1 European Revivals: Modern Identities Conference // 10–12 October 2012 --- FNG Research Issue No. 1/2015. Publisher: Finnish National Gallery, Kaivokatu 2, FIN-00100 , . © All rights reserved by the author and the publisher. Originally published in http://research.fng.fi

Issue No. 1/2015 ______

European Revivals Conference 2012: Modern Identities

10–12 October 2012 // Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland

Established in 2009, the ‘European Revivals’ research project aims to reflect upon national revivals in Europe. While art-historical scholarship on the subject has already been broadly established, there has not been a joint project that examines this phenomenon on a wider scale analysing the multifarious connections and correspondences that helped shape the identities of each of these modern nations. The ‘European Revivals’ project therefore aims to study and show the similarities and differences of these countries for the first time on a European scale, exploring different aspects at each conference. The aim of the 2012 international conference was to continue the ‘European Revivals’ project in Helsinki by drawing together national museums and galleries and scholars for its second conference in the series, held at the Ateneum Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki. It was accompanied by an extensive exhibition on Helene Schjerfbeck (1862−1946). This major retrospective showed artworks from throughout her career, extending from the 1870s to 1940s.

2 European Revivals: Modern Identities Conference // 10–12 October 2012 --- FNG Research Issue No. 1/2015. Publisher: Finnish National Gallery, Kaivokatu 2, FIN-00100 Helsinki, FINLAND. © All rights reserved by the author and the publisher. Originally published in http://research.fng.fi

2012 Conference Programme

Thursday 11 October, Ateneum Hall

Morning Session: Artistic Exchange

Opening address. Riitta Ojanperä, Director of Central Art Archives, Finnish National Gallery: ‘Modern Identities’

Plenary lecture. Elina Heikka, The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki: The Problem of Oriental Fantasies – in Egypt 1882–1883

Kristina Ranki, University of Helsinki: Paris – the Shaping of a Modern Identity for the Finns

Timo Huusko, Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki: Myth of Nordic Art and German Identity

Lin Stafne-Pfisterer, Munch Museum, Oslo: Munch and Gallen-Kallela in , 1895

Discussion

Afternoon Session: The Question of Identity

Plenary lecture. Frances Fowle, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh: Celticism, Internationalism and Scottish Identity: Henry and Hornel’s ‘The Druids: Bringing in the Mistletoe’

Hanna-Leena Paloposki, Central Art Archives, Finnish National Gallery: Exhibition in Italy in 1937: Constructing National Identity?

Discussion

Plenary lecture. Michelle Facos, Indiana University, US: There’s No Place Like Home: Race and Revival in Late 19th-century Europe

Juha-Heikki Tihinen, University of Helsinki: Reconstructing Identities in the Fin-de-siècle – ’s Notebooks

Discussion

Friday 12 October, Ateneum Hall

Morning Session: Gesamtkunstwerk as an Ideology

Plenary lecture. Joseph McBrinn, University of Ulster: National Dress and Nation State: Fashioning Europe’s National Revivals

Vibeke Waallann Hansen, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo: Gerhard Munthe’s Art in the 1890s: Fine art, Decorative Art or Folk Art?

Edyta Barucka, University of Warsaw: How Polishness was Handicrafted: Lviv 1894 – Paris 1925

Charlotte Ashby, University of London: The National Style: An International Phenomenon

Discussion

Afternoon Session

Sofia Pescarin, Towards Next Generation Virtual Museums. Pescarin is currently CNR (National Research Council) national coordinator of research into‘Virtual Heritage: integrated digital technologies for the understanding, and communication of CH through VR systems’. Her presentation considered the evolution of the concept of the virtual museum and of the technology adopted so far within the Virtual Museum Network (V-MUST.NET) framework. It addressed the several types of VR museums created around the world to date and explored problems and potential further developments in the domain.

Lily Diaz-Kommonen, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Helsinki. Workshop – Case: the Finnish Pavilion, 1900 Paris World Fair. Doctoral students from Aalto Arts presented their positions regarding the virtual museum, sustainability in the context of the current economic crisis, and the role that art and design can play in the revitalisation (or revival) of our societies. Those who took part: Samir Bhomik (Media Lab), Mia Muurimäki (Media Lab), Andrew Paterson (Media Lab), Ferhat Sen (Media Lab), Marjukka Vuorisalo (Design).

Debate and Discussion