Backlight 30 years – the beginning of history

BACKLIGHT ’17

BACKLIGHT 30 YEARS Thirty years ago, a group of enthusiastic photographers got an idea to arrange an international photography event in their hometown, Tampere. Such an act was not yet seen in this small Finnish town. Fueled by personal commitments, friendship and excitement they kicked speed for unforeseen series of events, we now know as Backlight. In May 2017 some of the crew over the years gathered to look back and discuss the events. The discussion was accompanied by Tuula Alajoki, Antti Haapio, Ulrich Haas-Pursiainen, Harri Laakso and Petri Nuutinen.

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– the Beginning of history

Tuula Alajoki (TA): I have been told that Petri Nuutinen was the one to

start the event, we now know as Backlight. What were you thinking in 1987 when you started the Photography Tampere event?

Petri Nuutinen (PN): Firstly I must say that the world was comple­tely

different then. There was no Internet and no such amount of photo­ graphy books. In Finland, there was no real knowledge of what was going on in international photography. Only a few people followed what was going on in the world. That was the main reason to invite people here, create an event where we could discuss, see photographs and exhibitions. The previous year I had a grant for one month. I used it to travel to England. I went around meeting photo­graphers asking them if they know other photographers they con­sider interesting. I received

some names and I started to call them by phone and I went to see these people. Niel Burgess at Open Eye Gal­­lery in Liverpool told me to go see Martin Parr who lived on the Merseyside. He told me Martin had made great colour photographs. Until then all documentaries had been black and white. Martin was working Niel Burgess was Open Eye Galle­ on the Last Resort –series, the book ry’s (Liverpool) director 1982-86. was not even published then. That’s Open Eye turns 40 years 2017. how I travelled for one month and slept on quite a few photographers’ Martin Parr is a British, well-known couches. That’s where the idea came, photographer who is a member of that we could also do something big­ Magnum Photos. ger, arrange an event at Nykyaika.

realism indeed, but with Parr and Graham it was also about the vision.

It was no longer just standing by and documenting. You get yourself involved one way or anot­her, by Paul Graham is a British artist and participating in what is hap­­­­­pening photographer. or bringing an artistic approach to the project.

AH: And this is all done very openly. You do not hide that you are af­

fecting the events you’re photographing. It is amazing that Nykyaika was founded in 1984, in December, then the association was founded in 1985 and already in 1987 you have an international event, year and a half after the foundation. There is the event and look at the list of exhibitions, impressive names exhibited already before this.

TA: Had you already been in a similar event yourself or did the concept develop during the process?

Harri Laakso (HL): Yes, and the amount of them.

PN: Arles festival already existed, but I hadn’t been there and in Helsinki

TA: Did it feel at the time that you were doing something exceptional?

there had been some seminars. Some sort of a vision existed in Finland.

People wanted to gather and it was important to have something more than just an exhibition, workshops with seminars, teaching and lectures.

The discussions afterwards have been essential. This kind of event did not yet exist in Tampere.

TA: What kind of event was Photography Tampere ‘87? Who were

involved and what kind of people participated?

PN: There was Nykyaika Gallery, our own gang, who was in charge

of the practicalities and the Museum of Contemporary Art gave their spaces for the event.

Antti Haapio (AH): Weren’t Janne

Seppänen and Hannu Vanhanen already involved then?

PN: The Journalism department at

the university already had Photo­ journalism students then, it was part of Journalism studies and they both came along.

Janne Seppänen is professor of communication sciences at University of Tampere.

Hannu Vanhanen is adjunct professor of visual communication and senior researcher at University of Lapland.

AH: It must have been also quite shocking then Parr’s colour and the

PN: It was youth’s drive, one must do what you’re personally interested

in. If it doesn’t exist, you need to do it yourself.

AH: Without emails or mobile phones.

PN: It is difficult, even for myself, to understand how the logistics worked, the letters and postcards that we sent to arrange and agree on things.

TA: It required detective work to find out all the addresses.

PN: Martin Parr and Paul Graham

were my contacts from my visit to England, but Victor Burgin I had never met or even read his texts. He came through Mara Lintunen. At that time someone knew someone who knew someone. Nobody has ever run all this alone.

AH: Matti Apunen was then culture

editor in Aamulehti and Photography Tampere ‘87 was received very well.

Apunen was blazing about it.

Victor Burgin is a British artist, theorists and writer.

Martti “Mara” Lintunen is a Finnish photographer, author and editor.

Matti Apunen is previous culture editor and the chief editor of Aa­mu­ lehti, the major local newspaper.

use of flash and...

AH: Was it decided in 1987 already that it is going to be a triennial?

PN: Colour photography existed already, but it had mainly been used

PN: I remember that we were just realising the first one. Then eve­ryone

for commercial purposes. It was also a financial question. Colour was

charged their batteries and think of something new.

