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Finnish translations of literature open up the world – €100,000 for eleven new translations

Nahkatakkinen nainen keltainen huivi kaulassaan nojailee mustaan seinään.

Judith Schalansky. Photo: Andreas Schmidt

In 2022, the Finnish Cultural Foundation established a new kind of grant whose goal is to translate and make available to Finnish readers world literature especially from languages that are nowadays rarely translated into Finnish.

Over the course of ten years, this grant will provide a total of one million euros, which is enough for translating one hundred high-quality contemporary works of prose, poetry, or essays into Finnish.

Money has now been granted for eleven new Finnish translations of books in Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, French, Swedish, German, and Estonian.

Future translations will include that of Verzeichnis einiger Verluste (An Inventory of Losses, Finnish: Kadotettujen katalogi) by the German writer and graphic designer Judith Schalansky. The book’s texts combine memories, facts, and fiction; are full of anecdotes and free associations; and touch on topics ranging from painting and seafaring to tigers. Schalansky’s books are a synthesis of the arts in which the graphic design is as essential as the text. The publisher of the book is Poesia.

Camila Sosa Villada is one of Argentina’s best known and most widely translated contemporary writers. The publisher S&S will produce Finnish translations of two of her novels, the award-winning Las Malas and a not yet published work. Sosa Villada’s novels use linguistically skilful fictitious stories to present especially the experiences and lives of trans women and trans communities.

Three unpublished but completed manuscripts by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, one of the last century’s most important French writers, disappeared after World War 2 and the occupation of Paris. They were not discovered until 2021. Thanks to the grant for translation of world literature, one of them, Londres, will be published in Finnish by Siltala. It will provide a new perspective on the work of this controversial classic author.

English is the dominant translated language

Books translated from English dominate the Finnish literature translation market. According to the Fennica database, more than half of the literature translations published in Finland in 2022 were from English and almost one fifth were from Swedish.

The Finnish Cultural Foundation supports the translation of literature into Finnish so that Finns can also read books from less familiar cultures in their mother tongue.

“We’ll have a very limited view of the world if we are influenced only by English-speaking countries. If we want to understand what’s happening in the world in general, it’s important to know how people in other countries live and what they think”, says Juhana Lassila, the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s director of grants and cultural affairs.

Both small and large publishers applied for the world literature translation grants for more than 30 books. Most of these books are in a European language.

“The variety of European languages of these books is wonderful. In the future, we hope to be able to support translations of high-quality books from more remote languages too, including African and Asian languages”, Lassila emphasizes.

The Finnish Cultural Foundation has been inspiring Finns to read for a long time already and has supported the success of books and reading in Finland with several million euros. In recent years, for example, parents have been encouraged to read to young children, school libraries have received a variety of books, and books in simplified language and easy to read books have been made available to 13- to 15-year-olds. The financial support for publishers of Finnish translations of world literature is a continuation of these efforts and enables adults to read interesting books originally written in languages that only few Finns understand.

Books published so far with the help of the translation grants can be found on the webpage www.skr.fi/kirjagalleria (in Finnish).

2023 Translating World Literature Grants for publishers

  • Gummerus Publishers for improving publicity for the work Welkom in het Rijk der zieken by the Dutch author Hanna Bervoets, €6,000
  • The literature and culture association Särö for translating and publishing the novel Anna In w grobowcach świata by the Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, €10,000
  • The Otava Publishing Company for translating and publishing the novel De polyglotta älskarna by the Swedish author Lina Wolff, €9,000
  • The Otava Publishing Company for translating and publishing the novel Naturliga beteenden (Luontainen käytös) by the Swedish author Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde, €5,000
  • Siltala Publishing for translating and publishing the novel Londres by the French author Louis-Ferdinand Céline, €15,000
  • The publisher Kosmos for translating and publishing the novel Dschinns (Jinnit) by Fatma Aydemir, €10,000
  • The publisher Kirjasin for translating and publishing poems of the Argentinian poet Alejandra Pizarnik,
  • €6,000
  • The publisher Poesia for translating and publishing the work Verzeichnis einiger Verluste (Kadotettujen katalogi) by the German author Judith Schalansky, €15,000
  • The publisher Enostone for translating and publishing the novel O Diretor by Ana Filomena Amaral, €9,000
  • The publisher Schildts & Söderströms / S&S for translating and publishing the short story collection Väike terav nuga (Pieni terävä veitsi) by Kätlin Kaldmaa, €5,000
  • The publisher Schildts & Söderströms / S&S for translating and publishing two novels by Camila Sosa Villada, €11,000

The Book Gallery

Congenitally blind author and translator Jonna Heynke tells the story of a guide dog

Text: Essi Kähkönen
Photography: Petri Summanen

Here comes Papu, a two-year-old Labrador retriever who is enjoying the life of Riley in a lovely family. Until he hears a terrible rumour: he is about to be sent off to guide dog school!

We find out that Papu’s handler will be a young lady by the name of Vilma. Vilma is off to study in a town in eastern Finland called Savonlinna, and Papu is expected to go with her. Papu is thrilled, as he expects raucous student parties and endless socialising. He is sorely disappointed when Vilma turns out to be the sober, introverted type.

But things can always change, and Papu intends to achieve just that…

The focus is not on blindness

Vaalea koira opastaa ihmistä tien yli

The value of assistance dogs can not be measured in money. The dog in the picture isn’t related to the future book of Jonna Heynke.

