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Maunula Collaborations

Maunula schoolkids at playing field
Minna Tarkka

Maunula is a neighbourhood in Northern Helsinki known for its strong traditions of community organising. Over the years, M-Cult has built a long-term relationship with the neighbourhood.

In 2016-18, M-Cult produced 16 art projects by 24 artists as well as numerous related events to Maunula in context of the Collaborative Arts Partnership Programme and the 'Helsinki model' art pilots. The international open calls for collaborative media art in 2016-17 received 500 proposals from 65 countries. Over 300 individuals and 20 communities or groups participated in the co-productions and the events reached over 15000 visitors.

The work continues in 2019-21 within the Maunula Commons theme focusing on long-term collaborations and productions.

Group photo of game artists and participants
Image by Jaime Culebro.
Actors on the street demonstrating with signs.
Image by Jaime Culebro.
Five models standing back to the camera
Image by Jaime Culebro.

Organised since 2016, the season kick-off brunch at Saunabaari Community centre has become a tradition to introduce artists and residents to each other.

Season kickoff brunch guests at Saunabaari
Image by Jaime Culebro.
Season kickoff brunch food serving
Image by Jaime Culebro.
Season kickoff brunch Minna Tarkka presents
Image by Jaime Culebro.

We also organise seminars and lectures reflecting on collaborative and media art practice, processes and agency.

Shades of Agency seminar participants
Shades of Agency speaker Eila Hämäläinen with Minna Tarkka
Image by Jaime Culebro.

The productions and events in the neighbourhood are followed in the Finnish-language site M-Cult in Maunula.

https://vimeo.com/showcase/7847420

Maunula Projects

  1. Song of Lead site

    Song of Lead

    Healing the soil with Pia Lindman.
  1. Map of Central Park waterways

    Hydrofuturology

    Imagining local water futures with Sophea Lerner.
  1. Woad seeds held by a human palm

    A Library of Seeds

    Joss Allen celebrates the interrelationship of seeds and humans.

  1. Institute of Care

    Collaborative project to map out futures of care.

  1. Central Park Archives

    Co-archiving an urban forest.

  1. Maunula Staircase

    Jeanne van Heeswijk and friends stir up discussion on local futures.

  1. Maunula Remix

    Discursive event on processes of collaborative art.
  1. Actors on the street demonstrating with signs.

    Avatar Influence Game

    Experimental game commission with artists Tellervo and Oliver Kalleinen.
  1. Audience looking at the models showing the Maunula Collection

    Maunula Collection

    Otto Karvonen and Justus Kantakoski claim clothes as public art.
  1. Breakfast from the Past, Muhammad Saifi

    Breakfast from the Past

    Workshop of located memories led by Babak Arzani and Johanna Raekallio.
  1. Printed picture of Dan, people playing Mölkky in the background

    Maunula Looks

    Street photography on local identity by Rogério Nuno Costa and Jaime Culebro.
  1. A comic about mummy being lonely and sad, then finding the Saunabaari singing group and joining.

    Partizaning Maunula

    Local interventions in collaboration with the Partizaning collective.
  1. Shades of Agency banner

    Shades of Agency

    Seminar and artist workshops discussing agency in collaborative art.
  1. Two boys looking at the screens in the exhibition of Recovered Utopias

    Recovered Utopias

    Project on past and present utopias with Axel Straschnoy.
  1. Dance performance with self-made umbrellas

    Reform 75/100

    Feminist project on the gender pension gap by Bernadette Wolbring.
  1. Martial Law at Patterimäki park hands up behind a fence

    Martial Law

    Anastasia Artemeva's site-specific project to re-imagine WW1 trenches.

  1. myfutures.trade

    eeefff group speculates on futures economy with kids.

  1. Sounds and Stories Live

    Knitted soundscapes with composer Jobina Tinnemans and friends.
  1. Details of work by Elena Mazzi, Valentina Karga and La Jetée

    Karga/Mazzi/La Jetee

    Local dialogues on global change - an exhibition at Maunula House.
  1. Audiences viewing the film

    Maunula - film

    Collaborative film realised in residency with Riikka Kuoppala and Thomas Martin.
  1. Screenshot

    Our Coming Community

    Valentina Karga's collective totem representing the future values of a community.
  1. Man watching tv, making a gesture with his hands, looking unhappy

    I'm Talking to You

    Elena Mazzi encourages local responses to global media of crisis.
  1. Shadows of three performers, an image of a sad girl projected on the wall

    Candy Star

    Choreographer Juli Reinartz explores media identities with teenagers.

  1. Maunula Atmospheres

    Artist duo La Jetée deciphers climate change in private archives of a neighbourhood.
  1. Heavy Metal Detector activated

    Heavy Metal Detector

    Steve Maher detects underground music subcultures.
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