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BACKLIGHT 30 YEARS

Aamulehti May 20th 1987: “New British photography at Tampere”

“This first catalogue cover is how the whole Backlight is. It says Tampere, but of course its not Tampere. And the original photo is not black and white, it is famous for its colour. At the same time it says photography but photo­ graphy is not there, it´s here. This tension, I like this ruthless attitude, really black and white from colour. It is like a fist in your face. This is not ironic, I really like it.” (Harri Laakso)

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HL: Maybe the whole idea of triennials and biennials existing started to get stronger then. There had been Venice and Documenta, but the idea of having one concentrating on photography–that is probably the product of the time. Also, Petri, when you mentioned the communi­ cation, with no Internet, nothing, it had also been a kind of a blessing when you compare it to how it is now. You have a tiny city, somewhere in the north, or far from everything, and you approach a person who receives 300 emails per day from galleries all around the world–only because they are reachable. It is completely different when someone bothers to makes the effort to create the connection and trust. This enables also the bigger names to participate, the feeling that there is a good gang behind it.

PN: Victor Burgin was already some kind of a name at the time, he was

young but he had written theories and he was academic. But Martin and Paul they were young lads, nobody in the world knew them. Of course they were more known than we knew in Finland, but they were not the names they are now. Maybe it was also partly due to exoticism, who would have wanted to travel to Finland otherwise?

TA: What about the collaboration? You said that the Museum of Con­ temporary Art gave you the spaces.

PN: Our own little gallery had a great meaning here. It showed that

we are doing interesting things without millions and we make things happen and, as Antti said, the local newspaper was also blazing about it.

TA: What about the content, relation with documentary and art, was there some profile that you wished to create?

PN: In today’s terms art photography did not exist. But it was not fixed either that the event should be documentary. The most interesting thing happening at the time was the actual shift, the breach happening within documentaries, the use of colour and getting yourself involved.

PN: The idea was, that we needed to focus on something. British Pho­

tography came from the facts.

AH: 1990 was a shift, the attraction of something new was gone. Was

there less money then?

PN: No, but always when things are done voluntarily, the one whose life situation allows this involvement the best is doing the job. What kind of things interested you enough for volunteering on them. visible with the funding that organising the event became more permanent in that way?

AH: That probably relates to the time

Danny Lyon is an American

the world politics then. It was the idea photographer and filmmaker. to do something else than we’d done previously. In Finland we were looking to the east and looking to the west much more than in many other places. I think with Danny Lyon it is also the combination of same matters, personality doing things on his own way, he is doing documentaries, photography and movies as well. Themes were decided with a few people sitting around together.

AH: Practical matters have always played a role. Who could we bring

in here and with what costs. It has meant a lot, but personal relations played a huge role.

PN: Exactly, they have been crucial indeed. With money only, we would

never been able to arrange a photography event here.

TA: Where did the themes come from?

HL: I was thinking, was it somehow

PN: The themes did not come from

Jaschi Klein is a German artist working with staged photography.

Heinz Cibulka is an Austrian artist

and photographer. when Uli arrived. Then the funding was already 20.000 Finnish marks [3.200€]. That was the whole budget of 1993. Uli brought Jaschi Klein and Heinz Cibulka to the event.

Ulrich “Uli” Haas-Pursiainen (UHP): And when we now look back in

time, history of documentary is different. Jaschi Klein was doing staged photography and Heinz Cibulka documentary. Somehow we have been in the middle, in between already then in 1993.

TA: What matters is the content; Berlin Wall comes down and Photo­

graphy Tampere is working on east meets west edition in the 1990 event.

AH: This has always been done on a shoestring budget. Especially, I

remember the events in 1990 and in 1993 when the slump was at its deepest. I remember when I myself got involved here. We thought ok, we had the Brits, Soviets and Yanks, what now? We looked at the map and thought, well here is Central Europe. And then we realized, we have Uli, the Central European contact to do this. And then he came with the little Jaschi Klein’s image. Uli, what do you remember of this 1993 event?

UHP: You had started the event before the Soviet Union collapse and this is something for the younger ones not to understand; there was something, a feeling that the Soviet Union collapse had shaped Finland.

I was not aware of this when I was coming here in 1992. I was blind. I came from Germany where I had worked in a photography museum. I come to Tampere, I come to Nykyaika and in Nykyaika there is ”lama”: slump. Luckily, there was still Goethe Institute in town then and they wanted some PR for the institute. I was like an ambassador of German photography or German-speaking countries photography. It was quite easy to get something done. Except that, when I went to library, there was nothing: there was the US and there was Russia and a little bit of British, but Europe was totally unknown. There was nothing about French, German or Italian photo­graphy. That was a very strong impres­ sion, that it was really isolated here, the situation. And then what was interesting was that Finland joined the European Union in 1995. And from that moment it was clear that there must be a clear emphasis on European traditions in everything. We were doing it, because we felt it was in the air.

