Red Waves – Historical Conflicts in Museum Context Helsinki 13th - 14th November 2018. The first event of the project and it’s an international meeting for project partners to discuss and to connect with each other. There will be more events incoming in 2019, which we’ll be hosting. The theme of the first event is historical conflicts in museum context and we’ll be discussing on how are historical conflicts represented in museums today, how we should be representing them and how we probably will be representing them in the future in museum contexts. Director of Museum Services in the National Museum of Finland Tiina Mertanen will open the meeting with a welcoming speech. Speaker Introductions: Stefan Wessman UNESCO-specialist and a maritime archaeologist of the Finnish Heritage Agency Conflicts as cultural heritage Mr. Stefan Wessman is a Team Leader and a Senior Advisor in the Section for International Affairs in the Finnish Heritage Agency. Stefan is one of the renowned authorities within the Finnish cultural heritage field and has been for over the past 15 years. In his current post, Stefan holds the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of various UNESCO conventions on national level in Finland. These being: the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the 1972 convention concerning the protection of the World cultural and natural heritage and the 2001 convention on protection of the underwater cultural heritage. Stefan is also well-known figure internationally as he also represents Finnish Heritage Agency in different international organizations alongside his colleagues. Stefan is also involved in practice with the protection, management and conservation of both underwater and terrestrial cultural heritage sites. His expertise stems from his academic roots, which lie in studying both Nordic Folklore in Åbo Akademi University and archaeology in University of Turku. In the latter, Stefan specializes in the underwater branch of the field. Lately his personal interest and study has been focusing around the medieval seafaring in Finnish waters AD 1100– 1500. In his keynote, Stefan will guide us to ponder conflicts as cultural heritage, with the aid of his diverse and deep experience in working with tangible heritage. Mikko Meronen Curator at Forum Marinum The representation of conflicts in museums Mr. Mikko Meronen is a curator of Finnish naval history at the Maritime Centre Forum Marinum. The centre comprises a national special maritime museum and the Finnish Navy Museum. In his post Mikko is responsible for the work concerning collections, publications and exhibitions about Finnish naval history. He has also been in charge of or taken part in several exhibition projects, including the following: ”A Coastal City in the Winter War (2009-2010), ”Gangut-Rilax-Riilahti 1714, 300 Years Since the Battle of Gangut (2014-2015)”, ”From Water to Flight – History of Finnish Seaplane Aviation (2014)” and ”Securing Shipping and Safeguarding Society – The Finnish Navy 100 Years (2018)”. Currently Mikko is planning a book on the Tuima Class missile boats of the Finnish Navy, drafting a future exhibition on the Finnish born naval officers in the Russian Imperial Navy and contemplating the future of the museum’s unique sea mine collections. Mikko is not only a talented museum professional, but also very active and productive researcher, whose academic roots are in the University of Turku, in the study of Finnish history. He is fascinated by the early history of the Finnish Naval Forces and his research interests are directed towards Finnish naval officers in the Russian Imperial Navy and naval vessels built in Turku. He has written several articles on Finnish naval history as well as the history of ship and engine production in Turku. Mikko also wrote and edited a book ”Taisto-luokan moottoritorpedoveneet” (Motor Torpedo Boats of Taisto Class) published in 2011. Recently he was a member of the editorial board and co- writer of the book ”Energy – two centuries of power machinery production on the banks of River Aura” which was published in 2017. In his keynote Mikko will invite us to think about the role of museums in representation of conflicts aided with his expertise stemming from a long history of working with framing conflict as a part of exhibitions. Katriina Siivonen The vice director and adjunct professor of The Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC) The future of representation of conflicts in museums Leads: discussion-workshop for guests Mrs. Katriina Siivonen is the Vice Director of the Finland Future Research Centre (FFRC) and University Lecturer in Futures Studies in Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, and Adjunct Professor in Cultural Heritage Studies at University of Turku. Katriina has a Ph.D. in the European Ethnology and her current research areas at FFRC are Heritage Futures and Futures Museum for sustainable development, Ground and Growth (cultural transformation towards ecological sustainability), Futures of migration and Empowerment of young people. She is active in domestic and international research networks and she has societal and academic expert positions in her research field, such as the position of chair in the Expert Group for Intangible Cultural Heritage, intended to support in Finland the implementation of Unesco Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and membership in the Board of the Foundation for Cultural Policy Research in Finland. In her field of research interest, she emphasizes the maritime areas. Her academic specialization consists of critical futures research and critical cultural heritage studies, which include semiotic theory of culture and incorporates methodology from ethnography and from qualitative, participatory futures research. Underneath the theme of Heritage Futures and Futures Museum for sustainable development, the activities of the team she is leading is developing both theoretical questions as well as the understanding of the substance and relevant societal networks. In her keynote, Katriina will guide us to dive into the role of museums in co-creating different futures in the society. She will lead us to think about the creation of alternative futures with the help of cultural heritage concerning conflicts and the future role of museums in representing conflicts. In the panel-discussion workshop, Katriina will be leading us with a gentle steer into challenging our minds as we discuss about historical conflicts in museum context and the representation of them. Marcus Lepola ‘Svensksund AD 1790’ -project researcher at The Maritime Museum of Finland The significance of The Battles of Svensksund in the history of The Baltic Sea Mr. Marcus Lepola is currently the researcher in the project Kadonnut Ruotsinsalmi (eng. Svensksund AD 1790 – Beneath the red waves) of The Maritime Museum of Finland, which is funded by the Alfred Kordelin Foundation. The main responsibility of creating a coherent report on the archive and archaeological material relating to the events of Svensksund in the end of 18th century rests on his shoulders. Previously he has worked in the coastal area of Finland, in the surrounding area around city of Turku. Between the years of 2003–2009 he was the local development officer in the archipelago area for the Europian Union Leader -program. After this post, for the past nine years he was researcher at the museum department of Pargas. During that time, he was involved in several museum related projects, for example he has recently worked with exhibitions focusing on the 18th century history: “Times of Strife” at the Archipelago Center of Korpoström (2018) and “Nagu and the Naval War of Gustavus III” at the Maritime house in Nagu (2018). The academic home of Marcus is in ethnography and he graduated with his M.A in 2002 from Åbo Akademi University. His academic interest has brought into a fruition a study of scattered 19th century collections of Russian America. Currently Marcus is partaking in a Ph.D. program at the Åbo Akademi University, where his research is focusing on the role the Russian American collections had to the development of Finnish museums and how those collections were perceived. In his keynote Marcus will introduce us to the greatest marine battles fought in the Baltic Sea and explores the significance these events had for the overall history. His introduction will also serve as a concrete example of a historical conflict, which will serve as fertile soil for our discussion- workshop. Summaries of Speeches: Mikko Meronen Forum Marinum The Representation of Conflicts in Museums I was challenged to think about this subject more closely by the theme of the seminar and my own presentation. I have never been a fan of extremeties or over-analyzing, so perhaps I may be slightly wrong person to talk about this subject. I have still decided to give it a try. My colleague Pauli Kivistö said to me ”so great a seminar on conflicts in museums while executing exhibition projects”. While working on a exhibition, conflicts are quite often born within the team. This is even more likely, when there’s need to use outside help such as desing architects, as many of you have probably also noticed. We (Forum Marinum) have a good situation. We have plenty of skilled people, whom can also create the visual style for a display, which limits the rows and conflicts within ”the family”. It is common to bring out and focus on exhibitions to different kinds of phenomenoms, while the themes and points of view are carefully though out, especially in the nordic countries nowadays. In my opinion there is a danger of highlighting marginal matters and extreme phenomenoms too much. Naturally it’s important to discuss about these matters, but those shouldn’t brush aside the ”norm” or day-to-day matters. Equally important are the points of views, but those as well should be kept realistic.