Different views to contemporary Helsinki and its surroundings in poetry and stories of authors Yousif Abu Al Fawz, Polina Kopylova, Daniel Malpica and Roxana Crisólogo in Helsinki digital poetry map, a project produced in cooperation with The City Ghettos of Today and Sivuvalo. The presentation of the project was part of the program of Satakielikaupunki, Runokuu 2014 Literary Festival of Helsinki.
The poems were accompanied by improvised music by cellist Sergio Castrillón (Colombia). The panel discussion was hosted by the Regional Artist on Cultural Diversity, Outi Korhonen. The poems or extracts of texts were selected according to their relation to different places of Helsinki.
The City Ghettos of Today is a unique artistic initiative exploring the concept of ‘ghetto’ in 7 European cities. The activities of the project will take place in Helsinki between 8.9. and 20.9. These include a transforming installation that will form its contents in multidisciplinary workshops collaboratively with an international team of artists and local participants, a seminar that presents the cases of the project in the different cities, a series of workshops and public interview-discussions and two public performances related to the collectively built installation. At the heart of the project lies a desire to construct together meaningful experiences and new ways of understanding the concept of ghettos in different European cities. Do spatial, invisible or abstract walls separate groups of people from other groups? Why, when and how this happens in the different cities?
