acquainted with their own bodies with the aid of the Alexander technique. Any initial timidity was soon overcome as participants began to discover new sides of themselves.
A translator working on a translation from Finnish to Slovenian received valuable help from a Finnish author also working at the Residence. Despite knowing no Slovenian, the Finn’s assistance was invaluable in interpreting the original Finnish text, especially with some difficult terminology and culturally-bound expressions.
A Norwegian puppet theatre artist gave a performance of his work at a bar in Mynämäki. The audience was comprised of the bar’s regulars, local cultural figures and fellow artists from Saari Residence. Feedback was immediate and eclectic!
Choreographer Ulla Koivisto had composed a piece for dancer Satu Rekola and one cellist. Working at Saari Residence allowed her to meet a young poet Jonimatti Joutsijärvi whose work became part of a completely new piece.