Current and Topical
July 15, 2023 – Welcome to the artistic part of the project “Narratives of Finland: Historical Culture, the Arts and Changing Nationality”!
This artistic part consists of the artworks of nine artists, selected by open call in 2022 and presented 2023 to 2024 in cooperation with Mannerheim Museum, Helinä Rautavaara Museum, Culture Centre Caisa, Gallen-Kallela Museum and Vantaa Art Museum Artsi.
The project “Narratives of Finland” explores what kind of national stories are produced for example in museums, schools or films, and by what means individuals can bind themselves into these stories in the creation of a shared national identity. Furthermore, the project is interested in asking who can identify with these stories and how cannot.
In an attempt at opening a broader social discourse, the project partners up with four museums and one cultural centre. In autumn 2022, an open call invited artists to propose artworks that tell their unique story of Finnishness. Bringing these artworks into the institutional context of the museums and cultural centre, we hope for an interaction between different stories, traditions and experiences. It is through this dialogue with new, not yet heard, forgotten or underrepresented stories that we want to contribute to the ongoing project which is that of the constant construction, deconstruction and reconstruction of the Finnish nation.
Suomen tarinat project website
Mannerheim-museo, Mannerheim-museet — 17.4.–31.7.2023
Özgü Gündeşlioğlu:
(un)intended collaboration,
keramiikka-installaatio / keramikinstallation / ceramic installation
Mia Seppälä & Puistopolun Peruskoulun 7. luokan oppilaat:
Uudet kunniamerkit,
veistos/kunniamerkki / skulptur/ordenstecken / sculpture/mark of honor
Kulttuurikeskus Caisa — 24.–27.8.2023, klo 19:30
Harold Hejazi:
Adventures of Harriharri — Episode III,
videopeliesitys / videospelsföreställning / video game performance
Helinä Rautavaaran museo — 12.10.2023–18.2.2024
Nadiye Koçak:
Yhteys,
mosaiikkiteos / mosaik / mosaic
Mia Malviniemi & Mervi Junkkonen:
Samassa veneessä,
dokumentti/tanssielokuva / dokumentär/dansfilm / documentary/dance film
Ennisofia Salmela Flores:
Kirjeitä Argentiinasta,
kirjeitä / brev / letters
Vantaan taidemuseo Artsi — 12.1.–18.8.2024
Spartak Khachanov:
The Impersonal,
multimedia projekti / multimediaprojekt / multimedia project
Gallen-Kallela Museo — 10.2.–26.5.2024
Sara Moayed:
Ode to Heterotopia,
penkki ja ryijy installaatio / bänk och rya installation / rug and furniture installation
Mia Seppälä & Ruusutorpan koulun 8. luokan oppilaat:
Uudet kunniamerkit,
luovutusseremonia / överlämningsceremoni / handover ceremony
July 1, 2023 – Moving memories Learning platform
The results of the MOMEM project have produced a great pedagogical learning platform!
MOVING MEMORIES: Learning platform on transformations in the past of six European countries. Knowledge of history – of an individual or a country – opens the door to understanding.
The courses are free, no registration is necessary.
Finland’s contribution to the project is the articles Karelian refugees’ memories of resettlement and The immigration and reception of the first Somali refugees in Finland in the 1990s.
Read more: Moving Memories – Stories of Crises and Migration
March 30, 2022 – Anthropological Act of the Year Award
The Finnish Anthropological Society awarded the Helinä Rautavaara Museum the Anthropological Act of the Year 2021 Award on March 30, 2022. As they said, ‘The operation of the Helinä Rautavaara Museum is an excellent example of how a versatile anthropological perspective and know-how can benefit museum work and become a part of the public debate and development.’
‘This award is a wonderful acknowledgement of more than 20 years of work,’ said Museum Director Ilona Niinikangas. ‘Museums have an important role to play in a changing world. We no longer just preserve the past, we are also part of building the future. Through our actions, we at the Helinä Rautavaara Museum want to show that a small ethnographic museum in Finland can be a bigger player than its size would suggest, and that we can respond to global challenges through anthropological expertise and museum work.’
A full statement from the Finnish Anthropological Society is available in Finnish at their website: Vuoden antropologinen teko 2021.