Members of the Maaretta Jaukkuri Foundation’s Board, Thora Dolven Balke, Katya García-Antón, Gediminas Urbonas, Mari Jaukkuri, Francis McKee, Yoshiaki Nishino, Hilde Methi and Cecilia Jaukkuri, along with curator and professor Maaretta Jaukkuri, artist A K Dolven and Director Audhild Dahlstrøm, met in Kvalnes to initiate the Foundation’s mission and agenda.
Besides the Board’s main organisational duties, questions such as: “How can we expand our awareness and knowledge of the time we live in? How can we further strengthen art’s freedom to communicate honestly, aesthetically and ethically in this new and complex era?” were discussed in relation to the future of the Foundation’s remit.
The Board discussed MJF’s role and how MJF can play a part in providing space that gives freedom to think, to have a moment of calm in a place independent of commercial or political-institutional influence. It is repeated daily that we live in turbulent times and we also feel it. The challenge of facing the multi-layered problems of our time is something we all share. The future seems more uncertain now than it has in a long time, and questions about climate change, democracy, terrorism, capitalism and growing economic inequalities are discourses that are prevalent. The urgency of many of these issues is reflected in the place that surrounds MJF, a fragile landscape at the centre of discussions on energy and resource politics and climate protection. How we express these concerns and communicate them are vital issues in our time.
