The Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland

The Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland is an expert on Finnish culture and society. The Institute supports the internationalisation of Finnish contemporary art and helps artists, researchers and social and cultural actors to create international networks. The Institute was founded in 1991 and it is a non-profit, private foundation funded by The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.

The Institute builds partnerships between Irish, British and Finnish organisations. They do this by identifying signals of change in the fields of art, culture and society and supporting new perspectives to contemporary issues. The Institute encourages cross-disciplinary and cross-border collaboration by creating networks and building new partnerships. The Institute is one of the 16 Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes. The Institutes oppose racism and discrimination. It promotes equality and the diversity of Finnish culture and strive to diversify research and science globally. The Institute is also a proud member of EUNIC London, network of the EU national cultural institutes in London.

Editorial Tables: Reciprocal Hospitalities is a new collaborative project between The Showroom and Frame Contemporary Art Finland, opening at The Showroom in January 2023. Building upon a long-term process of curatorial exchange following the inaugural Gathering for Rehearsing Hospitalities 2019, convened by Frame in Helsinki, Finland; and leading to the establishment of a new partnership with the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland.

The collaboration forms part of the core exhibition and public programme at The Showroom in 2023; Rehearsing Hospitalities, Frame Contemporary Art Finland’s public programme for 2019–2023; and Together Again, a programme by the Finnish Academic and Cultural Institutes. Rehearsing Hospitalities, Frame Contemporary Art Finland’s public programme from 2019 to 2023, connects artists, curators and other practitioners in the field of contemporary art and beyond to build up and mediate new practices, understandings and engagements with diverse hospitalities. It fosters critical discourse, pluralistic sharing and collaboration between diverse (artistic) practitioners in contemporary societies.

This exhibition and public programme are the first in a series of international collaborations forming the final year of Frame Contemporary Art Finland's Rehearsing Hospitalities working with The Showroom, UKS (Unge Kunstneres Samfund / Young Artists’ Society Oslo), Vera List Center for Art and Politics (New York), Finnish Cultural Institute in New York and Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland. More details on these collaborations will be announced in January.