Transnational Finnish Artists and their Relationship with Berlin

 

 

In this paper that is based on data collected on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork I explore the relationship between transnational Finnish artists and Berlin.

 

 

Berlin is a European city that throughout history has played an important role in global politics. It also constitutes a significant cultural center that draws composers, conductors, designers, novelists, painters, photographers, and poets from all over the world. While Finnish artists crossed the Baltic Sea already a century ago in order to study or work in Berlin, they also do so today. This paper explores the relationship of mobile Finnish artists and the city of Berlin. I am interested to examine how mobile artists - for example through their artwork - contribute to the process through which the cultural texture and images attached to a particular city are being shaped. At the same time, I hope to point out in this presentation some of the ways in which Berlin as well as the experience of mobility both have an impact on the work of transnational artists. The data for this research will be gathered by means of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork beginning from spring 2013 onwards.