Letter From Helsinki: The Director of Finland’s Ateneum Art Museum on How Institutions Can Inspire the Public, Even While Closed

Unlike many European
countries, Finland did not implement a full lockdown in the wake of
the spread of the novel coronavirus. The country was recently dubbed by the
New York
Times as “the prepper
nation of the Nordics” because it has been stockpiling food and
medical supplies since the Cold War. While temporary travel restrictions were put in
place in the hardest-hit capital region, they have now been eased.
But institutions such as the Ateneum Art Museum must remain closed
until May 13. The Ateneum’s
director, Marja Sakari, tells us how it prepared for the crisis,
and the importance of keeping culture alive—and people inspired—in
difficult times.

*

When the news about the virus
came from China, it was a little worrying. At the end of February
and the beginning of March, there was already some discussion about
it turning into a pandemic. On March 16th, we had a meeting of the
National Gallery (consisting of Ateneum, Kiasma, and Sinebrychoff
Art Museum) where we discussed whether we should take the
initiative to close the museums ourselves. Luckily, our government
met on the same evening and decided that the museums would be shut
down, which saved us from speculating on the pros and cons of
staying open or closing.

As a country, Finland was quite
well-prepared for this crisis. I think Finnish people in general
are quite forward-thinking. We take into consideration all kinds of
risks. We are a small country with a small population and we are
between two big countries, Sweden and Russia. So in a way we are
very cautious about many things. We did have some stocks of various
medical equipment, but not everything we would need to cope should
we all fall ill at the same time. 

In terms of Ateneum, for many
years now we have had a detailed risk analysis, preparing us for
all sorts of catastrophes. So we were prepared, but of course when
the worst comes to be realized, it’s a shock for the whole
community, and the museum is no different. 

We closed the museum to the
public starting on the March 17, and everyone who could continue
with their duties began working from home. It is a sad thing that
we don’t have enough work for our front-of-house staff because of
the lack of visitors. Thankfully, we have been able to continue to
pay all staff up until mid-April. However, as our income is reliant
upon visitors and ticket sales, we have been forced to make cuts
that will amount to all staff taking approximately one unpaid week
off a month.

Of course, it is of the highest
priority to protect our staff and their incomes, but thankfully in
Finland we have quite a robust social system. The loss of the one
week’s salary will be partially compensated, by about 60 percent,
by either social unions or trade unions. The Ministry of Education and Culture recently
announced that it would compensate cultural institutions for the
loss of income experienced at this time. For the moment, we don’t
know exactly how much will come to the National Gallery, but of
course we hope that it will ease the situation so that we can
cancel some of these staffing furloughs.

Very soon after the closure, we
started to think about how we could maintain our relationship with
our public. We had been thinking about the possibilities that the
digital world presents before the pandemic, but of course this
digital leap only came to be realized under pressure. At the
moment, we have a guided tour with the curator of our beautiful
Natalia Goncharova exhibition, available on our website and social
media. The Finnish broadcasting company YLE has also made some
programs documenting our exhibition of our permanent collection,
which is really important because it enables everyone to stay
connected to the museum space virtually. 

Some of our staff cannot work
from home, so the museum is not completely empty. We still have
full-time security, and staff including technicians, conservators,
and registrars are allowed to come to the museum from 7:30 a.m.
until 5:30 p.m. Of course we have to think about the future as
well. So now we are slowly dismantling the Gonchorova exhibition,
which will not, unfortunately, reopen to the public.

After that we will begin
installing the next exhibition, titled “Inspiration – Contemporary
Art & Classics,” due to open on June 18. I think everybody needs a
little bit of inspiration right now. We are being very cautious
with all employees; the workers are advised to wear masks. But
Finland is not such a populated country, and in Helsinki, we don’t
have so many people in the streets, so I think it’s quite safe to
come to work. 

The main thing I would advise
other museums to do is to maintain their relationships with the
public and try to do things online that bring the collection to
life in a meaningful way. The public and museum visitors have quite
a lot of imagination. There are so many people all over the world
who are now engaging with artworks in their own homes in new and
creative ways and it is something that really keeps the museum
alive. 

I think during these tragic
times when everybody is stuck inside, the meaning of culture
becomes even more important than ever before. It is a question of
connecting. When you are closed inside your home and you don’t have
contact with your friends or relatives it is important that you can
still have contact with art. Even though this is an awful
situation, and nobody would have wanted it to happen, I think it
creates a lot of solidarity. It creates empathy. It creates
compassion. Art plays an important part in bringing humanistic ways
of thinking to the fore. This is something we all need right
now.

As told to Naomi Rea.

The post Letter From Helsinki: The Director of Finland’s
Ateneum Art Museum on How Institutions Can Inspire the Public, Even
While Closed appeared first on artnet News.