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BACKLIGHT 30 YEARS

PN: And a good example of how we’ve run with very little money, and never money first. We have not done what the funders want, but we’ ve found ways how to work and everyone involved have been able to Mika Ripatti is a Finnish film and bring their own interests and con­ TV-series script writer. tacts along.

first time to get some printing work done at Lahti School of Art-and we made a huge banderol over that gate at Finlayson. We had a huge sheet and Veli and Tuovi [Hippeläinen] were putting it up there, just the two of them. Tuovi probably finished it on her own.

AH: In the 1996 event Mika Ripatti

AH: I remember when we were

AH: Yes, this Goethe Institute was a good collaboration.

Oliviero Toscan is an Italian and Janne Seppänen gave a semi­nar. It photographer, known worldwide was partly separate, but so interesting. for designing advertising This Nam Nam seminar focused on campaigns for Benetton. the Benetton advertisement images that photographer Oliviero Toscan had created. The seminar was held at the TTVO art school as part of the workshops. The name must have been a random joke pulled out of a chapeau. Still this was tight to be part of the Morality and Religious -theme. So once again, with tiny resources but with personal interest all this became a functional, solid entity.

PN: It all comes to the fact that we’ve never had a strict museum organi­

sation. So the ones who can make it to the spot decided what we are going to do.

AH: And that is also how it looks like. Especially with the triennial

rotation, this has worked well.

PN: These big EU projects were of course a different story. They needed

the kind of preparations we hadn’t done before.

AH: I was not yet involved in the 1990 event, but when looking back at

1993 and 1996 they were truly small. The 1993 event took place only in Nykyaika Kehräsaari gallery and then there were the workshops and seminars. The 1996 event was some sort of a bridge. It was in Siperia (old factory building) where Aamulehti (the local newspaper) is now located. Huge hall and huge openings. The wine bottles had to be opened minute after minute, as I remember.

UHP: Yes. PN: But there was not much money. We could not print any posters

or other material and Veli Granö was laughing when he was asked to come a night before to set up the exhibition. Veli said that it is not the

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taking it down and Tapani [Pennanen] walked by and commented how great it is that we know how to do everything from the beginning to the end on our own.

Veli Granö is a Finnish photo­ grapher and film maker, part time professor of photography at Academy of Fine Arts.

Tuovi Hippeläinen is a Finnish photographer.

Tapani Pennanen is Chief Curator at Tampere Art Museum.

AH: Triennial was a good thing. Orga­nising exhibitions monthly can get

numb, whereas these kinds of events make your blood circulate. And then came the EU and this event really took off. The idea to apply for that came from Uli, but I remember myself asking for advice from the Tampere Short Film Festival staff concerning their experiences with it.

I think they already had succeeded with that by then. I remember the discussion and how much they underlined the importance of reporting and doing the bookkeeping precisely. Even each bought tape roll bought needed to reported! To my achievement I would say that I created a platform by giving space for Uli to hustle, with complete trust in him, when he had the drive to do so. As, in fact, the resistance to Backlight was very hard within Nykyaika Association itself and the other local institutions. One really needed to fight to get the message through that this is the right way, that we follow Uli. Tampere and internationality, we were not closing inwards, into our own little bubble TA: What about the name, which also changed then. Where did it

come from?

UHP: For me what was essential and what I had already sensed in Valoku­

vakeskus Nykyaika, was the critical element. That was already there.

That was never mainstream. So I think we had some kind of parameters.

So Backlight is a festival, which is not in the mainstream, it needed to be something in English because it was meant to be European-wide.

AH: Maybe it was something that you though, to do with periphery,

Finland being a periphery and Backlight is connected to the periphery and not the mainstream?

UHP: Yes, I think if someone tells you “no”, that gives you more courage

UHP: Yes!

AH: But it is true that you can not get it for the same project two or

AH: And one connection is that, for first time, there are things like the

Internet and a web page. It came from there; that it also must be very short and clear. “Backlight”, I remember quite well the look on Petri’s face when you said that the name is going to be Backlight.

UHP: There were all these ideas of counter flow and so on.

PN: And we wanted something with multiple meanings, something

that would not limit the content. Backlight refers to photography and on to being on the stage as well.

UHP: Yes, in photography when you look from the shadows it all gets

underexposed, it gets black. And the idea was that Backlight looks into the shadows.

and you start to think let’s just do it, let’s go on.

three times, so it was your idea to always change it a bit and develop it to something new.

UHP: Yes, the name or the event has been the same, but then there has been a new motto and different actions and the network was perma­ nently developing.

