ENCATC Congress 2023

Through Study visits, participants have a chance to unite the theoretical teachings of the Congress with a practical side, made of concrete examples and best practices. The 2023 edition of the Congress gives access to visits in five different key locations of the cultural scene in Helsinki. 

At the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, you will be able to delve into the complex mechanisms of how a mid-sized opera and ballet company works nowadays, from its yearly planning of opera and ballet productions to the management of its personnel (currently, the Finnish National Opera and Ballet has approximately 550 people on the payroll from 32 countries). You will learn about the stylistic choices this institution needs to make to keep its offer lively and engaging, between new productions and revivals of classic productions, and find out about the challenges and frontiers that running an opera house entails in 2023.

During the Visit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, you will learn what it means to manage an institution being part of the largest art museum organization of a country. You will discover the system that lies behind the programming of exhibitions, performances, and events, and what it entails to seek the goal of making contemporary art accessible to everyone. You will also explore the innovative services that a museum can offer today to its visitors, from a Library to a Theatre, even a special Club, and learn about the benefits of offering a diversified cultural programme.

The Study Visit at the National Museum of Finland will give you the opportunity to discover the management behind the oldest and most comprehensive cultural history collection of Finland, comprising approximately half a million objects. The question of how to valorize diverse collections, from folk culture to contemporary culture, including cultures from various parts of the world, will be addressed. You will also have the opportunity to explore the foundation and mission of a museum spread over a total of ten locations across the country, from the south all the way to Lapland.

At the Helsinki Central Library Oodi you will have an opportunity to get to know one of the most innovative examples of a library looking beyond itself and into the future. As a place that promises to be a living and functional meeting place, open for all, at Oodi you will learn about some of the most advanced solutions to facilitate learning, story immersion, work and relaxation. What's more, you will discover how a City Library can work through 37 different branches, coordinating contents, approaches, and projects.

At Amos Rex you will discover the ways in which a museum can attain its boldest mission: to make past, present and future meet. Specifically, you will learn how site-sensitive, experiential, and often technologically experimental exhibitions are put together, combining contemporary artists and their Modernist predecessors. You will also be taught about the premises behind a museum that was born out of a private art collection, bringing together 7,000 artworks from a single publisher and arts patron, comprising paintings, sculptures, drawings, graphics and photographs.

At the Congress, participants will have numerous chances throughout the programme to listen to musical performances, as two days of the Congress will take place at Sibelius Academy (Music Center), one of the largest music academies in Europe. This institution is known for providing the highest level of music education in Finland and worldwide.

Specifically, participants will be able to listen to an audio-visual live performance by the students from the Music Technology department, created by using Artificial Intelligence technologies in the field of sound and new media, an Electro-acoustic sound and music performance by the Arts Management and Music Technology students, and a Global music ensemble by the Global Music department.

Wednesday, 11 October

9:00 - 9:30 Sound Installation

10:40 - 10:55 Audio-Visual live performance

Scope is a collection of audiovisual pieces by Jonatan Snapir created in 2023. The pieces explore ways of transforming our familiar surroundings into something new and unknown using different forms of machine learning and artificial intelligence. These transformations tell us about the ways in which algorithms analyze the world around us, and how those ways differ from those that come naturally to humans. Two pieces from this collection will be presented in the ENCATC Congress 2023, a sound installation and an audiovisual performance.

Jonatan Snapir is an audiovisual artist from Helsinki, Finland. Focusing on experimental electronic music and abstract visual art, Snapir works with many different mediums ranging from creative coding to analog electronics. Snapir studies music technology at the Sibelius Academy CMT.

Wednesday, 11 October, 19:00 - 19:20

The aim for their five-string fiddle duo was clear to Emilia Lajunen and Suvi Oskala from the start: to search for great fiddle tunes from the archives – both written and audio – and to make the music of the old fiddler’s their own. In addition to their interest in tradition, they also share a passion for the inventive use of their five-stringed instruments which makes this fiddle duo very unique. As a result of these two passions their repertoire as a duo consists of Finnish fiddle traditions gems arranged with a twist and of commission compositions by eg. Mikael Marin of Väsen and accordionist Johanna Juhola.

Friday, 13 October, 09:30 - 10:00

Born in Tehran, Iran in 1993, PAJUH aka Hamidreza Keshvarpajuh is a saxophonist, producer, improviser, and event producer. He’s been long involved in Iran’s alternative music scene and played in several Iranian festivals with different projects named Obad, and Block Project. He relocated from Tehran to Helsinki in 2021 to start his master’s studies in Arts Management at the Sibelius Academy. He’s been now working on his experimental electro-acoustic music performance combining multiple genres with Iranian folk music’s poetical improvisation. His work has drawn influence from styles such as psychedelic rock, funk, Nu jazz, Middle Eastern, minimal, and electronic music intending to fabricate modular compositions. Now he has been working on his debut album with the idea of fastening modular patterns and affixing sonic collages. In this concert, Pajuh will be accompanied by Ranieri Scoccia and Tyko Vaskivuori.

Ranieri Scoccia is an Italian drummer and music producer who’s been working with the international Finnish bands NOOA and Sätilä. In the live performance, he will collaborate with PAJUH by creating minimal electronic soundscapes and resonating indie and disco-funk rhythms.

Tyko Vaskivuori is a keyboardist, producer and composer, currently doing his bachelor studies in music technology at the Sibelius Academy. He also studies piano performance at the Pop & Jazz Conservatory.

Friday, 13 October, 13:00 - 13:30

WANNE (Swahili: four) acts as a natural platform for transcultural experiments, reaching across geography and fusing improbable elements. Decidedly rooted in Africa, the quartet borrows the marimba from the Western classical music tradition, and recontextualises it closer to its origins: together with East African drums and raw vocals. WANNE also proposes an unexpected marriage between the European double bass and the South African overtone flute, the umtshingo. These ingredients come together to create an uplifting rhythmical experience that embodies an intuitive sense of movement.

This fresh Helsinki-based quartet draws on the diverse musical backgrounds of:

- Kasheshi Makena (TZA): percussion and vocals 
- Ayla Brinkmann (RSA/FIN): flute and vocals
- Saija Penttilä (FIN): double bass and vocals
- Sami Karkar (FRA/TUN): marimba and vocals