That is how author and translator Jonna Heynke, MA, describes the joint adventures of Papu and Vilma, a work of fiction she intends to write with the help of a one-year grant awarded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

Having been blind from birth, Heynke knows what she is writing about. She received her first guide dog a couple of decades ago and is currently searching for her latest assistant.

“My guide dogs have allowed me to have adventures and live life to the full. The great work that these four-legged assistants do deserves recognition in the field of literature. At the same time, I will be able to give an idea of the world of the visually impaired to the seeing, many of whom know very little about it,” Heynke says.

With her book, Heynke hopes to shake off some of the outdated stereotypes associated with congenital blindness in particular.

“Looking for stories by congenitally blind authors, you almost exclusively come across autobiographical works that focus entirely on the author’s disability. I, too, have had requests for such a book, and many of my manuscripts have been returned by publishers with the comment ‘write about being blind’. Papu the guide dog’s memoirs are a kind of compromise: there is a lot about blindness in the book, but it is not the focal point of the story,” Heynke explains.

Permission to laugh

In this fictional memoir, the boisterous and cheeky guide dog Papu tries to invigorate his sedate handler, Vilma, occasionally managing to tempt her off the straight and narrow.

“The purpose of the book is to break down old-fashioned ideas about the visually impaired using humour, sometimes of the crude kind. Contrary to what many people believe, blindness does not equate to a life sentence and the blind do not need pity or commiseration. You have permission to laugh at blunders arising from people’s visual impairment,” Heynke says.

Although it is a work of fiction, her book will have an element of truth.

“It’s true for example that my first guide dog, Pontus, would drag me by force to the beer aisle of any shop, however large or small. And there was me at the age of twenty, hardly even having tasted beer, let alone any strong stuff.”

Smells come alive

Mustavalkoinen kuva naisesta hajuvesipullo kädessä

Jonna Heynke emphasizes that blindness does not equate to a life sentence and the blind do not need pity or commiseration.

This being the memoir of a canine, it will have an emphasis on scents and smells. Papu’s nose will lead the pair to all sorts of places, from Vilma’s favourite perfume department to the liquor store world of whisky and tequila. Even with a stuffy nose, Papu will not fail to guide Vilma to the gynaecologist’s door at the health centre.

At the pharmacy, Papu draws in the wonderful scents of vitamin B pills, antibiotics and nitrates, and ends up being petted by the pharmacist, even though this is a big no for assistance dogs.

“I see the pharmacist has a ball-less cat at home,” Papu deduces with his nose.

Aural perception is also important for a dog, as it is for a visually impaired person, but there is no need to expose one’s sensitive ears to just any kind of racket. Papu threatens to go on strike when Vilma intends to have him listen to the caterwauling at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

“One has to draw a line somewhere,” Papu exclaims!

Foreign travel facilitated by grant

In spite of his rebellious nature, Papu grows up to a fine seeing-eye dog. Vilma and Papu learn routes to important destinations, such as the university and the supermarket. They practise using stairs, doorways and pedestrian crossings. Vilma is sure to praise Papu for a job well done.

What has the significance of guide dogs been in Heynke’s own life?

“Huge. The value of an assistance dog cannot be measured in money. My guide dogs have become a part of me: at home they are beloved pets and in the outside world they are not only my guides but also facilitators of social interactions. I enjoy people coming up to me to ask about my dog. Lacking as I am in the eye contact that is integral to human interaction, a guide dog helps in this respect, too,” Heynke says.  

Papu and Vilma’s story is still being written, and future chapters will see them for instance visiting Amsterdam with a group of students. Heynke intends to travel there herself this year, to gather material. She wants to experience at least the Anne Frank House, the tulips and a canal cruise.

“I will really benefit from the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s grant, because as a blind person I cannot learn from videos and pictures: I must discover the experiences myself. Having Papu as a character will allow me to reveal how wonderful and exciting the world can really be. All you have to do is open your eyes and set out into it.”

Author and translator Jonna Heynke received a EUR 28,000 grant for writing the memoirs of a guide dog in 2023.

New CEO strives to make the work environment inspiring and safe

Text: Reeta Holma
Photos: Lehtikuva / Emmi Korhonen 

The article was first published in Finnish in the Tammenlastuja magazine 1/2023.

Vaaleahiuksinen nainen värikäs huivi kaulassa ja mustissa silmälaseissa lukee kirjaa. Taustalla kirjahylly

In February it was announced that the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s CEO starting from June 2023 will be Susanna Pettersson, PhD.

Pettersson has been in many demanding leadership and board of trustees positions in Finland and abroad. In her free time, she enjoys culture in many forms, but especially reading has been important to her since childhood. She makes sure to continue having enough time and opportunities for reading.

“I read both fiction and non-fiction from Finland and abroad. Right now I’m in the middle of two delightful books, one on the wonderful world of birds and one on the cultural history of wigs.”

Pettersson grew up in the part of Helsinki called Katajanokka, and she often checked out books from Helsinki’s beautiful former main library on Rikhardinkatu. Her mother’s roots are in the towns of Kälviä and Terijoki, her father’s in Ruovesi ja Lusi. She spent the summers of her childhood in the towns of Kuusamo and Mikkeli.

Another dear hobby is knitting, which Pettersson considers meditative. “When one’s job is complex and abstract, it feels great to get things done quickly on a small scale.”

She also spends time jogging and with her 13-year-old wire-haired dachshund. Her family includes a spouse and two adult children.

Inspiration and energy

“Good leadership depends on having other things in life besides work. Hobbies help us recharge, and we can get ideas and inspiration from them that provide energy we need at work.”