UHP: There is one aspect, which is truly important when I was doing

it in 1999. There were, for 12 months in gallery Nykyaika only inter­ national, foreign exhibitions. I remember after 9 or 10 months there were some members seriously asking, “Hey, come on? What is going on here? Why can we not make exhibitions here anymore, in our own gallery?” It was very strong feeling. Many local artists were angry that Backlight comes to take over their gallery.

AH: In 1996 there was still no Internet and then Petri created these

graphics for Backlight, already then there was this glow behind it. Back­ light was made into a culture product quickly. EU funding lifted it to a completely different level, even though it had been a meaningful con­ tinuation with smaller a flame in the 1990, 1993 and 1996 events already.

UHP: The EU money has created an infrastructure. But you still need

to remember that nobody was employed, there were never permanent workers. We all had additional jobs elsewhere and then this was vol­ untary. Creating the new EU application, that was all voluntary work.

AH: The first co-organisers in the 1999 event were Studio Marangoni

and Alessandra Capodacqua from Florence, I think she was Petri’s contact and the others came from Alessandra Capodacqua is selfUli. All was done at on our own risk, taught photographer and lecturer, but again, in 1999, there came some co-curator of Backlight in 1999idea how to continue and plan what 2008 could be done for 2002.

UHP: No, it was not like that. Everyone said you only get it once, don’t bother you are a festival.

AH: Then why did we apply? Were we mad?

Alessandra Capodacqua, Martin Breindl, Alla Räisänen, Krzysztof Candrowicz, Julia Borghini, Ulrich Haas-Pursiainen. photo: Antti Haapio / BL-archives

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BACKLIGHT 30 YEARS TA: I have also sometimes felt as if there were two sides when doing this

job. It feels strange to still have to defend an event, which has brought in so much and existed for 30 years. This 1999 event was the first time I was involved in Backlight, as a fine art student during Antti’s photo­ graphy class at TTVO/TAMK. There was workshop on Backlight and after that I became the regular guest in Nykyaika’s openings.

UHP: Yes, it was truly a fantastic opportunity that TAMK was then so

much involved and could host these workshops.

HL: Yes then Krzysztof said “we can

Krzysztof Candrowicz is founder of Łódź Fotofestiwal, Poland, co-orga­nizer of Backlight in 2005, 2008.

do it”. He was a real businessman.

UHP: ”Everything is possible,” he said and there was a lot of alcohol at play. But we just though that was ok, we trust him.

HL: I got involved in this when I became one of the regional artists

TA: And what about the open call?

UHP: I think that was the key for the EU funding and it was already up and running in 1999, so that there was a platform to participate.

And then someone would tell us to find partners that are important for the European Union, not only Italy and Austria, but then came also Poland and the Baltic.

HL: Yes, first you needed

to have three partners but then it was also requested that you collaborate with the new partners, so that is maybe why Poland and Lodz came in.

TA: Did you know these people already? Was it again another personal relation?

UHP: Łódź is a twin city

with Tampere–that was it. And, I was told by some people that maybe you can do something with Łódź.

HL: There was the offi­

cial contact and then the unofficial contact.

UHP: It was you then

who got in touch with Krzysztof Candrowicz.

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Yes, there was the old system and the new system and they were not really liking each other.

in 2001. The art council covered my salary and part of that work was also officially appointed to do Backlight. I was doing my doctoral work then, and as Petri said, each of us had brought something, all of their own, to this. My interest was in the research and in the thematic side.

We shared the parts well with Uli, he had all the contacts and then we discussed the themes together then that was what I was concentrating on mostly. What I remember very clearly was the discussion in Vap­ Sirpa Joenniemi is retired director of Museum of Contemporary Art in riikki, with Sirpa Joenniemi and Tampere. the others, and then 9/11 happened.

In the middle of the conversation someone mentioned a tiny plane crashing somewhere. Then all our previous thematic and plans took a different shape. The world had changed dramatically.

AH: I remember us discussing whether we can still do what we had

planned and what does all this mean now.

HL: But that took us to the thematic of critical authenticity. We decided

to continue with it. It was still quite blurry and flimsy, but somehow that combined with the discussion about authenticity that was related to photography then as well. Critical tones and views to the world were in active search, but “critical” here was not only a negative view, but observation. It all became a bit dark but then, in the exhibitions, we had López and many other kinds of materials ended up there.

Marcos López is an American photographer and filmmaker.

But in general when looking back at those exhibitions and artists it is the discussions that we’ve had that have been meaningful. Discussions like the one on train from Vienna maybe, to Warsaw, with the laced tablecloths and no other customers anywhere. And there we were already planning for the next event’s

thematic frames. Those are the things that have stuck in my mind, how the thinking starts to shape.

UHP: But back to authenticity, who had organized the video from the helicopter during WTC 9/11?

UHP: Yes, like humour that we came to think of when completely lost

HL: It was Merja Salo. It was in the

in the utmost end of north-eastern Poland.

