Phase I

Morphing into a Collective
Phase I - Torne Valley

Text by Eija Mäkivuoti
Photos by With the River Collective

When the funding from Nordic Culture Fund (NCF) was secured, I could start planning and creating a program for the first phase of the work. I had promised the NCF that the work aims for close encounters and meetings, heartfelt collaborations, exchange of skills and thoughts, as well as learning about each other's artistic approaches, different art fields, and ways of working. The plan was for the local artists to create a program for the visiting artist for each on-site work period, or Phase, which would take the form of self-organised residencies. These would bring insight into the different conditions we artists work in as well as at the sites and in the local art scenes we get to visit. Foremost, the aim was to build lasting, long-term networks, friendships, and collaborations that cross and go beyond different borders and boundaries. In between the on-site work, the phases, we would work remotely and meet online. It is important to mention the NCF because they sent me a personal letter stating that they could not support the entire multi-year plan, but that they want to support this endeavour, and they encourage me to keep fundraising so we can complete the entire plan.

The artist group of eight Nordic artists from Finland, Sweden, and the Faroe Islands met as a group for the first time on-site in HaparandaTornio by the free-flowing Torne River at the border of Finland and Sweden in October 2023. The local artists in the Torne Valley, Eija Mäkivuoti, Jouko Alapartanen and Henri Hiltunen, devised a program for the visiting artists Alexandra Stroganova, Jessica Franzén, Jón Sonni Jensen, Mari Keski-Korsu and Matilda Löytty. We have followed this method in the subsequent phases of our on-site work. The two-week programme entailed fieldwork, visits, and travelling along the Torne River (Väylä / Tornionjoki / Torneälven) from its end in HaparandaTornio, where it meets the Bothnian Bay (Perämeri / Bottenviken), the sea, and up along the river through the Torne Valley (Tornionlaakso / Tornedalen) and in Norrbotten to its origin at the Torne Lake (Tornionjärvi / Torneträsk).

The first week’s programme included visits to a variety of places to get to know the local art scene and the history of the river valley. Our local artists welcomed the visiting artists to their artist studios at Studio Jala, Haparanda, and at the Porthan School, Tornio. We visited the Torne Valley Museum (Meän museo / Tornionlaakson museo / Tornedalens museum) and got a guided tour by museum educator Joni Karjalainen about the history of the transborder region that the Torne River unites. At the Aine Art Museum (Aineen taidemuseo / Aine konstmuseum) we got insight into art from Northern Finland from curator Amanda Hakokongäs and had a wonderful coffee break with art museum director Virpi Kanniainen. We, Eija, Henri, and Jouko, as participating artists, also wanted to present the border-crossing art project Horizont, consisting of two buildings across the border filled with demolition art created for the local community. To gather some perceptions of the Torne Rriver, we visited the Finnish-Swedish Transboundary River Commission (Suomalais-ruottalainen rajaväyläkomisuuni / Suomalais-ruotsalainen rajajokikomissio / Finsk-svenska gränsälvskommissionen), where we got insights into how they work with the river as a transnational authority and how the Haparanda (Haaparanta) municipality manages its household water taken from the river.

During the first week, we also conducted fieldwork by the river, by ourselves and together – we walked with the river and also made cross-border walks. We read theory together, held dialogues and morning meetings, and we ate community dinners together. Our local partner Tornedal & Co served us lunch for a friendly price and made us the wonderful community dinners that the funding provided for – to get to know each other, to learn about our artistic practices and for group formation. We walked and talked and sometimes walked without talking. On-site, by the river, with the river. Mari Keski-Korsu held a participatory performance where we walked with permafrost and had a footbath. We planted pine trees with Jouko Alapartanen. Our base in Haparanda was Studio Jala, and our local collaboration partner the Jala art and handicraft association (Jala konst och hantverk). We hosted a public event with artist talks at Studio Jala together with the local partners. Our working period also included two sessions of Mindfulness Qigong with Anki Kemi at her beautiful 100 year-old house next to the railway station that is also my Haparanda home.

In the second week, we embarked on a 4-day journey traveling upstream along the Torne River on the left side of the river towards the Torne Lake. We visited the Kukkola rapids (Kukkolankoski / Kukkolaforsen) to be with the roaring river. The rapids are a historical site with a living heritage of dipnet fishing (lippokalastus / håvfiske). We made a pit stop at the site where the Torne Valley Art Hall (Konsthall Tornedalen) is being built in Risudden, Hedenäset by the river where we enjoyed some Swedish fika (coffee and cinnamon buns) with director Theodor Ringborg and the founder Gunhild Stensmyr. In Pello, artist Essi Korva welcomed us on the right side of the river as she was tending to her and Jouko's exhibition at the Pello School. We learned about the conditions under which artists work in these Nordic parts, of the need to self-organise, and to be witty, as the funding for artistic work is scarce. We stayed overnight in Pajala where the Torne River stops being a border river and flows inland, towards its origin in the county of Norrbotten and the Torne Valley.

Along the stream we stopped at several places for fieldwork by and with the river, for example at the Tornio rapids (Tornionkoski / Tornefors). After a 2-day drive we arrived at the Torne Lake that runs from the remnants of a glacier and stretches around 70 km. Our stay in Abisko National Park by the Torne Lake included a couple of days of fieldwork and being with the lake, which unfolded in small groups or individually. Upon arrival in Abisko, it was autumn and a couple of days later winter came, which made our long drive back to Haparanda challenging. We stopped for lunch in the mining town of Kiruna and got to hear about the local art scene from our host Karin Westergren, chair of the Swedish Art Associations, Norrbotten chapter (Sveriges konstföreningar, Norrbotten). With her guidance we also visited the Kin Museum of Contemporary Art (Dáládáidaga Dávvirvuorká / Nykyaijan taitheen myseymmi / Museum för samtidskonst).

Our first phase of on-site work was concluded with a Periferi ´23 zine release event hosted by me, Eija, and Jessica Franzén as the northernmost event of that zine project. Periferi ´23 was organised by CFF (Centrum for Photography), Stockholm, Sune Jonsson’s Centrum for Documentary Photography, and the Västerbotten Museum, Umeå. Without it, we would not have gotten to know Jessica. After the zine release, we had our final community dinner and held a farewell party for us, the artists, some invited local guests, and our local partners. At the party we got a small taste of Faroese cuisine and customs served by Jón Sonni Jensen.

Journalist Lasse Stenman wrote about our artist talk, the artistic process, as well as the Periferi ´23 launch and the zine project in the local newspaper Haparandabladet (Haaparannanlehti). I also would like to mention two other partnerships, as we got a generous discount from Svefi, the Swedish-Finnish Folk High School (Ruotsinsuomalainen kansankorkeakoulu / Sverigefinska folkhögskolan) in Haparanda, which provided accommodation for some of our artists, and two of our artists stayed in Tornio at the artist house Viippola, hosted by the Tornio City Cultural Office.

After these two weeks of joint on-site artistic work and getting to know each other through this self-organised group residency, we felt that we could call ourselves the With the River Collective from now on. This is how we continue forward, from one person’s perspective and dream to eight (and nine) artistic perspectives that will entangle and create something new, something more than one person can do and imagine.

© With the River Collective

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