ARTISTIC RESIDENCY AT ISLA - Oulu 26

ISLA se une con el Instituto Iberoamericano de Finlandia en colaboración con Hug Culture con motivo de OULU 26.

The Ibero-American Institute of Finland  in Madrid has signed a collaboration agreement with ISLA (Ideario de Sostenibilidad y Laboratorio de Arte)thanks to the curatorial work of Hug Culture, within the framework of a joint project of an ecological and sustainable nature that will be part of the OULU European Capital of Culture 2026 programming, in which a collaborative artistic residency project will be carried out between a Spanish artist and another Finnish artist in 2024.

The first artistic residency begins on May 6, with the Finnish artist Antti J. Leinonen. The photographer will work for a month at the ISLA headquarters in Robledo de Chavela, Madrid. Come autumn, it will be the Spanish artist Miguel Sbastida who will travel to Finland to complete the month-long residency.

The Ibero-American Institute of Finland it is one of fifteen Finnish centers of culture and science that carry out activities abroad. Its mission is to create a dialogue between professionals, working on ambitious and multidisciplinary projects that have a positive and sustainable impact. The work values ​​of this cultural center are based on equality, accessibility and promote an anti-racist culture.

ISLA seeks to develop lines of work in the construction of the common through strategic alliances and networks at the local, national and international level, so this agreement enriches the spirit of our project, which is configured as a space for thought and praxis, as a think-and-action tank for research, development and experimentation of ideas at the intersection between contemporary art, ecology and sustainability.

Sobre Antti J. Leinonen Born in the town of Oulu (Finland), he is a freelance photographer, artist and photojournalist. His works have been published in various national media in Finland, from television and newspapers to magazines. In addition to working on commission, a large part of his time is dedicated to personal projects in which he investigates the relationship between man, nature and change. Antti strives to look at the world from a human level and approach it through everyday observations. His work is based on photography's ability to reveal or tell something that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Sobre Miguel Sbastida Born in Madrid in 1989, Miguel Sbastida is a transdisciplinary artist and independent researcher. His works focus on issues related to cultural ecology, geological phenomena and processes of environmental decline. Through installation, situated performance or video, his works question the anthropocentric structures of Western thought in our relationship with nature, and generate spaces for critical reflection around concepts such as sustainability, new perspectives of belonging, cross contamination or mutuality in our relationship with the Terrestrial Organism