2019
During Finland’s presidency of the Council of the EU starting at in July, Brussels will be featuring some of the top names in Finnish contemporary art and culture, as well as rising new talents. The broad cultural programme supports the priority themes of the EU presidency period and The Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux in Brussels is closely involved in carrying out the programme.
In 2018, the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux’s programme focused on Transition. In 2019, our theme is RE/definitions.
2018
How did you wake up this morning? Maybe to an alarm on your cell phone? What was your first thought? For many of us it’s “Can I sleep for another half hour?”. And, what was your last thought of the evening? Maybe you thought about whether you could watch just one more episode on your streaming service or whether it was really time for you to go to sleep. In fact, it is likely that these were the first and last risk management decisions of your day. Each of one us makes hundreds of risk management decisions whether we are at home, in our free time, or at work. Do you know the kinds of risks you are taking while navigating the digital world in our everyday life?
Do you know (or are you yourself) a Finnish artist, producer, programmer, writer, designer or other creative professional working in the Benelux-area?
Besides Finland, the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux operates in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The Institute’s offices are located in Brussels. In order to remain up to date with all the trends and future directions in its countries of operation, the Institute cooperates with local advisors.
What if the future of music came from the Far North? There is no doubt that Nordic and Finnish musicians play an important role in the international music scene. Every category has a Nordic touch : vocal and instrumental music, metal, traditional and contemporary music, and jazz.
Less than two months ago I moved from Tokyo to Brussels, straight into the heart of Europe and the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux’s great programming for 2018! We have our excellent previous Director Aleksi Malmberg to thank for carrying out the preparations for the start of the year, as well as our amazing team, with whom I now have the privilege of adding new initiatives and ideas to the programme.
Okay, so there’s nothing here on the Sámi people”, I noticed at the end of an introductory tour of the House of European History.
I was visiting the relatively new House of European History at the beginning of February as part of a group of twenty odd individuals involved in the Remembering 1918 programme. Each one of us had the task that day of leading our own public tours of the House of European History. After the introductory tour, we were given a few hours to prepare to offer our own views on the museum’s exhibition which deals with European history.
For several years, this small international festival has been experimenting with new curatorial practices in a fierce and open way. The festival distinguishes itself by introducing co-curating, by politicising curatorship, and by rethinking the international. Baltic Circle hereby positions itself as a forerunner and is an ideal ground to visit with students who are themselves operating in the field of “expanding curation”.