Framework: The Finnish Art Review
Issue 8 April ´08: Need of Openness

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This issue takes up the highly topical theme of openness – glasnost – in the sense it was introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1980's as a third way for the then Soviet Union to react to the necessity of political transformation and new challenges of meeting the West.

The inspiration for this theme was given by the international conference Revisiting Perestroika – Processes and Alternatives that was organized by the Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki in November 2007. The Raw, The Cooked and The Packaged - The Archive of Perestroika Art exhibition co-curated by Ivor Stodolsky and Marita Muukkonen, which took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA.

In parallel to the conference it provides material for the section FOCUS: Paths Not Taken. It poses such questions as are there not realistic and appealing historical precedents for alternatives - paths away from big-power geopolitics, cultural and political bondage and undemocratic economic ideologies? What are realistic prospects for alternative forms of globalisation?

Among writers and cultural actors contributing to this issue are Chuck Dyke, Heikki Patomäki, Alexei Penzin, Jutta Scherrer, Branimir Stojanovic, and Alexei Yurchak. Featured artists are IC-98 (Patrik Söderlund & Visa Suonpää), Helena Hietanen, Anu Pennanen, Kimmo Sarje and Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas.

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Issue 8: Need of Openness