Browsing by Author "Valpas, Otto"

During the last decade Berlin has become the unofficial cultural capital of Europe to artists from all over the world. Finnish artists alike have risen to the occasion to promote their work in Berlin – the city has become the highest concentration of Finnish artists after Helsinki. The media has been eager to showcase the influx of artistic Finns, but as of yet there is a lack of academic works written about the topic. This thesis examines both the economical and the social aspects of the Finnish field of cultural production in Berlin. The purpose is to find the reasons for Berlin’s recent rise to the spotlight of the cultural world and to identify how Finns cope with the economic challenges they face as expatriates. In addition to answering questions about livelihood and consumption, the thesis aims to identify the structure of the social networks of the respondents and to survey their identities and the possible changes they will undergo in response to facing a new environment. The theoretical framework is based on David Unruh’s typology of social worlds as well as Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of the field of cultural production. The majority of the data analysed in this thesis consists of fourteen interviews done in Berlin during the winter of 2013. The transcribed interviews have then been labelled and coded in order to reveal similarities and differences. Furthermore, abductive reasoning has been used as a method of analysis to provide technical and social scientific descriptions of the actors’ social lives. The results indicate that the livelihood of the Finnish field of cultural production in Berlin comes from several sources. In comparison with the artists working in Finland, the number of different grants given to those working in Berlin is significantly higher. The reasonable housing and consumer prices in Berlin work as pull factors for those who find it difficult to make it in Finland, though the main reasons for moving were the confined field of arts in Finland and the desire to create connections. The evidence suggests that the interviewees find it important to be part of the social world of the city. The livelihood of those operating in the Finnish field of cultural production in Berlin is mainly provided by the extensive grant system of independent Finnish foundations and state organisations.