HL: You think this was the same trip? Were we not going to Kaunas

and you were very ill?

seminar‌

Merja Salo is professor of Visual Communication and Photography at Aalto University.

UHP: You see, I still like to talk about this when I meet with people and

UHP: Bialystok!

I like to talk about authentic or in realistic presumption. Now seeing it, from the news, I think it was difference in 5-6 seconds.

HL: And we had to take a hotel room for a day‌ because of your high fever.

HL: It was in the news feed. photo: Petri Nuutinen / BL-archives

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BACKLIGHT 30 YEARS UHP: But it was in the air, it was the impact. 10 minutes in between and

in this seminar we had presented the original video from the helicopter.

It was 10 minutes and nothing happened. People were getting out, the tension was getting too much, but the reality was the 10 minutes. The reality was not the 9 seconds you have in the news.

HL: Yes, it was a quiet clip. There was no sound.

UHP: Yes, it was here, the transformation of news. What is the impact of reality or documentary photography? This was always our turn, to select the borderline projects. What is on the edge of docu­mentary.

Is documentary in 2015 the same it was then, in 2005? How does the concept of reality change?

HL: I think that was also the turning point, how do we interpret the

documentary, how do we talk about documentary? There was no turning point. In the same way as you were thinking in 1987, that maybe then there was something else than documentary, but it was something you interpret to every moment you live. Like now it is something where you can think of what is real and what is not, but it is changes in something that we know, and we are very concerned with that question.

UHP: And Harri also invented the concept of chat rooms. I remember

you had a very clear idea about that.

HL: You remember everything so much better than I do.

UHP: No, I was very fascinated about this! Without any indications you

had visual chat rooms, which were from positions of different cultures, from different countries, different conceptual backgrounds or any kind of ideas–just talking with each other.

HL: Yes I remember, maybe I was talking a little bit about the chat

rooms in the text, but I have not read the text after. I never read my old texts after, not in the 15 years. But now when you said it, I think there was a part about this. And then it became a visual idea of all this.

UHP: The chat room was coming up in the Internet then.

HL: Yes and the fact of authenticity was that in the chat you can’t al­ ways know who is there. But you know that there is someone there.

So you have a certain relation, but you don’t know if it is true or false.

And that was like a metaphor for the whole photographic situation.

That there is a relation, but you cannot judge it based on true or false

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situations. So this was what we were thinking. And then the next thing we were thinking, on the train, was that we wanted to do something more cheerful. And then it became to be children, that was not cheerful, but metaphoric, in that way a child was also seen as a metaphor. Or the childhood of the whole of photography as well as the whole idea. And from there I remember the interesting thing of Larry Clark pictures, that we had the censor them although the same pictures had been exhibited in Nykyaika already in 1987 without Larry Clark is an American film any censorship, 20 years before. That director, photographer, writer and was a funny circulation of the same film producer. pictures in different contexts.

UHP: Yes and I think there always was tension in the curatorial meetings,

but that was also the impact for the makers. That curators from dif­ ferent countries, different cultures, conceptual backgrounds were sitting together and, for example, discussing what is humour and what is not.

TA: That is something I have always liked about Backlight, that both doors are left open. Like you had the theme Spells of Childhood which can mean both blessing or curse in Finnish at least. So you never pre­ ventively define what you want or what you are going to show; that you leave the idea open for comments.

AH: Yes it has been always important to keep in mind that the artists

create the event. So that it is not our job to do it final.

AH: And Harri do you remember if

was it Tapani Pennanen and Toimi Jaatinen who accepted us first to the Art Museum and even to the Sara Hildén Art Museum as well?

Toimi Jaatinen is General Manager, Culture and Recreation Services at Museum Centre Vapriikki.

HL: Yes, we were discussing this.

AH: And this was really enormous in 2005, if you measure it in wall

meters, it was huge. And, look at the amount of artists and even the catalogue. And then Uli had to carry these around the world as busi­ ness cards.

HL: From this we were then also allowed to make the hardcover version.

AH: This became a giant; maybe it expanded even a bit too much.

UHP: And that was the first photography exhibition at Sara Hildén ever.

PN: And the last.

HL: When an event starts to grow this big and all sort of events and collaborators get attached onto it, it also starts to loose something. It’s a bit like trading and swapping goods here and there.

PN: And that already requires real work. The first events were done

voluntarily, but nobody can do that for free.

AH: This was already the third time when we received the EU funding.

Even though it was known that it can only be received once for the same project. But Uli always formulated it so that it was the same Backlight, but with the structure and actions changed enough and so that it enabled us to receive the funding so many times. But still 2005 was out of hand in size, in my opinion, whereas in 2008 everything came back to com­ pact entity and this was the fourth time with EU-money. This stayed well in control. Sufficient funding for the actions, this was compact.

