To work for art with environment

Abstract

In this master’s thesis, the author explores the working practices of sustainable and environmental art within Sustainable Art and Design field, with a focus on public and private art projects in Finland. The study is a mix between Arts-Based Action Research (ABAR) and comparative examination, artistic work life. The research is from the author’s own English-speaking practice-based and experiential perspective. The focus is to compare public/state-funded environmental art projects to privately funded environmental art projects. By examining the opportunities, challenges, and working conditions within both systems. Such as access to funding, institutional structures, and career pathways for artists while navigate language barriers and working in Finland. The study uses a mixed qualitative methodology combining literature reviews, ABAR, interviews, personal logs, visual documentation, and comparative reflective analysis. The primary case studies include a full report of artistic practice/internship, pulse an independent art project that took place at Urkin Piilopirtti Art Hotel in Tampere (a private art institution), versus the findings of the author’s bachelor’s thesis project, titled Forest Gallery (a public art project). The author’s own independent art project was also analyzed as research material.

The thesis concludes that a patient hybrid approach offers the most sustainable and realistic career path for majority of environmental English-speaking artists living in Finland, customizing most suitable elements from both public and private art practices. Rather than a division between systems, the study encourages openness, collaboration, and a gradual but realistic systemic improvement to support meaningful, sustainable art practices in Finnish society.