Pettersson describes herself as a value-based leader whose leadership philosophy centres on people. “I think it’s very important that people feel good in the workplace and that their expertise is appreciated at every level of the organization”, she says. “Traditional hierarchical thinking doesn’t fit into today’s world.”

Pettersson has been the director general of Sweden’s Nationalmuseum since 2018. When she announced she was leaving in February, she was asked if this was due to the difficulties such as the pandemic and inflation encountered by the museum in recent years.

“There were adversities during my tenure, but if I feared difficult things, I wouldn’t have even started at the Nationalmuseum”, she points out.

“Things can be difficult, but if the work environment is safe and encourages colleagues to develop ideas together and if people enjoy working there, even difficult things can be solved.” Creating such a work environment is one of the most important tasks of a leader according to Pettersson.

Getting a grant was crucial

Pettersson already has connections with the Finnish Cultural Foundation. She is a member of its support association, has held lectures at the Kirpilä Art Collection, has consulted the Museum Vision project, and has also received a grant from the Foundation. This three-year grant for her art history doctoral dissertation on building a public art collection was awarded in 2000, when multiyear grants were much less common than nowadays.

“Getting a grant from the Cultural Foundation was absolutely crucial for my career”, says Pettersson. The grant enabled concentrating on research and also enabled her family’s move to London, where she wrote the dissertation.

“Although time has already gone by since then, I’m still satisfied with the dissertation. I did the fundamental work carefully, and the beginnings of public art collecting in Finland were researched thoroughly and recorded.”

Academic endeavours

Pettersson has been in many demanding positions in her career. Before being in charge of the Nationalmuseum, she headed the Ateneum Art Museum, the Finnish Institute in London, and the Alvar Aalto Foundation and Museum. Simultaneously, she has always wanted to be active in academia.

She is an adjunct professor of museology at the University of Jyväskylä and enjoys mentoring doctoral dissertations. She keeps her own writing skills honed by annually publishing articles in her field. Recently an article appeared in the catalogue of the Nationalmuseum’s exhibition The Garden – Six Centuries of Art and Nature, and on the way is, for example, an article on Ulla-Maija Alanen’s photography and a book on Ola Kolehmainen’s newest works. An extensive book on Nordic art and social history from 1820 to 1920, which she is editing together with Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff, is planned for 2024.

Nine years on the board of Aalto University have also provided her with a strong understanding of the academic world. “I was vice chair for two years and on the HR committee for nine years, where I participated in the recruitment of leading academic personnel”, Pettersson explains. “In my time at Aalto, I was able to acquaint myself in detail with the multidisciplinary world of academia.”

A manifestation of Finland’s civil society

Vaaleahiuksinen, silmälasipäinen nainen tummissa vaatteissa seisoo taidevarastossa keskellä värikkäitä taideteoksia.

Job interviews have the classic question “Why do you want to work for us?” What is Susanna Pettersson’s response?

“During my career, I have acquired a combination of various kinds of know-how that I believe will benefit the Foundation. I have experience working in several countries and in various jobs and on different trustee roles. I know the worlds of culture, art, and academia, and I have also had the chance to deal with the practices of donating.” 

She considers the Finnish Cultural Foundation to be unique.

“Many foundations revolve around a single donor or organization, whereas the Finnish Cultural Foundation has from the very beginning been a strong manifestation of Finland’s civil society”, Pettersson explains.

She considers the Foundation’s national scope to be an essential strength. As one of her first tasks, she intends to familiarize herself with its regional funds in order to get a picture of the Foundation’s activities that is as comprehensive as possible.

She also feels it’s important to collaborate with other foundations, for example, and calls for courage to engage in large joint endeavours. 

“It’s time to look at ways of doing things from a new angle. The very first thing I want to do is to talk about the visions for the future with everyone working at the Foundation.”

Parsa Kamehkhosh, 2022, Tokyo Arts and Space

Parsa Kamehkhosh: A sense of presence and joy

An interview by Athanasía Aarniosuo

AA: You spent a few months in 2022 at Tokyo Arts and Space Residency. As your artistic practice involves incorporating your daily life, routines, and observations into your work, did the change of scenery bring on changes in your work as well?

PK: With the change of scenery, I expected to see new elements in the ideas that flowed through me. Because you know, when it comes to my art practice, I am hesitant to label myself as a creator. Instead, I see myself as a “door” through which certain ideas emerge, and to fulfill this role, I must be present, a challenging quality that I describe as being in the world.

This was my first trip to Japan, and I intentionally refrained from researching the country beforehand. I wanted the experience to be new and unfiltered, which it certainly was. In these situations, the mind enters an alert mode, in which one becomes fully engrossed in their surroundings, absorbing as much information as possible to navigate the new environment. Even simple acts like buying bread or crossing the street required absolute attention and sometimes demanded unlearning and relearning. This state of being usually extremely tiring and causes a lot of confusion as well, and I knew that all I need to do is try to be present (even if it means embracing my confusion) and wait for the digestion of new experiences to naturally manifest in my practice. Now a few months later, I would say some of the lessons I learned there or there have remained with me and will likely continue to influence my work in the future.

AA: I mentioned routine, but it seems to me that in your work emotions are bigger than routine, and experiencing life is never banal, not even at its most repetitive. How did the change of scenery make you feel?