TA: Despite the fact that it took place in five European cities nearly

simultaneously?

AH: Yes, and when you look at the catalogue, it is a solid package.

TA: How was it to do this 2008 event, when so many events took place outside of Finland?

UHP: We had cooperated with most of the partners before so there was

this trust between us and it must be said that in Tampere Art Museum, Vapriikki and Sara Hildén, they said that this cannot happen here again, that they will not give us the spaces again to do this festival in Tampere.

One reason, I think, that Nykyaika was becoming too powerful at that time, and Backlight was only based on one person. So what happens when I die? So they invest all the time, all their spaces and then I die.

What do they do?

AH: Yes, it was a risk.

UHP: So they said this will not happen here any more. And then we were sitting with our international network and we had good collabo­ rations, and we were quite euphoric of what we were doing. We were good and we all had fun. We learned a lot and everyone was satisfied.

When it became obvious that we cannot do it Tampere, we thought, ok what can we do? We had this Oulu connection (Northern Photo­ graphic Centre); Alla Räisänen was in the game, Krzysztof was just

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BACKLIGHT 30 YEARS renovating his fabric and we thought, ok then we just do it on our own. It was somehow coming back to our own resources.

Alla Räisänen is Executive Director of Northern Photography Centre in Oulu.

AH: And this started in the meeting in Luxembourg, Dudelange. Or

were we in Italy?

HL: Dudelange, yes.

AH: I remember well how we developed this concept of Tickle Attack,

the theme. First we had the humour and academic view…

UHP: The humour idea I discussed with Harri on a train through Poland.

PN: The final theme and logo… that was finished in Italy, Artimino.

HL: This is confusing, how many of these details one already forgets.

AH: This Tickle Attack, this one I really like. It is a good name, theme

and also all that development work.

Backlight ‘08 applications were on paper. Tuula Alajoki doing her job, making them digital. Photo: BL-archives.

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HL: This also has the duality we spoke of earlier, with spell; it is the tick­

ling and it is the attack. Maybe it is even the same. And in the begin­ning, documentary, there is some dissonance and tension, which has always been interesting. That can also be what makes Backlight different from many other things; that we have maintained consistency, at least up to a certain point.

AH: In addition to the coherency with the content the tight budget­

ing has played a major role here. Pekka Lehtonen had created a clear bookkeeping system for Nykyaika even before the first EU funded event and the bookkeepers Tuula Mittilä and Sirpa Mustonen gave priceless advice. On these bases, it was possible Pekka Lehtonen is one of the for me to do the bookkeeping for all found­­ing members of Nykyaika and the EU funded events as I understood one of its activists during 1980’s and 1990’s. the artistic content and I was able to do creative ”bookkeeping”. That is how we succeeded, but the EU accounts were a nightmare. And then came 2011’s Migration and Nomadic Living, with no EU funding. We started to plan this in Wolkersdorf. I assume we received sufficient national

Irma Puttonen, Ulrich Haas-Pursiainen and Tuula Alajoki discussing the content and structure for Backlight ´11 at TTVO. Photo: Antti Haapio / BL- archives

funding, as it succeeded so well, but here we already had Irma Puttonen in charge of the accounting.

Irma Puttonen is Executive Director of Nykyaika since 2008.

TA: The funding rules and policies that can change, even annually,

makes this process quite crazy to prepare. When I was assigned to be the director in 2012, I felt relieved that there was no pressure for the EU funding anymore. I had followed the process and reporting closely since 2008 and also saw the restrictions that the program dictated. I was happy to reach also beyond Europe. And that succeeded quite well in the 2014 edition Holding Cohesion with the wider Middle-East part and an open call receiving applications from 72 countries. This could not have been supported by the the EU funds. Maybe because my art school background, I am used to swapping squirrel skins (ancient Finnish currency for trading goods, before money existed). It felt natural for me to start offering exhibition exchanges or activities that do not require money, but can be realised by offering contribution in kind from both collaborators to benefit the artists. I started to push forward with this also between the festival years and since 2014 12 Finnish artists have been exhibited abroad in our partner events or institutions because of Backlight.

UHP: I see we are now back there, where we were the end of the 80’s

with so little money. But I think what we achieved with the European Union money (in 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2008), is that now we have a structure here. With this money something has been developed here in Finland.

TA: This is true, the structure and network you created formed a fairly

solid ground for me to step onto. I remember when you asked me to go to China and you told me that you have asked Paul Di Felice, a real European gentleman, to look after me there. I also looked after him a bit, since his luggage was lost and I provided him with clean Backlight Tickle Attack t-shirts for 10 days. But really this Pingyao trip was for me where it all really started. I had the chance to get to know, in person, 12 other European festival direc­ tors who then started to invite me Paul Di Felice is director and publisher at Café Crème, Luxemburg, to their events and more and more co-organizer of Backlight 2002-08. collaborations and personal relations started be woven.

