Amatöörien elinympäristötaide lähiöissä

Abstract

This article addresses amateur environmental art in Finnish suburbs. The phenomenon in question is a
range of art created by non-professionals in public or semi-public spaces in suburban environments. The
concept combines different branches of art, such as environmental art, street art, community art and
contemporary folk art. The term ‘artification’ is used to refer to the pervasion of art into everyday spaces.
The objective of the article is to grasp the significance of local art and its potential from the perspective
of local development. The article is based on interviews with experts and artists as well as examples from
literature. The meaning of amateur art in suburban spaces is viewed from three angles: it opens up possibilities
for experiencing the physical environment as being homelier and more owned by the dwellers,
for making social connections and for transforming an anonymous space into a special place. The concepts
of loose and tight space, site-specificity, non-place and interactional space are applied to offer different
points of view on the subject matter. The article concludes that amateur environmental art may affect local
development in a symbolic, operational, communicative and spatial ways.