FOCUS - FOtos Creating UnderStanding

Article posted: 30.07.09

Cultural Exchange in Helsinki 18-26 September

FOCUS – FOtos Creating UnderStanding is a multilateral project that gathers 32 young people from Finland, Italy, Poland and Turkey for seven days in Helsinki. The theme of the project is visual communication.

Media and photos are part of our everyday life, so it is important to have a critical attitude towards the images we see around us. Our goal is to develop understanding of pictures and their constructed nature through means of visual communication, such as photographing and through learning to analyse images.

During the project we focus on the language of images and on questions such as is our visual understanding related to our verbal understanding, what is the role of culture in interpreting images, what kind of images does media show on particular themes and how media affects our notions of particular themes. Through these kinds of questions we also contemplate on our notions of other cultures and how these notions are born.

In this project we use workshops as the learning method so that the participants are fully involved in the activities. An essential tool in the exchange is camera. During the event we will produce photo material, which will presented in an exhibition after the event.

Are You interested in participating? We gladly welcome everyone, who is would like to contribute to the preparations or help realizing the event. As an organizer you will be able to join the activities together with our participants.

Please contact jaakko.toivola@aegee-helsinki.org, petra.santti@aegee-helsinki.org or juha.kanno@aegee-helsinki.org to learn more!

This publication has been funded by the European Commission. The Commission accepts no responsibility for the contents of the publication.