Who was Kolja?

Jan Kaila’s Porkkala series and its political message are directly connected to Finland’s political history and taboos. Kaila gave a talk on politics in art at the IAPL (International Association of Philosophy and Literature) Conference held at Kiasma in June.

In his talk Kolja and the Birch, Kaila discussed his Porkkala series displayed in the Fractures of Life exhibition, “If you look closely, the name K O L J A inscribed with Russian letters is still discernible on a birch tree in the small village of Torsvik in Porkkala, twenty kilometres from Helsinki. Who was Kolja, and why and when did he carve his name on the tree?“

When the President of Finland suddenly announced in 1944 that the Porkkala peninsula would be leased to the Soviet Union for 50 years, the 8,000 inhabitants had to leave their homes within two weeks. They did their best to secure their property. Things they could not take with them were either burnt or buried. Many thought they would never see their homes again. 25,000–40,000 Soviet troops and their families, plus a number of civilians replaced the Finnish inhabitants to work at the base. Porkkala became a kind of black hole, excluded from outsiders. The trains on the Helsinki–Turku line that ran through the area had to do so with covered windows. The section was known as the ‘Porkkala tunnel’.

But instead of 50 years later, the area was returned to Finland in 1956. Why did this happen? According to one explanation, the rapid development of nuclear weapons made army bases such as Porkkala redundant. Another theory goes that the Soviet Union used the gesture to support Urho Kekkonen’s presidential campaign. Be that as it may, the original residents returned in 1956 to see everything changed. Houses had been burnt down while new ones had been erected. The place had acquired a kind of magical or sinister atmosphere.

MY PORKKALA

Kaila said of his own relationship with Porkkala and thereby his works: “I moved to Porkkala in 1980. It soon became clear to me that the area was full of hidden history. When I renovated our house, I found hundreds of pages of 1940s Pravda newspapers under the wallpaper. When I walked the fields, I would suddenly come across ammunition. At the end of the 1980s, I decided to make an artwork on the period 1944–1956. I posted an ad in the local newspaper saying that I was interested in objects left behind by the Soviet troops. I got several responses and for a while I went from house to house photographing things ranging from Russian jewellery to personal diaries and letters. This lead to the work entitled 150 Russian objects.

In 1994 I was finally ready to put on an exhibition based on my Porkkala project. Many political changes had taken place since I started the project. The Soviet Union had collapsed, finally allowing an open debate about Porkkala. The story of Porkkala was no longer taboo – on the contrary, the local authorities are actually trying to turn the whole thing into a tourist attraction.

But what about Kolja? If he is still alive, having survived the Stalin regime and adjusted to the new capitalist era, he is perhaps around 75 years old. I wonder if he still remembers the birch tree near the stable.”

CHIASMATIC ENCOUNTERS

The International Association of Philosophy and Literature IAPL held its annual conference in Helsinki 2–7 June 2005 and convened on Sunday at Kiasma to discuss ‘chiasmatic encounters’. The day consisted of two seminars, the first of which focused on Kiasma’s architect Steven Holl’s ideas on architecture.

The afternoon seminar took its themes from the Fractures of Life exhibition. The session was chaired by Penny Florence, the Head of Research Programmes, The Slade School of Fine Art, University College London.

Other speakers included Joanna Hodge, Professor of Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, Professor Jeremy Gilbert-Roffe, painter, Pasadena Art Centre, USA, and Jo Baer, artist. After the break, the Finnish artists Jan Kaila and Pekka Niskanen talked about their works and through them on the politics of art.

Marja Sakari

FRACTURES OF LIFE – Political Contemporary Art in Kiasma Collections
2 April–27 November, 2nd and 3rd floor