PK: Sticking to a certain routine or discipline can sometimes help me reach a state of flow, and for me, being in the zone, feeling connected to the world, and experiencing joy are all interconnected. In fact, joy is an emotion that is truly compatible with my practice.

However, traveling can make it challenging for me to maintain my daily discipline. This was also the case during my residency in Japan, where I initially felt a lot of pressure and confusion due to first, the multitude of new experiences and second, the unexpectedly dense concrete structure of the neighborhood I was in. During the past eight years of living in Finland, I made a close bond with trees that I found surprisingly tough living without it in a dense city. Adding to that, my experience of getting Covid right after arriving in Tokyo, forced me to stay indoors for ten days which made me crave nature even more. Thus I would say regaining a sense of presence and joy turned into a goal of my practice in this residency, and I managed to achieve this through cycling. Every day, I used to go on a quest to find a piece of nature in or around the city to sit and wait. Through these daily trips, I had a blast experiencing a uniquely magical aura of nature in Japan which granted me a sense of connection to the new land.

Cycling also allowed me to be agile and flexible and visit many places that otherwise I might have never run into. It helped me become part of the daily life of the city and provided me with a much-needed sense of freedom and exploration.

Kerrostalo, jonka edessä kulkee polkupyörä autotiellä.

Discovering the perfect spot for my performance between two buildings in Sumida Ku, Tokyo. Photo: Parsa Kamehkhosh

AA: Did you plan the residency period in advance? Did the ideas that occupied your mind and your work while in Japan differ from what you expected?

PK: Before leaving for Japan, I articulated my plan as follows: “I intend to explore the concept of process and processing in the context of Japanese philosophy and the ethics of craft, with a particular focus on performance as an art practice. This will involve closely observing the elements of space, body, materials, and duration in craft traditions, as well as attempting to connect with the supernatural dimensions of the Japanese workspace.”

Looking back on my residency, I’m struck by how well the final piece aligned with my original plan. However, I now realize that the process of arriving at that piece was more organic than I had anticipated. Having a loose framework to guide my exploration, I remained open to the unexpected and allowed different elements to converge naturally. As a result, I had little control over how my ideas took shape and I think my willingness to relinquish control was an important factor in how everything worked.

AA: Did you experience any surprises, unforeseen encounters, or revelations?

 PK: One of the most unexpected things was getting COVID right after arriving in Tokyo, which meant that the first place I visited, other than my room, was a hospital. However, apart from that, most of my experiences in Japan were full of subtle surprises or I would say realizations. For instance, I can refer to my realizations about the notion of light and shadow in Japanese culture which literally altered my understanding of them and already showed itself in the piece I performed at the end of the residency.

AA: Did any new ideas, conceived in Japan, develop into finished works or ongoing processes while back in Helsinki?

PK: The name of the piece I presented at the open studio at the end of my residency in Tokyo was ‘Rubbing a Stone on a Piece of Wood in the Neighborhood.’ As the title implies, the piece involved rubbing a stone on a piece of cedar wood. To create this piece, I built a working station that fits in the narrow 47 cm space between two buildings near the residency. For nine days in a row, I started 30 minutes before sunset and continued the repetitive act of rubbing for one hour until it got dark.

This piece ended up being the catalyst for a year-long project that I am currently planning, set to debut in 2024.

Vasemmalla mustavalkoinen kuva miehestä aurinkolasit päässä, oikealla puinen teline taideteosta varten.

Left: Sizing up the performance location with my body. Photo: Mio Hanaoka – Right: The custom-built working station for the performance. Photo: Parsa Kamehkhosh

parsa-kamehkhosh.com

The August Round and Residencies

Finnish Cultural Foundation’s residency programme is maintained and developed in collaboration with HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme.

Cardiovascular disease research receives one million euros in grant

Cardiovascular diseases are widespread in Finland. Although they have caused less fatalities since the 1970s, they are still responsible for nearly half of deaths in Finland’s working-age population. The most common cardiovascular diseases are coronary artery disease, heart insufficiency, and cerebrovascular disease.

The Finnish Cultural Foundation’s assets consist of donations and bequests received over the last 80 years. Many donors have wanted to support medical science or specifically cardiovascular disease research.

“Their donations have now enabled several simultaneous large grants to research, although large grants in this field are otherwise relatively rare in Finland”, says Mikko Niemi, member of the Board of Trustees of the Finnish Cultural Foundation and professor of pharmacogenetics at the University of Helsinki.

Hymyilevä silmälasipäinen mies seisoo käytävällä, taustalla ikkunoista tehty seinä.

Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala and a research group received €200,000 for research on developing gene therapy. Photo: The University of Eastern Finland

Applications for the cardiovascular disease research grants could be submitted during the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s regional funds’ application round in January. Grants were awarded to six projects.

Professor Juhani Knuuti and the KOVERI research project (Turku PET Centre) received €264,500 for research on imaging changes in other organs related to coronary artery disease. The research is producing unique information on the interaction between the heart and other organs and on the changes caused by coronary artery disease in the blood circulation of other organs.

Gene therapy opens up new possibilities for treating many serious diseases. Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala and a research group at the University of Eastern Finland’s Faculty of Health Sciences received €200,000 for research on developing gene therapy for improving the treatment of heart failure and the treatment of ischemia-reperfusion injury caused when opening up blocked coronary arteries.

Adjunct professor Katariina Öörni and a research group at the Wihuri Research Institute received €180,000 for research on the reasons for the qualitative characteristics of lipoproteins and research on their effects on the development of cardiovascular diseases. The research project can help improve individual risk analysis and help direct treatment to individuals that benefit the most from it.

