Politiikan taide / The Art of Politics
‘Politiikan taide / The Art of Politics’ traces the discussion about art in the Finnish Parliament all the way from the 19th century to recent years. I have looked at parties’ and representatives’ different statements and voting habits concerning the questions of art. My aim has been to reveal the parties’ positions on art; what kind of art is endorsed, what is resisted, and how the parties see the position and role of art and the artist in society.
In spite of the upheavals of post-industrial society and the entire structure of work, the core principles and values of the political parties have not changed. As a part of this, the parties’ attitudes toward, for example, socially opinionated art have not changed in the course of time. Instead, the role of art in society, and the expectations and goals the politicians have of art, have varied. The politicians of our day set ever growing expectations for art and the creative branch in connection to well-being, and the creative professions are increasingly being connected to financial development. Autonomic art, which in Finland is protected by law, struggles against these developments. Art policy is, to a great extent, a toil between these differing views.
The work is a series of posters, in which are encapsulated the Finnish political parties’ and their representatives’ statements about art and the artist’s position through history. I have used the written questions of parliament, budget propositions, government proposals, proposed bills, and parliamentary discussions as material with the hopes to reveal the true arts policy shrouded behind the eloquence of the parties’ political speech, policy that is based on real actions: initiatives, statements, and voting habits. The work was made for the ‘Finnish Arts Policy Event – Make Arts Policy’ of the Baltic Circle Theater Festival and Checkpoint Helsinki. The posters were visible on three locations in the center of Helsinki from the 10th to 17th of November 2014. They were printed in 82,5 x 123 cm and placed in stands rented from the Helsinki City, used for election posters.
Download here posters (in Finnish):
Left Alliance – Social Democrats – Swedish People’s Party – The Greens
Centre Party – Christian Democrats
True Finns – National Coalition Party
Download here postcards (in Finnish):
Ed. Kares, Suomalainen Puolue, istunto 3. lokakuuta 1908: Ainoa käsittely sivistysvaliokunnan mietinnöstä N:o 6 vuotuisen valtioavun korottamiseksi 5,000 markalla ‘Kansan Näyttämö’ teatterille. Istunto 3. lokakuuta 1908. Äänestyksessä eduskunta hyväksyi sivistysvaliokunnan ehdotuksen, ehdollisena valtiovarainvaliokunnan mietintöön valtion varoista ja tarpeista nähden.