Fatal Nordic Attractions – Helsinki Special



© Pekka Turunen
Flaggfabrikken presents

06.11.2008 @ Landmark 19:00

Fatal Nordic Attractions. Helsinki Special

Curated by Maya Økland and Hilde Jørgensen.

Finnish photography.

You may all know about the international success Finland has gained for its art photography and art videos. But how did it all happen?

We have invited researcher Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger and curator Aura Seikkula from Helsinki to outline the Finnish art photography scene for us.

19.15
Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger will give us a presentation about the making of the Helsinki School phenomena, the definition of it, how it works, and by which strategies. We have also asked her to tell us about how it is decided who is in and who is out, if the “outsiders” benefit from the hype or get ignored? Will the attention from the international art scene persist, and which direct differences/changes has the phenomena made for Finnish art photographers, also visually, do the artist need a specific approach in order to fit in the Helsinki school definition?

20.00
Aura Seikkula will elaborate on Anna-Kaisa´s presentation giving us the perspective of an independent curator. Sharing her experience on how it is to relate to this phenomena when curating exhibitions and talk about the Finnish photographic art scene in general.

21.00
We invite the audience to enter the discussion and ask questions. Maybe even a debate on what we think of this strategy. Is it a well calculated hype, or a true way of expression? A combination maybe?

22.00
Art Show Bar Lounge. Screening of Finnish photography selected by Maya and Hilde. Petri will play a mix of tango and other Finnish pearls until 01 o´clock.

The screening included works from following artists:

  • Heta Kuchka
  • Jouko Lehtola
  • Susanna Majuri
  • Sanni Seppo
  • Jari Silomaki
  • Sonja Siltala
  • Kari Soinio
  • Juha Suonpää
  • Pekka Turunen
  • Hanna Weselius

MA Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger is an art historian and currently engaged as a researcher in the Academy of Finland’s and The Finnish Museum of Photography’s project The making of Polar Stars – The internationalisation of Finnish photographic and video art. In her PhD thesis the main focus is on the discourses of internationalisation of contemporary Finnish photographic art. Rastenberger works also as a lecturer in Helsinki University and free lance art critic. Previously Rastenberger has worked as the editor-in-chief of KUVA, a Finnish magazine of visual culture. She has also been employed by Helsinki City Art Museum and The Finnish National Gallery.

Aura Seikkula is an independent curator based in Helsinki, Finland. She completed her master’s degree in philosophy and cultural politics at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland in 2005. She currently runs the Korjaamo Gallery, the biggest independent gallery in Finland and works as a guest curator for The Finnish Museum of Photography, for FRAME (Finnish Fund For Art Exchange, Helsinki) and European Economic and Social Committee. Most recently, Aura Seikkula curated the exhibition, “Tense Territories” for the santralistanbul in Istanbul, Turkey and “Questions of Conflict. Third Party Observations” for the European Museum for Peace in Austria. She is the co-founder and president of SKY Finnish Society for Curators, a co-founder and member of We as A Group (Nordic Curatorial Collective), and member of the Piknik Frequency Media Art Organization. Seikkula has published numerous articles about contemporary photography and cultural/identity politics in art.