Finnish art and music goes to France in the spring

100% Finlande cultural season launched with Kaija Saariaho concerts

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By Maija-Terttu Kivirinta
     
      Finnish culture is going to be on display in France over a three-month period this spring.
      This extensive cultural drive under the 100% Finlande banner really only starts from the beginning of April, but things got going two weeks early on March 13th, when three works by contemporary composer Kaija Saariaho were performed at the Salle Pleyel in Paris.
      The concert saw the first performance of Saariaho’s Mirage, for soprano, cello and orchestra, featuring Karita Mattila and cellist Anssi Karttunen, and two other pieces - Notes on Light (2006) for cello and orchestra and Orion (2002) for large orchestra. The works were performed by the Orchestre de Paris under conductor Christoph Eschenbach.
      Kaija Saariaho, who lives permanently in Paris, is one of the best-known Finnish names at the festival.
     
In all, 100% Finlande comprises more than 250 events, in which Finnish culture in its various forms will be spotlighted across France and particularly in the capital, during the spring and early summer.
      Roughly 500 artists will be taking part.
      In addition to classical and contemporary music, there will be folk music, jazz, dance, circus performances, literature, film and photography, media and electronic arts, design, architecture, and more on show.
      “This has all been a delight to plan and prepare”, says Iris Schwanck, the Director of the Finnish Literature Exchange (FILI), who is also the Commissaire Générale for the hugely complex chain of events.
     
Schwanck has been planning this for a good long time, and has now taken a three-month leave of absence from FILI in order to see things go smoothly.
      At the beginning of April she will be moving to Paris to live there for the duration of the festival.
      In the preparation for this major cultural push, Schwanck has over the last two years met with more than a hundred influential individuals from the French monde culturel, and many of them have paid a visit to Finland to check out what is on offer hereabouts.
      “We have a chance now above all to show off the younger generation. In France they know next to nothing of our modern dance, comics illustrators, and circus acts”, she adds.
     
100% Finlande belongs in the category of annual cultural showcases from different countries that are put on in France. In some instances they can run for months and are dubbed “Seasons”, and they are coordinated by Cultures France, under the auspices of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
      They are based on bilateral cultural agreements with a number of countries, and also involve reciprocal French seasons abroad.
      The Finnish turn was agreed on in 2003 by President Jacques Chirac and the then Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen.
     
“Paris is a real challenge for us. The competition for media space here is extremely fierce”, notes Schwanck.
      “It has been fantastic to learn this way of arranging cultural cooperation and exchange, and to be able to plan something over a long period.”
      She describes the entire event as the Commissaire’s “carte blanche”.
      “I’ve been given a free hand and have been able to plan out the programme independently. France offers a great platform for us to show off our strengths. And this will offer vistas into the future, too.”
      She points out that the French have also learnt something from the exercise and the meeting of minds.
      “We have taught them how to make use of the Internet and to produce blogs. Until now, Cultures France have done things on paper and via snail-mail all these years."
     
“This is the first time since the venture was launched in 1977 that contemporary culture has been given such a prominent billing. In previous cases it has been more about the cultural history and traditions of the spotlighted country.”
      According to Schwanck, the planning of the Finnish programme got under way relatively late, too late for instance to gain access to the big museums, who plan their events schedules years in advance.
      “The budget should have been sorted already five years ago. We are now operating in a different way from that we would have adopted had we been looking at some huge show in the Grand Palais, or if we’d been taking whole opera productions over to France”, stresses Schwanck.
     
“The Finnish season is a kaleidoscopic mix. All those taking part have their own message to deliver. Now we have things like Mal au Pixel here [a festival of electronic arts and culture in May at the Finnish Institute] and the Circo Aereo there [as part of the Parc de la Villette Circus Festival]. Our target audience is very broad indeed.”
      A total of around EUR 1.6 million has been budgeted for the festival this year, with the Ministry of Education putting up a million and the Foreign Ministry 140,000 euros.
      French and Finnish corporate partners are providing around 300,000 euros and Finnish foundations will stump up EUR 160,000 for the cause.
      The diverse funding goes to cover the costs of arranging the events and travel to and from France. Cultures France pays the costs of the French organisers.
     
And what is Madam Commissaire’s favourite item on the upcoming programme?
      “Oh, help, what an awkward question that is. It’s really quite impossible to say, honestly. I’m looking forward to the entire event with great curiosity”, she says. “I have the huge privilege of being able to experience it all.”
      Iris Schwanck has a long-standing relationship with France.
      French was in fact the first language she learnt as a child: she was born in Geneva, and on her mother’s side the family also has roots in the South of France.
      She was just four years old when the family moved to Finland.
      Thereafter she attended school here and later took a doctorate from the University of Helsinki in French language and literature.
      “France is my destiny”, she laughs.
      Schwanck’s father Timo Mäkinen was in his time Professor of Musicology at the university of Jyväskylä, and was among those pioneering the Jyväskylä Arts Festival, which was first held in 1956.
      “I’ve grown up sitting and playing underneath a grand piano, and I’ve also got used to the volunteer spirit of everyone pitching in that is at the heart of festivals like this.”
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 13.3.2008


Links:
  100% Finlande en France, Printemps 2008
  Institut Finlandais, The Finnish Institute in Paris
  Cultures France

MARJA-TERTTU KIVIRINTA / Helsingin Sanomat
marja-terttu.kivirinta@hs.fi