Johanna Lecklin
Story Café – Coffee and Stories
Galleria Huuto Uudenmaankatu
11.10.–22.10.2006
I will set up Story Café in Galleria Huuto Uudenmaankatu. During my residency in London year 2004 I rented a small shop, decorated it and put up a “café” called Story Café. I offered the visitors a cup of coffee in exchange for a story. The motto was Tell a Story – Get a Coffee. I recorded the stories on video. In the spring 2006 I was invited to the EV+A exhibition in Limerick, in Ireland to make my Story Café.
In Ireland I noticed a strong storytelling tradition. Many of the storytellers made an unhappy childhood memory or an embarrassing incident into an anecdote and distanced themselves from their own experiences. I recorded the wildest and most tragic stories and everyday mishaps, fairy tails and religious experiences.
I will make a Finnish version of the café in Galleria Huuto Uudenmaankatu and show stories that I have recorded in London and in Limerick. After the exhibition I will continue working with the stories I have recorded. I will write scripts based on the stories and dramatize some them. I am exited to see if my story café will succeed in Helsinki, will people give their time, do they have the courage to tell their stories.
Johanna Lecklin
Thanks to all the storytellers
johanna.lecklin(at)kuva.fi
