Bridging Finland, Korea through media art
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Tytti Rantanen
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Tytti Rantanen, program coordinator of AV-ARKKI, visited Korea to attend the Seoul International New Media Festival (NeMaf) 2016 to introduce Finnish media art to Korea and promote exchanges between artists of the two countries.
Media art is a genre of art which includes anything with moving images in a broad sense, its root coming from experimental films.
"It could be a single channel video or multi-channel installations. More artists are doing online projects through the Internet. It is something different from film but has something to do with moving images," Rantanen said during an interview with The Korea Times, Monday. "Media art is for open-minded people who are not afraid of experimental and abstract art. It is also for those who are interested in what is going on in the world now as media art sometimes deals with complicated, contemporary issues such as refugees and gender equality."
The AV-ARKKI is a distribution center for Finnish media art with over 200 member artists and Rantanen's role is to liaise between artists and institutions.
"When artists submit their new work, we send it to biennales, museums and galleries. We also work with film festivals such as NeMaf. However, we don't sell rights, but just connect the artist and organizations and help them get the right price," Rantanen said.
For NeMaf 2016, Rantanen curated a special section dedicated to Finland and gave a lecture on the history of Finnish media art and where it is today.
The characteristics of Finnish media art can be largely summarized in a critical approach to the Scandinavian ideals including nature, equality and education.
"Some artists deal with more transnational, political themes. For instance, racism is a big issue in Finland now and artists want to produce films about how to fight racism and achieve harmony," Rantanen said. "Some of the works are more personal and the artists reveal how they live in this world."
She added that most Finnish media artists work alone with small budgets. "It's like a one-man orchestra _ an artist shoots the film, edits the film and sometimes even acts in the film. However, the media art pieces are not low in quality," Rantanen said.
Since it is difficult to encounter Korean media art in Finland, Rantanen said attending NeMaf provided her with a great opportunity to watch Korean short films.
"One thing I noticed is that they portray a great sense of humor. I also sensed what kind of issues you are dealing with in Korea now. After Breaking the Silence was about workers on strike and it was good to see those sides of society, something under the surface and not in a guidebook."
"On the Finnish art scene now, collaborating with Korean and Japanese artists is quite popular. We traditionally worked with artists from Europe, from Austria, Germany and France, and from the United States, but now we are coming to this corner of the world," Rantanen said. "We are looking for new places and new audiences and our interest in Asia is increasing. Korean artist Choi Jeong-hwa is holding an exhibit at the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, and it is quite popular."
Rantanen's AV-ARKKI is planning for residencies and exchanges between Finland and Korea along with the Helsinki International Artist Programme and the Frame Contemporary Art Finland.
"Visiting NeMaf was the first step of the collaboration. We want to reinforce the relationship, but it's still in its early stages so we will see how it will go," Rantanen said.
NeMaf 2016 runs through Friday.