Professor Katriina Aalto-Setälä and a research group from the University of Tampere’s Biomeditech (€168,000) are studying the modelling of cardiac ischemia and hereditary heart diseases using stem cells and iPS cell technology, Professor Jussi Hernesniemi and the AFFELECT research group (Tampere University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, €108,000) are studying the acute treatment of randomised and controlled clinical atrial fibrillation and flutter, and Professor Marja Hedman and her research group (University of Eastern Finland’s Faculty of Health Sciences, €79,500) are studying the prediction of aortic rupture by means of mathematical modelling.

Science knows no regional boundaries

The Finnish Cultural Foundation impacts every corner of Finland through its 17 regional funds. The regional funds are responsible for nurturing and developing the culture of their region.

“One million euros for cardiovascular diseases were collected from 14 donor funds in the areas of ten regional funds, and applications for the grants could be submitted throughout Finland. The aim was to get applications from larger research projects and to achieve effectiveness”, says Antti Niskanen, the fund officer in charge of the application process.

Of the one hundred applications received, some were directed to the normal evaluation of the regional funds, where it was felt they had better chances of success than in the application process meant for bigger cardiovascular disease projects.

The results from the Säätiöiden post doc -pool’s spring application round – 27 scholars received funding

Doctor of Social Sciences Paula Rauhala studies the history of edition, translation and reception of Karl Marx’s Capital between the Soviet Union and the West: in divided Germany and Finland. “Thanks to the grant, I can work in libraries and archives in Germany. I’m also studying to become a German translator, so it’s great that I can finally live in Germany for a longer period of time and develop my language skills,” says Rauhala excitedly and tells about her research.

Mustahiuksinen mies, silmälasit päässä. Istuu tuolilla ja nojaa kädellään leukaansa.

Chaoxiong Ye aims to understand how our brain processes visual information and allocates resources to support our working memory.

“For many, Marx brings to mind pompous Soviet statues and red flags, where the old Marx poses sullenly next to Lenin and Stalin. In fact, however, he was a European mid-19th-century thinker, not a Soviet one,” says Rauhala. In her project, she breaks down what in the original language editions of Capital – and in the Finnish translations of the work – is filtered through 20th-century ways of thinking.

According to Rauhala, our image of Marx as the “classic” of the Soviet ideology Marxism-Leninism, is largely derived from the massive publishing projects financed by the Soviet Union and the GDR, including the editions of Capital produced in these countries. Essential research questions are: how do the editions of Capital produced in East and West Germany during the Cold War reflect the controversy over to whom Marx belonged as a classic, the social democrats, the radical left or Soviet Marxism? How the Soviet ideology is reflected in the Finnish translation of the work? Should the 110-year-old (and only) translation of the first volume of Capital be updated?

Chaoxiong Ye, Doctor of Philosophy, is studying the cognitive mechanism of the two-phase model of visual working memory and its application. “I am excited to share that my research aims to understand how our brain processes visual information and allocates resources to support our working memory”, Ye explains. To investigate this, Ye and his team proposes a two-phase model of visual working memory resource allocation and will conduct two stages of research using electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and cognitive training paradigms.

“We hope to reveal the cognitive and neural mechanisms that facilitate flexible allocation of visual working memory resources and design cognitive training paradigms that can improve individuals’ VWM capacity” Ye says. The results of the project will provide important insights into the cognitive and neural basis of the VWM resource allocation. “Our cognitive training paradigm could have practical applications in improving human cognitive capacity”, he tells with excitement.

What is the Post Doc Pool?

The Pool has a role in making Finnish research more international. After twenty-seven application rounds over 700 scholars have already received funding through the Pool for at least a one-year research period abroad. One third of the grantees have received a two-year funding.

Since 2022, it has been possible to apply for funding from the Post Doc Pool even for shorter research periods abroad (i.e. outside of Finland) that last at least 6 months. The Pool’s next application round will take place from 15 August until 15 September 2023, when some 1.8 million euro will be given in grants. The results of this round will be published by December 2023.

Säätiöiden post doc -pooli has proven to be an important instrument of research funding which has enabled young scholars with families to finance research periods at top universities abroad. The grants awarded by the Pool are determined flexibly in accordance with the applicant’s needs and they often include their family’s moving expenses and children’s day care or school fees.

The Säätiöiden post doc -pooli was set up in the autumn of 2009. During the current three-year-period 2022-2024 there are thirteen foundations involved, allocating altogether 3.25 million euro annually to the pool. The Pool’s foundations are Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation, Emil Aaltonen’s Foundation, Alfred Kordelin Foundation, the Foundation for Economic Education, Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation, Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Finnish Medical Foundation, Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland, Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation and the Ulla Tuominen’s Foundation.

Post Doc grants awarded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation:

  • Shady Awad, biomedicine, 76 000 €
  • Niko Cajander, industrial management, 28 400 €
  • Ehsan Daneshvar, agronomy, 48 000 €
  • Nicholas Downes, cell biology, 60 000 €
  • Md Nurul Huda, physics, 75 000 €
  • Olesia Ignatenko, biomedicine, 48 000 €
  • Jasmin Lukkari, history, 39 000 €
  • Ekaterina Nepovinnykh, computational science, 59 000 €
  • Marika Pulkkinen, theology, 39 000 €
  • Paula Rauhala, philosophy, 41 000 €
  • Jenny Säilävaara, gender studies, 55 000 €
  • Henna Tahvanainen, acoustics, 44 000 €
  • Chaoxiong Ye, neuroscience, 50 0000 €

www.postdocpooli.fi

Donations enable purchase of ‘brain cleaner’ in Oulu

Similar research equipment is not available anywhere else in the Nordic countries.

