7.5.2012

Above: Cirque Dracula (photo: Kari Vainio)

Above: Eurocultured och Aryz (photo: Kari Vainio)

Above: Colourscape (photo: Susse Määttänen)

Turku's year as the Capital of Culture 2011 is over – pictures live on

The Culture in Pictures exhibition moving to Romania

The next stop for the Culture in Pictures photography exhibition showcasing Turku's year as the European Capital of Culture will be Romania. The exhibition will be displayed at the Curtea Domneasca museum on 9–27 May 2012.

Targoviste is a city in southern Romania, located some 80 kilometres from the country's capital, Bucharest. With a current population of 90,000, Targoviste was the capital city of the principality of Wallachia in 1396–1714, before the capital was moved to Bucharest.

Testament to this period in its history are the ruins of the Royal Court, which are also the site of the Curtea Domneasca museum.

Turku is presented in the exhibition through upwards of 50 photographs as well as a video that wraps up the Capital of Culture year. Special attention is given to Cirque Dracula, a circus variety show telling the story of Count Dracula, staged in Turku during summer 2011.

Reputed to have been the inspiration for the character Count Dracula, the Prince of Wallachia, also known as Vlad Tepes (“Vlad the Impaler”), ruled Romania in the 15th century from the Royal Court in Targoviste.

Culture in Pictures touring to raise Turku's profile

The Culture in Pictures photography exhibition, showcasing the highlights of 2011 in pictures, was put together right after the end of the year. The exhibition opened in Turku and then toured to Rovaniemi and Mänttä in Finland. The exhibition is currently showing in Cádiz, Spain, as part of the city's year as the Ibero-American Capital of Culture.

While on tour in Finland, the exhibition attracted nearly 1,500 visitors. In Cádiz, Spain, it is housed at the newly built cultural centre, ECCO, where it has been seen by over 10,000 visitors since the opening in March.

The photographs in the exhibition were taken by photographers commissioned by the Turku 2011 Foundation as well as photographers who were involved in the different projects included in the Capital of Culture programme. The shots were selected from over 100,000 images in the 2011 photo archive.

The images take viewers on a journey from the emotional moments of the opening ceremony in the frost of January to the heat of the art sauna in the summer. The exhibition is a photographic journey from the River Aura to the open seas, from the Logomo venue to private living rooms, and from a swimming pool to the rooftops of the city.

The basic elements of life – fire, water, air and earth – once again lead us towards the darker months of the year, with the review of 2011 ending in the Thank You weekend's celebratory lights that illuminate the darkness of December.

The photography exhibition is organised in partnership with the Embassy of Finland in Bucharest as well as the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies (RABNS). Curtea Domneasca's previous visiting exhibition from Turku was in summer 2010, when the museum hosted an exhibition of Turku Printmakers Association.

After Targoviste, Culture in Pictures will be taken to Brussels to the Committee of the Regions' facilities. 

• Images from the Culture in Pictures exhibition 
• 70-minute video on Turku's year as the European Capital of Culture