Outgoing Kiasma director: success in Finnish art determined by inner circle

Berndt Arell to leave Museum of Contemporary Art

Berndt Arell

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By Saska Saarikoski
     
      Berndt Arell, the Director of Kiasma, Helsinki’s Museum of Contemporary Art, is in the midst of an eventful time in his life. A year ago he was unexpectedly named Chairman of the Arts Council of Finland and given the task of revamping that institution’s system of grants for the arts.
      This autumn Arell completed his report in which he calls for more independence and openness for the council. Already before that, Arell said that he would leave his post as Director of Kiasma just three years into his five-year term, and that he would take on another job heading the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.
      Arell will start at his new post from the beginning of April, but as he has a backlog of holidays, he plans to leave Kiasma already in January. The search for a new director for Kiasma is beginning.
     
The main reason for Arell’s departure was a lucrative job offer, but part of it has to do with the situation that the museum is in.
      The Museum of Contemporary Art is part of the Finnish National Gallery, which means that the Director of Kiasma has to circulate money, paper, and decisions back and forth in the bureaucracy. Eventually, this became frustrating for this man of ideas.
      “Kiasma is just a part of a larger organisation, in which it did not have much of a position”, Arell says in his corner office, whose large windows give a magnificent view of the northernmost end of the equestrian statue of a southound CGE Mannerheim.
      On the wall he has a bright orange painting by Henry Wuorila-Stenberg.
     
Arell says that sluggish bureaucracy has cost Kiasma exhibitions of the works of Francis Bacon and David Hockney.
      “Quick reactions are needed when opportunities are offered from abroad, but financing here comes slowly. For that reason, many good things have passed us by."
      Arell points out that Hockney would have cost maybe a tenth of what the ongoing Picasso exhibition is costing. This might be seen as a jab at the Ateneum, but Arell emphasises that he does not want to comment on his colleague’s project.
      Nevertheless he adds: “I think that it is necessary to take risks in art, to look forward, to support the art that is produced right now.”
     
Ariel proposes that Kiasma be detached from the National Gallery of Finland. The easiest way to do this would be to have the administration run by a foundation, as is the case with the Finnish National Gallery.
      He says that such a move would make for more flexible decision-making, and the museum’s director could better concentrate on his actual work. It would also open doors to a foreign director, as it has at the National Ballet, which is being directed by a Dane - Kenneth Greve.
      “This kind of management does not depend on what language a person speaks, but all administration is dealt with in Finnish in state offices, and that is not possible for a foreigner to deal with.”
     
Of course, another way to become more international is for Finns to go gain experience working at museums in other countries. Unfortunately, there has not been much demand.
     “At Kiasma we have searched the field thoroughly to look for new people. Few Finns have international experience in the profession. I have no colleagues who would have worked as a museum director abroad.”
     
It has been hard to find any obvious candidates to take Arell’s place.
      He says that the art world currently has a generation gap. A large age group set up the structures of art policy in the 1960s and 1970s. After that, they stuck to their niches, and now they are about to retire.
      “The museum field has been quite static. When someone has received a posting, that person has stayed there, not wanting to take any risks.”
      The generation that followed withered away, overshadowed by their elders.
      “We have interesting curators in their thirties, but an entire generation is missing”, Arell sighs.
      He feels that universities and art museums could set up a curator school, where young students of art could be trained in museum administration.
      “Soon there will be work available, but people lack experience at work. We have about 50 art museums, and all of them have the same need.”
     
The Finnish art scene has been dominated for a long time by an inner circle of like-minded people.
      “A kind of consensus has prevailed among the main distributors of grants, and the most important galleries on what kind of art, and what artists have been favoured. It can easily be seen if one compares who has received grants, whose works have been bought for public exhibitions, and who have represented Finland abroad.”
      Arell emphasises that he is not revealing any conspiracies. Cooperation within the inner circle has simply been implemented in order to utilise resources as efficiently as possible.
      “For those who have been left outside the system, these have naturally been unfortunate, but that just raises the bar higher for him.
     
Gallery proprietors with original ideas could have stirred up the art consensus somewhat in Arell’s view, and that is exactly what has been missing in Finland. One gallery that has pursued its own line is Kalhama & Piippo, which opened in Helsinki a couple of years ago.
      “They were not part of the old inner circles. When the gallery was opened, even other gallery owners publicly expressed doubts about them. Fortunately they had stamina and resources. They have done valuable work.”
     
The influence of the inner circle has also been reflected in Finnish art exports, Arell says. The attempt has been to promote artists abroad who are popular in Finland. These artists have generally not been successful internationally.
      “The situation has been unfortunate; the same little clique has always been promoting Finland abroad.”
      Those who have really had success abroad have generally gone there on their own, ignoring the official institutions.
      “For instance, Eija-Liisa Ahtia, Osmo Rauhala, and Esko Männikkö have their own gallery owners around the world. They have risen on their own.”
     
A younger generation is now marching out into the wide world on the same route.
      “Artists in their thirties do not ask anyone for permission - such as the photographers of the Helsinki School, as well as Salla Tykkä, Adel Abidin, or Charles Sandison.”
      “This bunch does not recognise structures, or how we in Finland have been taught to behave - that there are certain hierarchies and rules, which are approved, and which are followed”, Arell says with a wry smile.
     
In the field of art Arell and Helsinki City Art Museum director Janne Gallen-Kallela-Sirén have been ridiculed as the ‘American boys’ who are bringing strange phenomena into the country, such as patrons, gala evenings, and good manners.
      A slight flush or red rises to Arell’s cheeks.
      “Yes, in the magazine Taide (“Art”) we were referred to as the ‘right-wing boys’. We are absolutely in the same boat with Janne, and it is certainly no church boat.”
      However, that boat does not fly any political flags.
      “I do have a bourgeois world view, but I am not involved in party politics, and I do not allow politics to influence acquisitions, or the museum’s schedule.”
     
The 49-year-old Arell has a seven-year contract with the Swedish Cultural Foundation. He is not yet saying what the job entails, but he gives a mischievous smile when offered the idea of late morning, long lunches, and early evenings, while throwing millions to the poor.
      “We’ll see. But in no circumstances will I leave the art world completely. It is my profession. I plan to work at least as a writer and as a visiting curator or producer.”
      And what about a return to an art museum?
      “I’m not ruling that out. However, I do not want to go to a museum where I have already been, but there are interesting museums and exhibition organisations in neighbouring countries and further away as well. And naturally the post of Director General of the Finnish National Art Gallery is always a possibility.”
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 22.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Art Review: Hard core minimalist exhibition at Kiasma (17.10.2008)

Links:
  Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma
  Finnish National Gallery
  Arts Council of Finland
  Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland (Svenska kulturfonden)

SASKA SAARIKOSKI / Helsingin Sanomat
saska.saarikoski@hs.fi