METAFIN

Nationalism runs strong in the history of Finland. Provocatively, it could be said that during only the last hundred years or so, Finland as an ideological construct became nationally branded by a set of cosmopolitan intellectuals, lifting the country from a pool of colonial histories into a single modern statehood, while choosing to start speaking a folksy “kitchen language” and building up a progressive republic. This seemingly utopian project proved to be extremely successful, but it also managed to eradicate any post-colonial, linguistic or even racial traumas from the popular culture and arts – discourses that still dominate the global cultural criticality. In Finland, the chosen idea of “a nation” was instead fully embraced and the past examples of national romanticism or ideological creations accepted as the natural state of being, rather than perceiving them as artificially crafted narratives. On the other hand, the success of the “national” has created a system, where any remaining or unnecessary parts have simply fallen through the cracks without further study, or purpose.
However, for today’s contemporaries operating within the boundaries this status quo can also become a limiting and sensitizing contextual framework. Who has the power to define the contents of a national identity and then keep Xeroxing it ad infinitum? What about the blind spots, glitches and unreadable characters? Who gets to curate the archive of a nation?
METAFIN was launched as a book and an exhibition around a discussion on the construction of nationality as a collection. However, it perceives the topic from a blurred angle as a cultural territory of dispersed information, investigating the thematic through experimental graphic design, exhibition practices, digital and analog archives, reproduction and critical writing. Its aim has also been to create various ways of operating in the current rising populist and nationalist rhetoric in Europe. By re-curating the standardized national imagery, objects, metainformation and symbols into a parallel archive regarding national identity, METAFIN seeks to create visually observable distance from the past canons and comfortable, nostalgic displays. At what point do we still recognize ourselves from the national collection?
The project includes works from the following artists, designers and creatives: Jesse Auersalo (with Man Yau, Nina Merikallio) / Heta Bilaletdin / Chow Yik / Krista Durchman / Henrik Drufva / Rebekka Gröhn / Manna Jäntti / Heidi Kilpeläinen / Daniel Palillo / Anne Pasanen / Anni Puolakka / Susanna Raunio / Mika Savela / Jenna Sutela / Chris Vidal Tenomaa / Uusi Kaupunki collective / Tommi Vasko.