The University of Oulu has received a sufficient amount of donations to acquire advanced ultrasound equipment for brain research. The high-quality device that opens the blood-brain barrier, also called the ‘brain cleaner’, enables the study of various targeted therapies and may be a decisive step in the development of healing therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, brain lymphoma and epilepsy, for example.

The glymphatic system of the brain has been studied for a long time at the University of Oulu. The purpose of the system is to clean the brain of waste material, especially during sleep. A breakthrough was made in the study of Alzheimer’s disease when Professor Vesa Kiviniemi’s research group succeeded in describing the abnormality in the glymphatic system in the brain of patients with the disease.

This finding is crucial for understanding the mechanisms leading to Alzheimer’s disease and, in the long term, also for the prevention and treatment of the disease.

“When the brain is unable to clean itself normally during sleep, waste materials accumulate. Over the years, this can lead to the development of brain diseases. Medical cleaning of the brain is difficult because the brain is designed to reject everything coming from the outside. With the help of the focused ultrasound (FUS) device, colloquially the ‘brain cleaner’, we can temporarily open the blood-brain barrier and deliver drugs to the right places with precision and, at the same time, flush away waste materials,” says Vesa Kiviniemi, Professor of Functional Neuroimaging.

A total of EUR 2.2 million in donations were collected for the brain cleaner. The most recent donation of EUR 700,000 was made by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

“The support from the Finnish Cultural Foundation came at just the right time. Combined with the previously received donations and pledges of EUR 1.5 million, the necessary funds for the FUS device are now in place. The device will significantly advance our research project,” says Professor Kiviniemi.

The University of Oulu conducts international-level research on the diagnostics of the brain’s glymphatic waste removal system and on targeted treatment options for various brain diseases. The researchers contributing to the work include Hanne Kuitunen, Director of Oulu University Hospital’s Cancer Centre, Mikael von und zu Fraunberg, Professor of Neurosurgery, research teams in neurology and psychiatry, and Biocenter Oulu’s microscopy researchers under the lead of Professor Lauri Eklund.

The acquisition of the device and the related research group will help establish a unique research centre of international standard in Oulu. There will be close cooperation at national level with universities and hospital centres, and at international level with research centres. 

The Finnish Cultural Foundation is a private foundation whose funds come entirely from wills and donations.

“Many donors support a certain field of research due to their own or a loved one’s illness. The Finnish Cultural Foundation has several donor funds which direct funding to research into Alzheimer’s disease, other brain diseases and neurological diseases,” says Hanna Hiidenpalo, Chair of the board of trustees of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

“Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders are affecting a growing number of Finns and their loved ones,” says Hiidenpalo. 

CULTURE FERRY – Open call for applications

Open Call for Applications, 1 – 31 March 2023

This is a call for art content that is suitable for events directed at audiences of all ages, to take place in the Southwest Finland and Satakunta archipelago in July and early August 2023. We will accept proposals for existing stage productions, music productions, visual art content, street art, literary art and other art forms. The content may be inspired by the local environment or comment on it.

The events will take place across three islands during the peak season, inviting participation from local residents, summer residents and tourists. The CULTURE FERRY’s mission is to foster community spirit while promoting ecological values and cultural diversity. During summer days and afternoons, visitors may enjoy artworks, take part in nature-themed workshops, explore an island on a guided tour and ask questions from a panel of nature experts, for example.

We are looking for work that will blend in well with the islands’ vulnerable natural environment and their unusual performance and exhibition venues. The artworks should be lightweight and easy to transport on connection ferries, and should fall into place naturally on the local rocks, terraces or gardens, or on the sea itself.

Dates and venues

Saturday 8 July, Iniö

Iniö is a locality on the Archipelago Trail. Many tourists pass through the main island, which has an active and tight-knit local community of permanent and summer residents. Iniö comprises more than one thousand islands and islets, and the event will take place outdoors, around the environs of the Norrby guest harbour.

Saturday 29 July, Kuuskajaskari

Kuuskajaskari is a popular tourist destination, attracting 200–300 visitors every day. The island is a former army defence and training fortification, still containing old barracks and military fixtures. Besides the outdoor environment, the venues include an old artillery hall, which has previously been used for summer theatre productions and can fit an audience of 150.

Saturday 5 August, Archipelago Centre Korpoström

The Archipelago Centre offers a versatile programme and services for yachters, visitors interested in culture and the Archipelago Sea, and families with children. Its main exhibition for summer 2023, entitled Migration, considers the topic of migration through contemporary art, while the Kids’ Lab will allow children to explore life forms and water samples from the sea bed. Our event can spread itself across indoor and outdoor spaces.

Application form

Please submit your artwork proposal using the digital application form on the Regional Dance Centre of Western Finland website. The application can be filled also in Swedish and Finnish.

Information to provide on the form:

  • Title of piece or performance
  • Name of artist or group
  • Suitable venues and dates
  • Brief promotional description of the piece or performance for marketing purposes
  • Marketing picture and name of photographer
  • Duration(if applicable)
  • Compensation: salary or invoice
  • Estimated travel costa per venue (cheapest public transport option or mileage allowance if necessary)
  • Written description of completed work (max. one A4) and preferred venue
  • Links to visual and/or audiovisual materials, if available (remember to provide passwords)
  • Contact details (email, telephone, website or online portfolio, contact person for group)
  • PDF file containing cost estimate for materials, rented technology, etc., as well as a list of necessary technical equipment and other details related to erecting/displaying/performing the work
  • Other comments
  • Please note, that you have 60 minutes to complete the application. Therefore you should read the questions in advance and make sure that you have all the necessary attachments available.

