Ekku Peltomäki (FI) – Retriitti, Finlandia part 2, light epic

Event Introduction

“When I had my installation exhibition Elämänvirta at Retretti and made my sound work Finlandia in 1989, I didn’t even notice that it was the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Winter War. Nor did I know that my piece Finlandia would be performed for decades to come.

The Finlandia anthem is known worldwide as a gospel version (“Be Still My Soul”) and as a peace song (“This Is My Song”). The lyrics of the Finnish version of the hymn can be found in the poetry of V. A. Koskenniemi’s collection of poems “Latuja lumessa – Kenttäpostia ynnä muita runoja” from 1940. I did not feel the need to change the music for the Lux piece to be produced in Hietaniemi and again I found, as in Retretti, that coincidence had brought me to the same theme – the theme of the Winter and Continuation War. Thus the circle is closed, and this work, Retriitti, is also my farewell piece.

Retriitti is an installation artwork with the verses of the Finlandia anthem as a soundtrack. The style of the work is lyrical and for its structure I am grateful to the beauty and harmony of the Hietaniemi cemetery with its wooden columns. My work is a song of light to blue skies, green leaves, winds, seas and majestic mountains. A song of peace for everyone everywhere.”
– Ekku Peltomäki

Technical implementation by Capital AV, Johannes Koivisto
Assistant: Ada Hämes
Projection drawings by Nyoman Wirdana (Bali, Indonesia)

Ekku Peltomäki
Ekku Peltomäki has worked in lighting for opera, ballet, theatre, television, concerts, environmental and landscape lighting. His career as a lighting designer began with fashion shows in 1972. Peltomäki is a founding member of the Finnish Comedy Theatre and has served on the board of the Urkuyö & Aaria Festival from 1991 to 2005. In 1993, the landscape lighting in Sapoka Water Park was chosen as the lighting project of the year in Finland and in 2007, Peltomäki received an honourable mention in the Luminord lighting design competition. Retretti museum’s exhibition Elämänvirta was for a long time one of the largest in Finland with 233 000 visitors. The light and sound work Finlandia has been seen in various exhibitions and events by around 650 000 visitors. Peltomäki has been a pioneer of stage lighting and light art in Finland.

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