Unit 2

This unit will present three different examples of SEA projects that were implemented as part of the AMASS project. The three case studies were artistic experiments that were executed in and around the Arctic city of Rovaniemi, Finland, between 2020 and 2021. The SEA practitioners, also artist-researchers, approached the projects using different methodologies and standpoints, but the projects also shared many commonalities and values.

The first case study, Rakkaustalkoot, was led by Mirja Hiltunen and Pieta Koskenniemi, with a team of two curators, two researchers, eight artists from different fields, and four art education students as part of a summer festival. The project consisted of 12 diverse activities that were implemented around the city of Rovaniemi. The second case study, Flag, a colourful four-storey high textile installation, was implemented by Heidi Pietarinen and Amna Qureshi in collaboration with XX youths in the Agora Hall of the University of Lapland. The third case study saw the making and documentation of an ephemeral 15-meter textile installation on the icy banks of the Kemi River in the shape of a fish by four SEA practitioners.

SEA Case Study 1 – Rakkaustalkoot (Love talks)

This case study will introduce the Rakkaustalkoot (Love Talks) project. You will be introduced to the first case study of this unit, Love Talks, which was realised in Finnish Lapland in 2020, as part of an effort by local artists and art education students to explore how arts initiatives can build tolerant, community-focused neighbourhoods. At the same time, the project sought to reflect on how such activities could be scaled up to larger initiatives. The artists and art educators involved in the project took on the roles of teachers, developers, enablers, curators, facilitators, producers, and creators of a new dialogic operational culture. The project asked whether socially engaged art can provide new tools for social interaction and increased collaboration, and how new dialogue, critical discussions and new forums for participation can be created through different kinds of SEA interventions. The paper and blog presented later in this unit (Hiltunen et al., 2021) highlights the importance of paying attention to how activities are organised and realised in the diverse and often challenging environments characteristic of socially engaged art and community-based art education. The case study explored how to promote encounters, tolerance and well-being through the use of art and the role of culture and art in promoting social inclusion, capacity building, networking and participation in daily life and living environments (Hiltunen et al., 2021).

Photo 1: Iraqis, Al-Fateh Ali Mousa and Saba Majid, in front of the “Ishtar Gate” on the river bank of river Kemijoki, Rovaniemi, Finland. 2020.

Photo 2: The new genre public art piece standing on the river bank of river Kemijoki, Rovaniemi,
symbolises a show of love for their (Iraqis) new home country, Finland. 2020