The project ”Narratives of Finland: Historical Culture, Arts and Changing Nationality” includes an artistic part which askes how do contemporary artists conceive changes in the understanding of Finnishness and what are the new perspectives they can offer for building a diverse nation.

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 Center 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.

The selected artists are:

Özgü Gündeşlioğlu, Harold Hejazi, Spartak Khachanov, Nadiye Koçak, Mia Malviniemi and Mervi Junkkonen, Sara Moayed, Ennisofia Salmela Flores and Mia Seppälä.