Scandinavian Culture Calendar: May 2024
By Hanna Heiskanen
Where to go, what to see? It’s all happening here!
Art Matter Festival 2024 (23 May to 1 June)
It is always exciting when art steps out of the museum and into the street. Copenhagen’s Art Matter Festival, organised since 2013, provides the perfect opportunity to enjoy springtime in the Danish capital whilst exploring its contemporary art scene. Keep an eye on the festival’s website for this year’s detailed programme.
Venues around Copenhagen
Copenhagen Distortion (29 May to 2 June)
The annual Distortion event is Copenhagen’s biggest street party and attracts up to 100,000 revellers young and old who take over the streets. There are different events taking place around the city every night of the festival, including communal dinners, skateboarding, street theatre, and parties for children and teens.
Venues around Copenhagen
Tero Saarinen Company: Morphed (2011). Photo: Mikki Kunttu
Mikki Kunttu: Lucid Dreams (until 2 June)
Mikki Kunttu is one of Finland’s best-known lighting and set designers with a career spanning theatre, dance, circus and more. Lucid Dreams is a retrospective showcasing Kunttu’s photographic skills. Kunttu received the prestigious Bessie Prize for his lighting design for choreographers Tero Saarinen and Akram Khan in 2006.
Kaapeliaukio 3, Helsinki
Mystery of Banksy. Photo: Dominik Gruss
The Mystery of Banksy — A Genius Mind (until 16 June)
We may still not know who the person behind Banksy is, but that does not stop us from enjoying his provocative and thought-provoking art, which arrives in Oslo this spring. 150 pieces, ranging from graffiti to video installations and plexiglass prints, will be on show at the Økernsenteret, a former warehouse and a venue fit for this rebel.
Økernveien 145, Oslo
Volker von Bonin’s A Glimpse of Helsinki. Photo: Volker von Bonin / Helsingin kaupunginmuseo.
A Glimpse of Helsinki — Volker von Bonin’s photos (until 25 August)
German-born Volker von Bonin (1924– 2006) settled in Finland in the 1950s and has taken some of the most touching and iconic pictures of his adoptive homeland. Some of his thousands of snaps, featuring Helsinki and its inhabitants from the 1950s to the 1980s, are on display at the cute-as-a-button Hakasalmi Villa a few steps from the Central Railway Station.
Mannerheimintie 13b, Helsinki
A Glimpse of Helsinki. Photo: Maija Astikainen / Helsingin kaupunginmuseo
Mamma Mia! The Party (until 28 September)
There ain’t no party like a Mamma Mia! party, now coming to a venue near you in Stockholm. If you have seen the musical or the film adaptations, you will be familiar with the story playing out around you as you enjoy an evening of food and drink at the Tyrol, located within the Gröna Lund amusement park. Even if you have not seen them yet, you will find yourself singing along to the iconic tunes.
Almänna Gränd 3, Stockholm
Yoko Ono: Times Square, 1969. Photo: Yoko Ono Lennon
YOKO ONO — PEACE is POWER (until 30 September)
Yoko Ono reached the grand old age of 90 earlier this year, but her art has not lost its ability to touch and rattle the viewer. Having experienced the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs in her child- hood, Ono has made peace a central theme in her creative process. It is only fitting that the exhibition is hosted by the Nobel Peace Centre.
Brynjulf Bulls plass 1, Oslo
Mamma Mia The Party. Photo: Dewynters
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