The challenges of increased immigration: Art-based action research promoting dialogical space

A lively dialogue between science and art characterizes the research activities of
the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland. The Art Education
department organizes multidisciplinary projects where students can accomplish
their project studies using an art-based action research approach. In these
development projects contemporary art is seen as a means of ‘making visible’ or
initiating discussion, an activity that can take place in several different forms.
This presentation focuses on “ArtGear: Two-Way Integration of Young People
2016–2018,” a project which addresses the challenges of increased immigration.
The project is conducted in collaboration between the faculties of Art and
Design and Social Work, the Artists´ Association of Lapland, and the Crossart
Collective Piste. The aim of the project is to promote dialogue and open a
space for different voices to share and reflect through art-based models. The
art workshops are designed to support immigrants who have arrived in Finland
as asylum seekers and received residency permits. In these workshops art
students and artists are developing ways to support interaction between young
immigrants and native Finnish young people in cooperation with social work.
The significance of contemporary art in this project is in its ability to create a
situation where people can have more power over their everyday life situation.
In this sense, contemporary art has a political function and is thus a means to
collect people together and create a platform for communication.