Member in Focus: Kaapelitehdas

Outside Kaapelitehdas (Helsinki, Finland) from the summer of 2009 from the anime and science fiction event Finncon/Animecon.

Introducing: Kaapelitehdas (Helsinki, Finland)

Published in January 2010
Interview by Anna Weitz
Photos by Kaapelithedas

TEH:s member in Helsinki, Kaapelitehdas (The Cable Factory) has just won "The Helsinki Cultural Achievement", a €5000 cash price, for their 100m graffiti wall in Suvilahti. Kaapelitehdas' Communication officer Anni Syrjänen explains why they decided to invest in the wall.

Suvilahti is an extensive former energy production area in Helsinki which is developing into a cultural centre under the administration of Kaapelitehdas. In September 2009 the work of cleaning the soil after the gas works started as well as other improvement of the infrastructure area. If everything goes as planned, the popular graffitiwall will reopen at the start of the summer 2010.

Why did Kaapelitehdas decide to make the graffiti wall in Suvilahti? And what does this prize mean to you?
Anni Syrjänen: In our opinion, graffiti is a form of visual art. And there was no legal place for graffiti in Helsinki before this. In 2008, we had to clean graffitis from our buildings with €10 000. Stuba Nikula was thinking: If we build a wall with €5000 and the cleaning expenses will cut down by half, it's profitable for us. The amount of illegal graffitis diminished clearly in 2009. This prize means that we can build a new wall for the summer 2010. We are also happy of the big public support.

What is the relationship between the Cable Factory and Suvilahti?

Anni Syrjänen: Theadministration of the old energy production area Suvilahti transferredto Cable Factory in 2008. It's good to copy the good things from CableFactory and learn from the old mistakes. It takes 5-7 years to repairthe buildings and fill them with tenants. During the next years,Suvilahti provides an enviroment for creating new urban culture.

Apart from the graffiti wall, what is unique about your centre?
Anni Syrjänen: The marginal and one-off activities and events. Our tenants ideas concerning the use of the facilities and their activities are supported as much as possible.

What are your key activities?
Anni Syrjänen: Exhibitions, fairs, festivals, courses, performances etc. The crazy ideas of our tenants, and others who are renting our facilities for short time.

What are your centre's future ambitions?
Anni Syrjänen: To satisfy the need for cultural space in Helsinki. To be a better "cultural shopping centre" with unique individual tenants. To maintain historically unique industrial buildings and enviroments. Some future projects are: To renovate a 2000 m2 building in Suvilahti for Cirko Centre for New Circus. To take part in Helsinki World Design Capital 2012.

What does TEH membership mean to your centre?
Anni Syrjänen: Being an European cultural centre. Being a better cultural centre. Having friends all around Europe. The real European community.

And finally, if the Cable Factory were a visual artist, who would it be?
Anni Syrjänen: There is at least 100 visual artists working at Cable Factory and Suvilahti, but I don't want to name any of them. So I say Pipilotti Rist.

For more information about Kaapelitehdas, please see the TEH members database or visit their website.
The website of Suvilahti www.suvilahti.fi displays webcam images of the graffiti wall.
There are also videos of the graffiti wall on TEH TV.

Opening of the Graffiti wall in Suvilahti in the Summer 2009.

Next Member in Focus?
'Member in Focus' is a series of interviews with TEH member centres, which gives the network, and other interested, the possibility to get to know our members better. If you work in a TEH centre and would like your centre to be highlighted on the website for a month, just drop a line to the Coordination Office. We are especially interested in featuring centres with important upcoming events, centres in times of change, challenge, celebrations etc.

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The project Changing Room has been funded with the support from the European Commission. The work programme of TEH has been funded with the support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. TEH has been awarded a multi-annual operational grant by the Nordic Council of Ministers for the project Trans Nordic Net.