Selection process and compensation

The selections for the event programme will be made by a jury appointed from among the organisers, who may consult experts if necessary. The jury may also suggest further developments for ideas. The selection process will pay attention to the proposals’ artistic quality and their suitability for the programme as a whole. Selections will be made by 30 April 2023. After that, the organisers will proceed to make agreements with the selected artists/groups. We will be in touch with all applicants.

Jury composition: Risto Kupari, Fund Officer of the Satakunta Regional Fund; Sari Torvinen, Project Coordinator; and Timo Vuorisalo, Fund Officer of the Varsinais-Suomi Regional Fund.

The selected artists or groups will receive compensation in the form of salary and daily allowances. If desired, the artists/groups may also invoice the organisers for the work as freelancers, including all daily allowances and employers’ contributions in the invoiced sum (they will not be paid separately). We will also cover travel expenses between the artists’ home addresses and the venues, in accordance with the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s travel expense regulations. At some venues, accommodation expenses may be necessary if travel connections demand an overnight stay.

Please clearly itemise all the material and technology-related costs on your application, and we will cover them where possible.

For further information, please contact:

Sari Torvinen, project coordinator
sari.torvinen@skr.fi
Tel.: +358 44 9064 764

Organisers:

Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Satakunta and Varsinais-Suomi Regional Funds.

Partners:

Regional Council of Southwest Finland, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Regional Dance Centre of Western Finland, and the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.

With early music around the Baltic Sea, and into the world of linguistic joy on the wings of poetry

Teksti: Reeta Holma

In the coming years the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, which focuses on early music, will delve into the history of classical music in the Baltic Sea region with the support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation. The three-year project, which is interesting both musically and in terms of cultural history, is big on the orchestra’s scale, says Aapo Häkkinen, artistic director of the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra. “Without external support, it would not be possible for us to engage in such large projects extending over several years.”

The northern dimension has received relatively little attention in the study of early music and performance practices, as more southerly German and Italian music has left it in the shadows.

Now, the musical heritage of the Baltic Sea region is brought to the fore in a new way. During the project, music from the middle of the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century will be performed. For example, the flourishing art of the Hanseatic cities of the 17th century and the lively and international musical life of 18th century Sweden are highlighted.

The area of Finland at that time can be characterised as a musical backwater, but as a part of Sweden it was nevertheless closely involved in the cultural circle of the Baltic Sea. The biggest centres for art were elsewhere: in Hamburg, Lübeck, Stockholm and Riga.

“Cultural bridges were also formed to these cities from Finland, which we are trying to outline in this project,” says Häkkinen.

Concerts related to the cultural history of the Baltic Sea are organised at the Helsinki Music Centre, and the intention is to also go on tour with the programme in Finland and abroad. In addition to themed concerts, lectures and discussions, online seminars and publications are planned, which will help the music and cultural history of the Baltic Sea region reach audiences who cannot come to listen to the music.

“The seamless interaction of research and practical music-making is at the heart of the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra’s activities,” says Häkkinen. The orchestra’s artistic design heavily relies on research in musicology and music history, and a key part of its work is to bring out the previously unknown, historically important repertoire of early music. “Many of these unique works are even being heard for the first time since the time they were composed.”

The world of Kirsi Kunnas’s poetry is celebrated in 2024

Silmälasipäinen nainen, ruskeat polkkapituiset hiukset. Lähikuva kasvoista.

PiiPoo Cultural Centre’s executive director Pilvi Kuitu.

Kirsi Kunnas (1924–2021) paved the way for modern Finnish children’s poetry with her collection Tiitiäisen satupuu (Tiitiäinen’s fairytale tree) in 1956. She created a world of child-centred poetry that understands a child’s world, plays with words, letters and thoughts, and speaks to adults as well.

Located in Lempäälä, the PiiPoo Cultural Centre, which operates regionally and nationally, is planning a Kirsi Kunnas centenary year for 2024 to celebrate the literary heritage of Kunnas. As a result of the cooperation of a large number of organisations, an artistically diverse programme is being created. Based on equality, poetry, the power of thinking, kind-hearted anarchy and playfulness, the project invites people of all ages from different parts of Finland to come along.

“Kirsi Kunnas practically gave birth to the genre of children’s poetry in Finland, which is a huge thing. She was a significant figure in cultural history and an artist of the entire nation,” says PiiPoo’s executive director Pilvi Kuitu. “Kirsi’s poems are not glossy images. They have unruly children and all sorts of life in them. I hope that the centenary year will also have the flavour of life and not be a mausoleum.”

Kunnas talked a lot about supporting children’s linguistic development and how words and language are the key to expanding thinking. Playing with language, enjoying the rhythm of poetry and having fun with rhymes were the cornerstones of her poetics.

“There is a lot of talk these days about challenges in reading. If reading is a technical achievement that lacks the ability to enjoy playing with language, it lowers motivation,” says Kuitu. 

