URB on Tour in Pirkanmaa

Urban culture flourishes on the silver screen

Films about urban culture will be strongly present at the Tampere URB on Tour event. Kiasma will collaborate with the international Tampere Film Festival to screen a series of urban films, both short and feature-length. The repertoire not only includes Western films but also a selection of Third-world urban films.

The urban festival organised by the Kiasma Theatre embarked on a tour of Finland in autumn 2006. The first URB on Tour event took place in the Jyväskylä region in central Finland. Now it’s time to conquer Pirkanmaa: Ylöjärvi, Nokia, Pirkkala, Kangasala and Tampere. The spring will see further shows in Päijät-Häme in April, Northern Ostrobothnia in May and Kanta-Häme in June.

In early March, the tour will arrive in Pirkanmaa, where URB on Tour will collaborate with the Tampere Film Festival. Urban films have long been an important part of the URB repertoire, and URB has previously co-operated with the Dutch Black Soil International Hip Hop Film Festival, among others, in selecting the films.

URB on Tour will implement a special programme of urban art workshops and performances in collaboration with local partners. Kiasma’s partner on tour is the energy company Vattenfall.

Workshops and events

Free DIY workshops in Ylöjärvi, Nokia, Pirkkala and Kangasala provide an opportunity to explore different angles on urban art. The programme includes rap, video mixing and graffiti. The workshops, organised on 1–3 March, vary from one town to another and target 15- to 19-year-olds. The theme in Ylöjärvi is rap, in Nokia visual art, in Pirkkala VJs and in Kangasala dance.

The towns will also host URB on Tour events, where the workshop instructors take the stage with different performances and exhibitions. In addition, different material and documents from the workshops will be on display. The event in Tampere will take place on 10–11 March at the Hällä Stage and is a collaboration with the Tampere Film Festival. In addition, Galleria Huoltamo will host an exhibition of Karri Kuoppala, the graffiti workshop instructor, on 1–25 March.

The tour will culminate at the URB 07 festival in Helsinki on 1–12 August.