The third decision meeting in the Mobility funding was held in online in October. Nordic Culture Point received 85 applications in this round and the applied amount was in total 193 880 €. The expert group decided to grant a total of 83 460 € to 40 projects in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
Among the projects that received funding were Johanna Juhola & Imaginary Friends, based in Helsinki Finland. This is a strongly visualized concert with solo accordion creating musical stories and soundscapes, together with other musicians and sound sources appearing on video screens. Johanna Juhola is the only live performer, with her team of accompanists and fellow performers projected alongside on two large video screens. Joining the accordionist virtually are fellow musicians, an amorous navigator, a chorus of clapping hands and an entire orchestra of cloned Johannas. The project will be touring Danish schools, performing for pupils 9-12 years old.
Another artist that received funding was Diane Tamane, travelling from Tartu in Estonia to Riga in Latvia in connection with her solo exhibition Within Arm’s Reach at the ISSP gallery. In the project the artist is focusing on her own mother’s experience as a truck driver – traditionally a masculine profession. After her mother’s enterprise in Riga went bankrupt 7 years ago, she became a truck driver, driving internationally distributing goods throughout Europe, breaking the stereotypes of women’s role in post-soviet society. Within Arm’s Reach is an extensive series of drawings showing motorway restaurants, landscapes, cityscapes, iconic tourist attractions, still-life, and portraits. During her stay in Riga, the artist will participate in the gallery’s public program and meet with Latvian artists.
The Greenlandic artist and shamanistic practitioner Amalia Fonfara based in Trondheim in Norway, received support for travelling to Aalborg in Denmark to work on a performance in collaboration with a group of young Greenlanders. The performance Forflytninger is developed in collaboration with Kunstens, Aalborg Museum of Modern Art where it will be part of the public program OPEN. Forflytninger is based on the post-colonial Arctic connection that has been between Greenland and Aalborg since the 1700s via the trade route. In addition to the logistical systems’ movement of goods, materials, and bodies through time and space, Forflytninger questions the invisible part of this connection, where culture, identity, and history are in a continuous process of negotiation.
Mobility funding is to cover the travel and/or accommodation expenses of professional artists and cultural practitioners in the Nordic Region and/or Baltic countries.
The funding gives applicants – individuals or small groups – access to contacts, skills, and knowledge from different parts of the Nordic and Baltic regions. Funding can be used to present art and culture productions, as well as increase interest in Nordic and Baltic art and culture.
