Developing practical tools for art making workshops through service design

Abstract

The study was aimed to plan participatory activities such as art-making workshops. The theme of the art installation was a Finnish traditional cultural object, kapiokirstu. It was a bridal trousseau which was prepared for people who were going to start their new lives. The study area was a northern village in Finland, Pasmajärvi, where there was a shared culture with Sweden. The village was aiming to become a succeeded model as a nature tourism destination and there would be international tourists expected in the future.

Based on the research strategies, arts-based research and community-based participatory research, five methods were used, such as observation, documentation, note taking, diarising and workshop. As a result, a collaborative art installation was created with the member from the local community by using natural resource. The data obtained from the workshop facilitation also enabled the researcher to make maps by service design and an outline to help people who were unfamiliar for workshop facilitation to follow the steps and organise participatory activities by themselves.

The study sought the ways of analysing the features of the cultural object and proposing communication tools to help the participants describe what they observed and to encourage them to discuss to make the art installation, by using kapiokirtsu. It also explored the possibilities by using the presented tools.