5-29 July
Viitasaari library
Free entry
During the 40-year history of Time of Music, paper documents and, for example, program books, posters, video, audio recordings, photographs, and sheet music have been piling up in its archive. In the summer of 2021, it was decided that this would be the time to sort through all the huge material for digitisation and further preservation. The material will be sent in its entirety to the National Library of Finland.
The size of the archive is indicated by the fact that there are about two and a half meters of paper documents alone. The project has been ongoing for about seven months now, and is scheduled to be completed by the end of June, just before the festival begins. The most motivating thing in this work are the moments when, browsing through the material, one recognizes the names and pictures of famous composers. These are real “behind the scenes” experiences: when you read the correspondence with Helmut Lachenmann, for instance, you feel like getting closer to the artist, his character and his psyche. An exhibition will be held celebrating the 40th anniversary of the festival, featuring at least carefully selected photographs that best portray the history of the festival.
The goal is that the display won’t be the most predictable – the walls won’t just be filled with photos of John Cage and Jane Manning, and the exhibition isn’t meant to be a praise of individual artist guests. Rather, we aim to select for the exhibition images of absurd moments, successes, encounters, creativity, and the diversity of experiencing and seeing.The purpose of the exhibition is to depict the Time of Music at its best: its creators and participants gathered around a common cause, rejoicing over the power of art to satisfy our senses.
