Finland – are geographically located in the eastern and northern borders of the EU. On one hand, the countries have all sought to present themselves as European. On the other hand, in all countries national or nationalist discussions and movements have strengthened during the recent years. Thus, Pécs, Tallinn, and Turku form an interesting group of ECOCs for studying the notions and perceptions of area-based identities and their interdependence. Particularly, the idea of Europeanness and its relation to locality, regionality, and national identity and culture forms a fruitful point of departure for the study.
The three case cities differ from each other in terms of their social, cultural, economic, and political history. However, the cities also have several characteristics in common. In all the cities contemporary art and culture have been developed together with old urban layers through public art, artistic events, new museums, and various other art and cultural institutions as well as new or renewed architecture. The cities have been multicultural and multilingual forces of their regions since the Middle Ages. Two of the cities (Tallinn and Pécs) are located in former socialistic countries, and are thus part of the historical East–West division of Europe. During the last two decades, the East–West perspective has, however, lost its former meaning and the old division has been provided with new – e.g., economic and cultural – content. All three countries are relatively new members of the union. The similarities and differences have had an influence on how the identity politics included in the ECOC initiative have been interpreted and implemented in the cities during their ECOC year (see Lähdesmäki 2013c). Next, the case cities and the main identity political emphases in their ECOC programs are briefly introduced.
Pécs, a city in Southern Hungary with 157,000 inhabitants, was designated in 2006 as one of the ECOCs for the year 2010. The two other ECOCs of the year were Essen (along with a broader Ruhr region) and Istanbul. Pécs and the region around it are known for their multiethnic population and multi-phased history, which have left their marks on the architecture and traditions of the city. Many of the citizens originate from German, Roma, Croatian, or Serbian backgrounds.
However, according to the population census of 2011, only 4.2 % of the population identified themselves as (ethnic) German, 2.0 % as Roma, 1.2 % as Croatian, and 0.2 % as Serbian (Központi Statisztikai Hivatal 2013, 119, per cents are based on the data provided in the table 3.1.6.1.). The origins of Pécs are in a Roman city called Sopianae which was founded at the beginning of the 2nd century. During the centuries that followed, it developed into a significant early Christian center. One of the major historical heritage sites of today´s Pécs – the early Christian necropolis, which was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 – originates from this period. In addition, the city has several architectural heritage sites dating back to the Middle Age and the Ottoman
27 occupation in the 16th and 17th centuries. The architecture of the city also includes a strong modernist character, due to the active contacts of the local architects with the Bauhaus school in the first half of the 20th century.
Besides having an important architectural heritage, the city is home to various major cultural institutions, such as the national theatre, and special museums, such as the Victor Vasarely Museum. One major cultural product, produced in Pécs since the 1850s, is the Zsolnay porcelain and stoneware.
Transformation of the former porcelain factory area into Zsolnay Cultural Quarter was one of the notable regeneration projects of Pécs2010. In general, the ECOC designation of the city was preceded and followed by major regeneration plans, investments in infrastructural reparations, and the construction of new buildings for cultural use. Today Pécs is an active academic center and a cultural and artistic meeting point of the region, just the way it already was in the Middle Ages. The first university in Hungary was founded in Pécs in 1367. The South-Transdanubia around Pécs includes several important wine regions. Due to the history of the region, its environment, and climate, the promotional discourse of Pécs often emphasizes the Mediterranean atmosphere of the city.
Tallinn and Turku were designated in 2007 as the ECOCs for 2011. Tallinn is the capital and the largest city in Estonia with a population of 426,000. The city is located on the Northern coast of the country, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. The multi-phased history of Tallinn, which includes being subjected to various rulers since the Middle Ages, has influenced the urban character of the city. The Soviet occupation has left its marks on the uses of its urban space and the cityscape. Today 52.5 % of the citizens of Tallinn define themselves as ethnic Estonians and 38.5 % as ethnic Russians (Statistical Yearbook of Tallinn 2011 2011, 10). The major cultural attractions of Tallinn are the medieval merchant houses, churches, towers, walls, and streets of the Old Town, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Around this touristic area spreads out various districts and suburbs, which are characterized by distinguished cultural atmosphere: e.g., the old wooden quarters in Kalamaja have recently started to attract younger bohemian dwellers, the recently renovated and built Rotterman quarter represents the contemporary modern architectural environment, and the massive building blocks in the suburb of Lasnamäe are reminders of the housing ideals of the Soviet era.