The centenary year invites cultural actors all over Finland to celebrate Kunnas in the spirit of playful and kind-hearted anarchy; to raise the themes of children’s poetry, the joy of reading and poetry aimed at adults into a common discussion; and to train preschool and elementary school teachers to use poems and literary art in their work. The project also extends beyond Finland’s borders as a collaboration with Finnish schools operating around the world. 

According to Kuitu, Kirsi Kunnas had a strong idea that children are artistic actors, and that play is art and art is play. She tells a story about her childhood when she lived with her family in Ylöjärvi and went to a poetry club on Saturdays.

“One Saturday, a woman came to the poetry club with whom we created rhymes and poems together. She became very enthusiastic about us children and what we were doing. I remember how she looked at us admiringly. At that moment, I realised that I became visible through art and was a colleague of hers – an artist myself. The woman was Kirsi Kunnas, and this meeting has showed the way to my own path in culture.”

The Helsinki Baroque Orchestra Association was awarded 110,000 euros for the implementation of the Cultural History of the Baltic Sea in the 18th Century project, and the Friends of PiiPoo Cultural Centre association received 100,000 euros for the national Kirsi Kunnas 100 cultural project in 2023.

The Finnish Cultural Foundation’s awards for significant cultural achievements

Benito Casagrande

Vanha mies tummassa takissa seisoo aitaan nojaten. Taustalla oranssi kolmikerroksinen kivitalo.

Benito Casagrande. Photo: Robert Seger

The architect Benito Casagrande was born in Turku in 1942 and studied architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology. Already in his 1970 master’s thesis, he studied Turku’s historical identity and suggested solutions that take into consideration both the historical accretions and the demands of today.

In 1983, Casagrande presented a plan to enliven Turku’s old town. This was a foundation for the ensuing successful efforts to restore the old city milieu to a more original form. Parking areas and other inappropriate structures were removed from the old main market, and several old wooden houses between the bridge Aurasilta and the market Vähätori were saved. This required above all perseverance and devotion to Turku but also good collaboration between Casagrande and civil servants and the Finnish Heritage Agency.

Thanks to Casagrande, the Ingman House, already threatened with demolition, was revitalised by renovation respectful of its history and under the supervision of the Finnish Heritage Agency. Today it is one of Turku’s most beautiful old buildings and provides premises for a restaurant, cafe, shops, and other businesses. A Catholic chapel was built to commemorate the people buried in the church ruins found in the archaeological excavations carried out under the building.

Benito Casagrande’s influence is visible in different parts of the city: in the University of Turku’s campus, in the Turku Science Park and its cluster of advanced technology and scientific research, in old factory buildings such as Manilla and Rettig turned into culture spaces, and in numerous business and office buildings. His energy, initiative, and creativity in dozens of board positions have influenced culture and businesses locally, regionally, and nation wide.

The award is conferred for respecting history and for preserving beauty.

Pekka Kuusisto

Mustavalkoinen kuva. Silmälasipäinen mies huitoo käsillään. Tausta on musta.

Pekka Kuusisto. Photo: Bård Gundersen

The violinist and conductor Pekka Kuusisto (born 1976) has become known as an exceptionally versatile musician who is equally at ease as a violin concerto soloist, conductor, chamber music player, composer, arranger, festival director, and folk musician and in a circus, on a theatre stage, and in jazz and the realm of electronic music – and in defending nature and justice.

Kuusisto’s violin studies, begun at the age of three, took him to the East Helsinki Music Institute and on to the Sibelius Academy and the University of Indiana and to becoming the so far first Finnish winner of the Sibelius Violin Competition in 1995. His home is in the Finnish town of Pernaja, but due to his strong international career, he actually works nearly all over the world. Currently he has regular orchestra engagements in Oslo, Basel, San Francisco, Bremen, and soon also Helsinki.

His classical repertoire ranges from Baroque to the most experimental contemporary music, and the list of his premieres is stunning. Nowadays Kuusisto has also become increasingly successful as a conductor in different parts of the world.

The award is conferred for mastery of the violin, baton, and bits and for questoning boundaries. 

Mirja Salkinoja-Salonen

Vanha nainen istuu tuolilla tietokonepöydän edessä ja katsoo kameraan.

Mirja Salkinoja-Salonen. Photo: Riitta Supperi

Professor Mirja Salkinoja-Salonen (born 1940) is professor emerita of microbiology at the University of Helsinki and has had a renowned career. She is still doing research at the Aalto University’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation and is focused on adapting sensor technology in research on indoor air problems.

At the beginning of her career, Salkinoja-Salonen studied the decomposition of synthetic and chlorinated compounds and focused mainly on paper pulp bleaching agents. Her research was very influential in the wood and paper industry’s decision to stop using chlorophenols, which are poisonous compounds that accumulate on lake and river bottoms.

Since the 1990s, Mirja Salkinoja-Salonen has studied the connection between chemicals and health in construction sites and housing. The PHMB compounds used in paints, glues, disinfectant and cleaning products, and cosmetics have turned out to be harmful especially in indoor air.  Salkinoja-Salonen’s research has shown that attempts to use chemicals to prevent or correct indoor air problems can at worst produce poisonous compounds that cause permanent damage to human nerves and the immune system.

Salkinoja-Salonen has combined technological, chemical, and microbiological research in exceptional ways. She has had no qualms about presenting research findings even when they recommended things that contradicted prevailing procedures in the food or construction industries or in agriculture.

Salkinoja-Salonen has received an honorary doctorate in technology from the Aalto University, and she invited to become a member of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2013.

The award is conferred for purifying the air, earth, and waters and for improving our health.