FINLAND

A few Indications
Tove Jansson, the creature of the stories about the elf Mumin, and the architect, decorator and town planner Alvar Aalto are probably the contemporary Finns best known abroad.
Jean Sibelius, one of the greatest modern composers, wrote some typically Finnish works glorifying his people. Sibelius and nationalistic painter Akseli Gallén-Kallela yielded to the temptation of « Carelianism », a movement going back to the 1830’s and marked by Elias Lönnrot, who collected popular songs for the national epic poem called Kalevala. That mythological epic contains some stories about creation and the struggle between good and evil.
Aleksis Kivi is the father of modern Finnish literature with the seven brothers (1870), the stories of brothers trying to escape civilisation and education by seeking refuge in the forest.

Organisation of cultural policies
The Ministry of Education is responsible for developing policies in the fields of education, science, culture, sports and youth, as well as for international cooperation in those fields. The Ministry creates favourable conditions for education, teaching, know-how, training throughout life and creativity.
The Ministry of Education has two ministers: on one hand the Minister for Education and science, who is responsible for education and research, and on the other hand the Minister of Culture, who concerns himself with culture, sports, youth, copyrights, financial aid for students and religious questions. The Ministry of Education promotes and develops culture in Finland. Within the cultural policy department, those tasks are divided between the division of culture and the media on one hand, and the division of arts and the cultural heritage on the other.
The Ministry of Education is the third-largest ministry, after the one handling social affairs and health, and the Finance Ministry. The resources are used to support theatre, cultural events, museums, musical institutions, artistic institutions, the cinema and orchestras.

Events connected with the country

Franco-Finnish tandem

15-30 November in Saint-Étienne, cité du design
Exhibition
GéoLocalisation (geolocation)
Works by four multimedia designer artists, two Frenchmen (Marc Veyrat and Raphaël Pigeat) and two Finns (Tomi Knuutila and Minna Rainio), within the framework of the international design biennial.

And also…

21 June-28 September in Châlon-sur-Saône, Nicéphore Niépce Museum
Exhibition
Finnish photography (1950-1980)
Finnish photography in the years 1950-1980: a picture in black and white, mainly of a documentary nature, somewhere between formal research and humanism. With the Finnish Museum of photography in Helsinki.

27 June- 7 July in La Rochelle, La Rochelle Film Festival
Cinema
Homage to Helsinki’s Cinémathèque
6 feature-length films emblematic of Finland’s very rich cinematographic history.

01-12 July in Paris, Reflet Médicis and Parc de Bercy
Cinema
Aki Kaurismäki Integral
A look back at all the films made by Aki Kaurismäki, a guest of honour at the Paris Cinema Festival.

3 July at Parc de Bercy
An exceptional “ciné concert”, with15 Finnish musicians, in collaboration with French Cinémathèque.

14-15 September in Bazoches-sur-Guyonnes (78), Maison Louis Carré
Heritage
Opening of Maison Louis Carré to the public
An open house at Maison Louis Carré, the fruit of the meeting between collector and   gallery owner Louis Carré (1897-1977) and Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), in connection with the European Heritage days.

10 October-6 January in Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts
Exhibition 
Nordic breakaways: the Scandinavian and Finnish masters in France (1870-1914).
An exhibition on Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish artists, who flocked to France between 1870 and 1914. Seminars and film showings are organised by the institutes and embassies of the Nordic countries around the exhibition.

For more information :
Institut finlandais (Finnish Institute)
60 rue des Écoles - 75007 Paris
Tel.: +33 (0) 1 40 51 89 09
Fax: +33 (0) 1 40 46 09 33info@institut-finlandais.asso.fr

 

• Updated: 18.06.2008

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