HL: I am currently preparing a course for the next year with Martin Breindl from FLUSS, Wolkersdorf.

Antti Haapio and Ulrich Haas-Pursiainen wrapping up the final EU-report of Backlight ‘08. Photo: BL- archive

TA: And that is where we, right

now, have the third edition of our Independence Through the Lenses tour.

HL: And what I shall never forget is when we met Friedl Kubelka–and there was his daughter, the daugh­ ter from those photographs, now a grown up adult, a lawyer.

Martin Breindl is artist and curator at FLUSS, Wolkersdorf, Austria, coorganizer of Backlight 2005, 2008 and the tour 2017.

Friedl Kubelka is one of Austria’s major photographers, filmmakers, and visual artists.

AH: The one he photographed every week?

HL: Every Monday, for 18 years. The series was also shown in the Spells

of Childhood exhibition.

PN: This reminds me of when we decided to start such an event. It

enables so much more happenings, contacts and discussions than just running a gallery. Maybe the first workshop only had 20 participants, but think of the time those people then spend together discussing, all the exchange of information and those relationships that have remained.

Like Martin Breindl, when was he first in Backlight? And now you are working with him in completely different surroundings. At these moments you can say that this thing works. The connection and the relationships are there. The direct contact between the people and the discussions we’ ve had mean that the people still respond when some­ one from here sends an email.

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BACKLIGHT 30 YEARS TA: Yes, though it is not quite as a letter or a postcard. But this is something

I have felt since I started with Backlight. There is a certain reputation and trust, shared history or same friends and the word gets around. I do not feel I just entered a table already set, but yes I was given a lot already when I started. Of course it helped me to settle in, that Antti was my previous photography teacher, I had met Uli in the workshops and then I assisted him since Backlight ‘08 and Harri was my professor later on. In a way, I feel that I was brought up professionally by Backlight, or with the mentality it represented to me. Nobody had to explain it to me - I was “Backlighted” already. The trust that was put in me from the beginning had an enormous meaning and it created the commitment. I had worked with Uli for maybe two months when he asked, me casually at lunch, if I want to go to China instead of him and take Backlight ‘08 with me.

Come on, whom can you ask this question and who would refuse when asked? And with Backlight ‘14 when I was given the oppor­tunity to cu­ rate the invited artists exhibition to the Tampere Art Museum without Taina Mylly­harju and Tapani Pennanen, yet knowing me in person...

They had collaborated with Backlight previously, but their acceptance for Taina Myllyharju is Director of Tampere Art Museum. my proposal still felt like a jackpot.

And again we are in collaboration with them.

HL: True, the contacts do not need to be kept up constantly, but that is

how the networks are created, the ones that matter, also for the insti­ tutions. To have that event, the happening where these encounters can happen! That is the uniqueness compared to great museums doing great exhibitions one after another. Festivals gather people together and the feeling of togetherness, the understanding that this is will soon be over but that so much is going on right now.

UHP: And when we think of these hundred artists and our sauna evenings

outside the city with maybe 60 people in nature, people learn to trust one another. Of course, at the curators’ level, we can fairly easily trace these contacts but, for the artists, this is a great opportunity to connect.

HL: And it is also great to follow what the artists do afterwards. Anni

Leppälä and Antti Laiti­nen, and with Antti doing the Veni­ce biennial later on, when here he was the young man in the forest (Metsän poika / Bare Necessities) and performing Hikityö / 14

Anni Leppälä is a Finnish photo­ grapher artist, winner of Backlight prize in 2005.

Sweart Work. It is interesting to follow Antti Laitinen is a Finnish visual the artist who for a moment have artist. been on the very same point and to see where they have gone in 15 years.

And to think that for a reason or another at some point, someone had an idea that these artists could be presented together in an exhibition.

PN: Or that Paul Graham has devoted to a purely artistic path, Martin Parr has stayed with his own that was recognisable and strong in the very first event already.

HL: And Victor Burgin is a professor at Santa Cruz, doing scientific work and maybe still something with images.

PN: And they were together then, in1987, here.

AH: One can say though, that Backlight already has a certain audience here. In 2005 it was considered too big an event for such a city. The city was afraid that there would not be enough audience for this kind of event. Now the audience is there and it has certain expectations of the event. That is why it should not be changed dramatically anymore.

It can no longer to be a small, local photographers and members, event.

I also find the thematic frame here valuable, that someone has thought of something, made the thinking part–that we bring up an issue as an entity and concept. I believe that there is still a demand also in the fu­ ture for this kind of content, but also for the possibility for the artists to meet with each other, with the experts and through that, that they can develop not only their own expression, but the whole field.

PN: And, in addition to this, the open discussion and human presence.