Being the capital of Estonia, Tallinn is the location of major national cultural institutions, such as the national museum, theatre, and opera. The venues for these institutions range from historical buildings, such as the Estonia theatre, to recently built cultural sites, such as the Kumu Art Museum. The Russian-speaking minority has their own theatre in the city center. Various nationally important festivals, such as the Estonian Song Festival – the largest amateur choral event in the world – are held in Tallinn. In addition to the traditional and high cultural events, Tallinn has an active alternative cultural scene, which attracts designers, contemporary artists, independent theatre groups, bands,
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trend-setters, and other people interested in the experimental, alternative, and new phenomena of contemporary culture. The city of Tallinn has developed its cultural life and creative industries through long-term planning. Since 2004 the city has produced various strategic plans, development programs, and investigations which aim to develop the cultural industries of the city and promote Tallinn as a creative city. The plans for Tallinn´s ECOC project formed a part of the broader strategic development process in the city (Lassur, Tafel-Viia, Summatavet & Terk 2010).
Turku, a city with a population of 180,000, is located in South-West Finland.
Dating back to the Middle Ages, Turku is the oldest city in Finland. Till the beginning of the 19th century, it was also the most important city in Finland even acting for a couple of years as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland, before the capital was transferred to Helsinki. Turku has functioned as an arena for various social and cultural turning points in the Finnish national history. In addition, Finland’s first university, The Royal Academy of Turku, was founded in the city in 1640. Nowadays Turku is the regional center of Varsinais-Suomi (often translated as Finland Proper). 5.3 % of the city’s inhabitants are part of the Swedish-speaking minority (Tilastotietoja Turusta 2011). The location of the city on the shore of the Baltic Sea has had an impact on the history, livelihood, and culture of the inhabitants of the city and the surrounding region.
The cultural scene of Turku is characterized by the multilayered presence of history in the city: e.g., the medieval buildings serve as the main tourist attractions, the renovated old wooden quarters in the district of Port Arthur have become a popular living area, and the modern buildings in the city center represent the construction ideals of the Finnish post-war period. During the decades between the 1950s and the 1980s, the urban environment in Turku was quickly modernized by demolishing old buildings and constructing modern building blocks. The changes of these decades remain a recurring topic of debate in the city. Due to its long history, Turku has a manifold cultural infrastructure that includes various museums, theatres, and concert buildings. The city has a Swedish-language theatre and various other Swedish-language cultural organizations. Several former industrial estates, such as the Manilla Factory, an old rope factory, and old shipyard buildings, have recently been transformed for cultural use. The transformation of a railway engineering workshops as the cultural venue ‘Logomo’ was one of the major regeneration projects in Turku for 2011. Turku serves as a venue for various regularly organized cultural events, such as the Medieval Market Festival and Ruisrock – one of the oldest rock festivals in Europe organized since 1970. In addition, Turku is known in Finland as the Christmas City. Besides the official and high culture, Turku has an active underground cultural scene which has influenced the avant-garde and alternative art and culture in Finland since the 1960s. For the past years culture has been taken as one of the focuses in the strategic development plans of the city (Strategy 2005–2008 2005). The development plans of the ECOC project were
29 closely related to the broader development plans of the city and the surrounding province (Helander et al. 2006).
