Helsinki’s New Centre for
Artists from Across the Baltic
Updated with concepts for the new century, HIAP Suomenlinna will focus on visual artists from across the Nordic and Baltic region with an international twist. The new centre continues in a long tradition of arts and residency centres on the island, bringing together creative elements in residency work – including education, experiment, discussion, networking, production as well as exhibitions.
Residencies on Suomenlinna will focus on the artistic process: from the development of ideas, to artistic research and new creations. With its own large studios, guest rooms, production and other facilities in a natural setting amidst the sea, a short ferry ride from central Helsinki, HIAP Suomenlinna provides an ideal environment conducive to artistic experiment. Multiple channels for discussion will be opened in collaboration with international partners– such as the Temple Bar (Ireland), the Baltic Art Centre (Sweden) and Platform (Turkey) – with the goal of bringing together art’s local, regional and international dimensions in thematic projects.
Global economic, political and ecological upheavals of recent years have generated a need for new models of collaboration and production, along with new discourses in art. HIAP Suomenlinna will be a forum for curators, critics, researchers and artists to meet for special thematic events, seminars and summer schools. HIAP will also act as a host for other art and cultural organizations, co-producing their events.
Gallery Augusta, another important feature of the centre, will be the site of an annual international exhibition. The first in this new exhibition-series will open in June 2010 under the title of Snapshots of Tourism, curated by Maaretta Jaukkuri and Marita Muukkonen.
HIAP’s Board has invited eight international art professionals to be members of the Advisory Board. The members for 2010-2012 are:
Director Kestutis Kuizinas (CAC, Vilna), Curator Khaled Ramadan (Manifesta 10, Copenhagen), Curator and Art Critic Ekaterina Andreeva (Russian Museum, St. Peterburg), Director Nicolaus Schafhausen (Witte de With, Rotterdam), Curator Kaija Kaitavuori (Birmingham), Artist Saara Ekström (Turku), Artists and Curator Magnus Degerman (Stockholm) and Director Virve Sutinen (House of Danse, Dansens Hus, Stockholm).
In an urban working environment, HIAP Kaapeli at the Cable Factory in Ruoholahti, Helsinki, offers further facilities to artists, researchers, writers and cultural-sector actors. HIAP Kaapeli has three studios, first opened in 1999. Its associated Cable Gallery was taken under the umbrella of HIAP at the end of 2009. HIAP Suomenlinna is located on the Susisaari island of Suomenlinna-Sveaborg, which is an open-air UNESCO World Heritage site. HIAP Suomenlinna has five studio spaces and four guest rooms. Gallery Augusta and its guest rooms are located close by.
Visual culture is at the heart of HIAP’s work, which extends into contemporary dance, experimental theatre and music. HIAP is supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the City of Helsinki, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Arts Council of Finland, the British Council and the Goethe Institute.
HIAP Kaapeli / Cable Factory
Tallberginkatu
1 C 97
FIN-00180 Helsinki
HIAP Suomenlinna / Sveaborg
Suomenlinna
B 44 E 13
FIN-00190 Helsinki
www.hiap.fi
