[A for those of you who got this week's email alert--make that 'City', I'm not the best proof reader...]
Helsinki has been much on my
mind lately and in a way that is not unlike time spent wondering what an old
flame’s up to these days. It’s a city that has lived in my imagination for a
very long time--long enough, in fact, to have its own little rotating carousel
of mental images. Merrimekko’s crazy, crayon-red poppies. Alvar Aalto’s
Savoy vase. Iittala’s Teema dishware. Gravlax on rye with a sprig of dill. Cloudberry cakes. Saunas. Summer solstice parties. Blond and gorgeous wood. Blond and gorgeous people. The midnight
sun. And a particularly lovely
image mentioned by a friend whose mother was Finnish--candles placed in the
snow at 3:00 p.m. on an already dark Christmas Day. This one has stuck with me
for a very long time now with its power to make the darkness of
mid-winter sound as warm and magical as that of those endless Finnish summer days.
Both traditional and modern, invitingly cozy and yet
earthily elegant in their simplicity, all these images have that certain something
so often to be found in the Finnish aesthetic…natural materials, sleekly simple
forms, a relationship to the out of doors…
Lately though Helsinki has
begun to strike me as being more contemporary
than traditional and/or modern.
Guggenheim Helsinki Finalist: GH-121371443. (Submissions were submitted and remain anonymous) (Photo credit: Malcolm Reading Consultants)
The
Helsinki Guggenheim project may be the most obvious—some might say flashy and
still others might say suspect—evidence of a city determined to join the international cultural conversation in a new and bold way. This on again/off again project is not without
controversy but for now at least it is on again.
In December 2014, the 6 competition finalists for the building design were announced. The ultimate winner of the architectural competition is to be
announced in June, 2015. There is
a chance even then that the building will not be built. The Helsinki City Council has reserved
its final decision over its portion of the funding until after the competition
winner is chosen. Even if there
are never bricks and mortar, though, the ambition that has fueled this six-year
battle to bring the Guggenheim to Helsinki is impressive and seems to indicate
a city interested in re-positioning itself as cultural hub.
Fish, stick and rock, the New Nordic brings new meaning to 'locally sourced' (Photo Credit: The Washington Post)
While a bit
harder to define, Helsinki’s collaborative approach to civic life feels just as 'of the moment'. Take, for
example, the sensitive fusion to be found in the Kamppi Chapel, a joint project
between the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Social Services
Department of the City of Helsinki. It functions
both as an ecumenical and a secular space with representatives of the
church and the city in attendance and 'available for conversation' as it says on
the chapel's website. This could have gone so wrong but instead it is considered a rousing success by any measure including the fact that it recently had its
500,000th visitor a scant two years after completion.
Even in this moment of change however there still one constant to be found in Helsinki, providing the city with a throughline running from traditional to modern to contemporary and that constant continues to be visual design. No doubt the depth of this aesthetic tradition informs and directs not only the present but what lies ahead in the future for this most appealing of cities. As the New York Times recently noted of Helsinki--
'Aesthetics fuel a new cool' ...
Seems to me the NYT got it just about right.
'Aesthetics fuel a new cool' ...
Seems to me the NYT got it just about right.
BTW, for 2 interesting and contrasting views on the value of
Guggenheim Helsinki project check out these links
Richard Armstrong Interview in De Zeen
and
Michael Sorkin Interview in ArchDaily
Guggenheim Helsinki project check out these links
Richard Armstrong Interview in De Zeen
and
Michael Sorkin Interview in ArchDaily