Framework: The Finnish Art Review
Issue 5 July '06: Involvement/Detachment

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This issue of Framework takes off from the epochal reform that happened exactly one hundred years ago in Finland: The first session of Finland’s unicameral parliament was held on May 23, 1906, putting in place a new parliamentary system and electoral law on June 1, 1906. This granted all adult citizens equal, universal suffrage and full political rights. Women in Finland were thus the first in Europe to fully exercise their democratic right to vote, and the first in the world to enjoy full political rights by being eligible to stand for a national parliament.

Centenaries frequently provide an opportunity for asking pertinent questions, and this is especially the case with this particular centenary, namely, we can ask: How much have the conditions really changed during this century? How much is there actually ‘space’ to use our political rights or to change our own society? What has been the actual impact of legislation on our contemporary politics and culture, especially now when all localities have to bear consequences of the global triumph of modern capitalism? What kind of challenges do we meet when we try to cope with modernization in marginalized sections of the social space? The political consequences to be derived from laws emphasising basic ethical ideals such as equality and freedom, seem diffuse and indifferent, but on the other hand, they are important achievements that need to be carried further.

Among the contributors is a wide number of outstanding cultural theorists, scientists and critics such as Markku Koivusalo, Antke Engel, Eeva Raevaara, Minna Ruckenstein, Lilli Alanen, Marius Babias, Nikos Papastergiardis, Lolita Jablonskiene, Anu Koivunen, Nana Zhvitiashvili, Laima Kreivyte, Simon Sheikh, Maria Lind, Mika Hannula, Denise Robinson, Erkki Huhtamo, Martin Seidel, Marco Enrico Giacomelli, Frans Josef Peterson, and Vlad Morariu.

The featured artists are Ulla Jokisalo, Minna Heikinaho, the Anteeksi group, and Aurora Reinhard.

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Issue 5: Involvement/Detachment