HL: The need for human presence will never disappear from the world,

no matter who and whose discussions you could follow online via the Internet.

1987 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 2011 2014 2017

Contemporary British Photography Morality & Religious Finnish Documentary Document & Identity Critical Authenticity Untouchable Things Tickle Attack Migration and Nomadic Living Holding Cohesion Independence

Tuula Alajoki (b.1975) is a curator with background in visual arts.

Along­side leading Backlight, she lectures and teaches photography in Tampere. She has been the director of Backlight since 2012.

Antti Haapio, (b.1964) is a photographer and lecturer in photography at Deg­­ree Programme in Media and Arts in Tampere University of Applied Sciences. Haapio has been the chairman of Photographic Centre Nyky­ aika 1993-2013 and member in Backlight steering group since 2013.

Ulrich “Uli” Haas-Pursiainen (b.1955) is a German curator living in Finland sice 1993. He was the project manager of Backlight from 1999 to 2011.

Harri Laakso (b.1965), Doctor of Arts, is professor of Visual Culture and Art at Aalto University. 2001-2004 he was the regional artist for Arts Council of Pirkanmaa. He was curator for Backlight 2002-2005 and writer for the catalogue of Backlight 2008.

Petri Nuutinen (b.1955) is photographic artist, journalist and graphic designer. Nuutinen is the founding member of Photographic Centre Nykyaika and Valokuva Tampere/Backlight triennial and he was the chairman of Nykyaika 1982-1998.

BACKLIGHT 30 VUOTTA Vuonna 1987 tamperelaisista valokuvaajista koostunut ryhmä (Arkitaide ry) päätti järjestää kotikaupungissaan kansainvälisen valokuva­ tapahtuman, Valokuva Tampere, joka nykyään tunne­taan nimellä Backlight. Petri Nuutinen oli vuotta aikaisemmin kier­rellyt Brittein saarilla tutustumassa brittiläisen valokuvaan sekä tekijöihin sen takana. Valmistelut jatkuivat kirjepostilla ja ensimmäiseen tapahtumaan kutsuttiin paikan päälle Victor Burgin, Paul Graham ja Martin Parr. Kukaan ei tuolloin osannut aavistaa millaiseen lentoon ja mittasuhteisiin pohjoisen pikkukaupungin tapahtuma vuo­sien saatossa yltäisi.

Backlightin focus on aina ollut valtavirrasta loitolla. Kukin tekijä on antanut panoksensa tapahtuman luonteelle, tehnyt siitä oman näköisensä, kiitos tästä myös niille yli 400 taiteili­jalle, joi­­den teoksia olemme näyttelyissä saaneet esittää. Talkoohengel­lä, tekijöiden henkilökohtai­ silla suhteilla ja omistau­tumisella ta­­pah­tuma on saa­­vuttanut van­kan jalansijan kansainväli­sellä valo­­kuvan kentällä, nostaessaan samalla esiin ajankohtaisia yhteis­kunnallisia kysymyksiä sekä tarjotessaan alus­tan uusien tekijöi­den ja näkemysten esiintuonnille.

1999 Backlightin johtoon tullut Ulrich Haas-Pursiainen laati yh­­dessä Antti Haapion kanssa tapahtumalle yhteensä neljä läpimennyttä EU-hanketta vuosina 1999, 2002, 2005 ja 2011. 2005 tapahtumassa Harri Laakson toimiessa Pirkanmaan läänintaiteili­jana sekä Backlightin kuraattoriryhmässä Backlight sai taakseen lähes kaikki Tampereen museot näyttelytiloineen. Seuraavan triennaalin 2008 näyttelyt avautuivat lähes saman­aikaisesti yhteensä viidessä Euroopan kaupungissa sekä Pingyaossa, Kiinassa. Valtakunnallinen ja paikallinen yhteistyö alan oppilaitosten ja instituutioiden kanssa on ollut merkityksellistä tapahtuman jatku­molle, uudelle kuvaaja- ja osallistujapolvelle, joka on löytänyt Backlightin omakseen.

Backlightin vuosien saatossa kutomat koti- ja ulkomaiset ver­­kos­tot ovat luoneet pohjan yhä jatkuvalle yhteistyölle ja ystävyy­delle. Tämä on mahdollistanut suomalaisen valokuvan esittämi­sen Backlightin kansainvälisten kumppaneiden tiloissa ja ta­­­pahtu­missa maailmalla.

Maailman ja valokuvauksen muuttuessa, kiihtyvässä vauhdissa ja sähköisessä välittömässä saavutettavuudessa inhimillinen tarve kohtaamiseen, keskusteluun ja yhdessäolon hetkeen, tapah­tumaan säilyvät yhä.

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BACKLIGHT 30 YEARS – The beginning of history First published in part of Backlight Photo Festival 2017 publication. Available at:

www.backlight.fi