The ECOC programs in the case cities followed the same policy guidelines determined by the EU. Thus, the programs had several similar identity political emphases, aims, and interests. During their ECOC year, the cities aimed to promote and foster territorial cultural characteristics and area-based cultural identities. Various ECOC events in the cities focused more or less on bringing to the fore the characteristics of the city, region, nation, and Europe and the cultures of their people. The main themes of the Pécs2010 followed the slogan
“Pécs – The Borderless City”. As the core pillars of the Pécs’s ECOC year, the application book emphasized: lively public spaces, cultural heritage and innovation, multiculturalism, regionalism, and the city as a cultural gateway to the Balkans (e.g., Takáts 2005, 17). In addition to local, regional, and national culture, Europe, Europeanness, and a common European cultural identity were important concepts in the promotional rhetoric of the Pécs2010. The objective of the city was to celebrate e.g., “artistic achievements of European standard”
(Takáts 2005, 11), “diversity of European and world culture” (Toller 2005, 7), and
“own cultural experience and achievements which are likely to arouse interest in visitors and guests, those aspects of culture which contribute to the heritage of Pan-European culture” (Takáts 2005, 21).
The main objectives of the ECOC year of Tallinn focused on the development of cultural participation, creative economy, international cultural communication, and cultural tourism (Tarand 2006). The identity political aims of the Tallinn2011 were introduced in the application book Everlasting fairytale, Tallinn.... According to the book, ”[a]lthough home to many cultures, Tallinn firmly represents the character of the Estonian people and their land”, and thus,
“[--] it bares the responsibility of representing the republic and its culture to the world” (Tarand 2006, 11). The representation of Estonian culture and identity was an important identity political emphasis in the application book. The national emphasis was, however, intertwined in the book with the creation and strengthening of Europeanness. As it stated: “Tallinn´s leaders envisage the cultural capital as one part of a far-reaching process of transforming urban spaces into cultural centres and introducing Estonian culture to the rest of Europe while helping Estonians create a new European identity” (Tarand 2006, 17). The aim was to familiarize other Europeans with the national culture of Estonia and transform the notions of Europeanness among Estonians. In addition, many of the planned projects aimed to improve the urban environment and cultural infrastructure in the city and develop citizens´ ties with and feeling of belonging to their home town. Unlike several other ECOCs, neither the plans nor the promotional material of Tallinn2011 aimed to introduce or ‘create’ regional culture or identity. The regional elements were present mainly by organizing parallel events in the near-by communes or in other towns around Estonia during the ECOC year.
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According to the Turku2011 application book and promotional material, the main goals of the ECOC program were to encourage well-being, internationalism, creative industries, and cultural export (Helander et al. 2006).
The program of Turku2011 was organized under five main themes that included: bringing culture into the everyday life, offering cultural breaks from the everyday life, introducing the maritime region surrounding the city, discussing issues related to identities and selfhood, and exploring the city through its history, memories, and stories (Määttänen 2010, 7). Besides local and regional aspects, the ECOC year in Turku aimed to emphasize national culture and Europeanness. As the application book of Turku states: “We have created projects that have far reaching effects and represent the driving edge of the Finnish cultural and business life.” (Helander et al. 2006, 7.) In the application book, Europeanness was defined as a value penetrating each project in the program (Helander et al. 2006, 37).
In general, the cultural profiles of the ECOC programs have varied greatly among the ECOCs. The cultural profiles of Pécs2010, Tallinn2011, and Turku2011 also included several contentual differences. In Pécs2010, one of the main focuses of the ECOC program was in the cultural heritage of the city and the regeneration of the urban space through several major restoration and construction projects. In addition, regionalism and multiculturalism were emphasized in the ECOC program. This emphasis was concretized in various events which aimed to bring to the fore regional or ‘ethnic’ contents. In Tallinn2011, the program aimed to activate the cultural and creative industries in the city. In addition, the ECOC program included nationally important festivals and performances, such as the Estonian Song Festival. In Turku2011, the ECOC program brought to the fore various communal events which aimed to involve local people in the cultural scene of the city and activate the cultural participation in everyday life. The cultural profiles of the ECOCs can be interpreted in various ways, and in the designated cities there have always been various views – even debates and contentions – on what is or what should be the main cultural profile and core contents of the ECOC program.