Musiikkifestivaali yhteiskunnallisena keskusteluna
Tapaustutkimus vuoden 2015 Meidän Festivaalista
Abstract
In this article I examine an art music festival from the point of view of societal activism and communal experience. My purpose is to illustrate how an art music festival can serve as a communal site for dealing with social and cultural issues of value in contemporary society, such as social justice and environmental concerns. Simultaneously, the study elucidates how contemporary trends in socially critical art have influenced art music festivals in Finland.
The study is carried out through a detailed examination of Our Festival (in Finnish, Meidän Festivaali), an annual chamber music event held on the shores of Lake Tuusula in Tuusula and Järvenpää, Finland, about 30 kilometres north of Finland’s capital, Helsinki. The method combines ethnographical research and performance studies with postmodern art theories that emphasize contemporary art as a socially critical and experiential form of research. The approach also draws on ecomusicology and the cultural study of trauma.
The purpose of the inquiry is to outline socially critical aesthetics in art music concerts and festivals in twenty-first century Finland. Moreover, a new conception of art music is proposed. The main theoretical concepts in the analysis are live and performance art, conceptualism, activist art, relational aesthetics, environmental art, and community and socially engaged art.
The article is part of a larger research project entitled Finnish music in the 21st century: The socio-cultural significance of art music in the postmodern world (SUMU, 2014–2016) conducted by a team of five researchers in the Department of musicology at the University of Turku.
