ArsMondo

• ArsMondo is the brainchild of Hanna Maria Laakso, Ph.D. Based in Positano, Italy, Hanna is responsible for the management and development of the workshops and tours as well as the collaboration with ArsMondo’s international partners.

• was founded in 2010

• believes that genuine intercultural dialogue begins with local actions

• promotes the intercultural dialogue between local Finnish and Italian cultures

• believes that art is a unique tool to intensify and enrich intercultural dialogue

• emphasizes each person’s role in creating dialogue between different cultures and a genuinely international world

Greetings from Hanna Maria Laakso

How did it all start? Read on to find out how my very own dream came true..

I received a Ph.D. in the Humanities at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, in 2007. In my doctoral dissertation I explored the Scandinavian film acting traditions, and the influence of Strindberg’s theatre on Scandinavian women actors.

Hanna Maria Laakso

During and after my studies I have lectured in Canada, Great Britain and Scandinavia on Scandinavian women actors. I have also worked on promoting intercultural dialogue within Europe, e.g. as part of my job at the European Festivals Association in Belgium. I also have run many school workshops, introducing national and international cinemas to children and young people.

The dialogue between South and North European cultures has always fascinated me always.

On one occasion when I had finished a new chapter in my dissertation, I treated myself with old Italian films – some of them featuring Scandinavian stars. Getting more and more fascinated by cinematic representations of Italy, I soon wanted to find out whether today’s Italians still remember the famous scene in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita with Anita Ekberg in Fontana di Trevi. What, after all, do the Italians know about the Scandinavian art and artists, I wondered?

Searching for answers to these questions, my Italian adventure began.

AirCanada took me across the ocean, into Milan, before I took the train to the South. Spending time in Italy, I soon experienced first-hand how Italy still has a major pull for Scandinavian artists and manages to reveal their talents in new and incredible ways.

Next, I wanted to find out what is it in Italy that fascinates and inspires those artists’ imagination who kept coming back to the country for new inspirations, new creations.

As a result, I came to see a Finnish artist’s huge ceramic ovens in the midst of the green hills of Tolfa, I admired sculptures by another Finn in an old Etruscan cave which she had turned into the most gorgeous art gallery. I also followed a video artist going about her daily routines in Milan. Having witnessed the great professionalism of these artists who had come to work in Italy, I became even more inspired.

Because for me one’s overall well-being is most important, I fell in love with Italy where the world of arts and culture is a sort of package filled with elements tending to the mind, body and spirit all at once: food, music, history, nature, arts…well, basically all the amazing things our five senses can possibly take in.

ArsMondo, art world, means for me “art in the everyday” – in small, meaningful details.

My days begin with ashtanga yoga practise. I began practising ashtanga yoga in Montreal in 2000. I consider my greatest teacher Mark Darby, one of the few teachers worldwide who has attained the highest level of Ashtanga Yoga teaching accreditation and is certified by Pattabhi Jois to teach the original Ashtanga method.

I have also studied Astanga with Eugene Poku and Allison Ulan in Montreal, Susanna Finocchi in Copenhagen and practiced at the Astanga Yoga School in Helsinki.

Yoga for me is the source of a balanced life, a great resource of inner happiness.

I want to spread and promote the wisdom of yoga. I want to help people find permanent, lasting balance between the mind, body and spirit.

My wish is that our art workshops, cooking courses, culture weeks and yoga workshops allow travelers to completely step away from their hectic everyday lives. I wish for our travelers to find themselves in situations where they can surrender themselves to local Italian cultures – learning new things in the process and enjoying every step of the way.

Cooking, making art and doing yoga are all tools that can allow us to become part of genuine, local Italian lifestyle and rhythm. They are unique and energizing tools which have enourmous power making it possible to leave behind routines of the everyday.

I hope that our Italy-weeks will bring everyone lots of new inspirations, a new kind of self-understanding, newly gained energy and plenty of rest.