ISEAS 2022

What is FOOD ISEAS?

Artists from different fields and researchers have been invited equally to work collectively, broadly and in interaction with each other and community members. The ISEAS Food Symposium will hold four art events in August 2022. Each group works with socially engaged art methods in Lapua or the province. Communities are Tiistenjoki elementary school, Seinäjoki high school, young farmers, and elderly Book club members from Lapua.

Artists and researchers (click to open):

TIISTENJOKI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Anu Hopia, Sonja Jokiranta, Joan Kelly & Arun Yadav

SEINÄJOKI HIGH SCHOOL: Teea Kortetmäki, Hugo Peña, Anniina Suominen & Clarice Zdanski

YOUNG FARMERS & LAPUA BOOK CLUB : Panu Pihkala, Raisa Foster, Katja Juhola, Mahmoud Mohammadi & Teemu Mäki

DOCUMENTARY: FABIO CITO & LINUS WESTERLUND

HOST: PIRKKO MYLLYMÄKI, KAISA JA ARUN HAIKARA

MENTORS: SMARANDA SABINA MOLDOVAN & MIRKA SULANDER

Central to the work is group discussions, which are used to develop, reflect, analyze and create a dialogue between researchers and artists about how art can be used to open up the food theme in local communities.

Katja Juhola’s (project manager) mother’s and father’s side of the family are both from Lapua, which is why she already has existing networks in the area. Southern Ostrobothnia is also Finland’s granary, where the theme is perfectly suited to open a discussion about the future and the current situation. An exhibition of the event will be held at the Lapua Art Museum in the fall of 2023. 

What are we doing?

The symposium examines the concept of food in three different teams art and science. Teams are challenged to think about food through broad implications.

Nutrition is the basic condition of all life. Food production is one of the most complicated things in our lives. Food and its production and consumption are a significant part of our culture and identity. People’s cultural food habits affect the well-being of our entire planet. By realistically understanding the current situation of food production and consumption, we are better able to search for solutions to problems and seek cultural change.

International politics, agricultural policy and health policy are connected to food. An unsustainable global food system accelerates harmful land-use changes, posing the biggest threats to declining biodiversity through direct and indirect effects. The pesticides used endanger, among other things, pollinators.

The global challenge of agriculture is to produce food for the world’s growing population profitably and efficiently. Food production and consumption cause a good fifth of climate emissions. In recent years, up to 80 per cent of the rainforest areas that have been destroyed are pasture land, and the rest is largely farmland for cattle feed, such as soybeans. Cattle ranching is the single biggest cause of Amazon rainforest loss and animal extinction. general interest in food and nutrition ethics has significantly increased, and young people, in particular, are very food-conscious, for better or for worse (the quality of knowledge varies and at one extreme the compulsive interest is linked to eating disorders).

Faith in the future has shaken many. It has been established that young people suffer from eco-anxiety and a feeling of powerlessness to influence their future. Food is linked to both pandemics and mental health problems. Art has the opportunity to speak a language that makes it easier to open research results and find new keys to understanding.

ISEAS is collaborating with Lapua Art Museum: The exhibition will be open in September 2023.

Lapua Art Museum

Lapua Art Museum has an important role as a producer of cultural services, a presenter of contemporary art and a builder of versatile cooperation. The art collection donation of deputy judge Pauli Laurila in 1998 was the beginning of the museum and is one of the art collections in the possession of Lapua Art Museum. The museum opened in 2006 and operates in one of the renovated factory buildings in the Cultural Centre Vanha Paukku.

Lapua art museum

ISEAS is collaborating with Art and Culture centre Kalevan Navetta. The panel discussion will be held on 25.8.2022 and our ISEAS 2022 documentary will be seen in fall 2022

Kalevan Navetta

The Art and Culture Centre Kalevan Navetta, located near the centre of Seinäjoki, is a diverse and stirring home for art, culture and events. The 130-year-old red-brick cow barn building gathers under its high roof, e.g., contemporary art exhibitions, club and course activities, concerts and food experiences. The versatile premises of Kalevan Navetta invite you to enjoy yourself and spend time with family and friends.