I wrote my first Wikipedia article in December 2005. I mostly contribute to the Finnish language Wikipedia. By education I am an art teacher and have been teaching art and cultural subjects in many places, mostly colleges and universities. I have experience in education planning. My second job has been a freelance journalist. I am an art critic and have concentrated in cultural journalism and art criticism. I am a member of The Finnish Critics' Association and AICA.
I was nominated to the board of association Wikimedia Suomi in 2015, which is the Wikimedia chapter in Finland. I have been the president of Wikimedia Finland since January 2016. I live in Helsinki, Finland. I am again on board of Wikimedia Finland and its vice-president from 2023.
Many of my Wikipedia contributions have focused to different fields of art and culture, but in recent years I have edited articles in a wider scope.
Public art into Wikipedia
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In June 2016 I launched a Wikipedia project ”Public art in Finland into Finnish Wikipedia”. The primary task is to create consistent and comprehensive lists of all public art in Finland into Finnish Wikipedia. Many larger cities in Finland have been covered almost comprehensively but many other cities and towns are yet to be included.
What is in it for me in public art? It is a great way to survey unknown areas in cities and new places. I usually use bicycle when photographing statues, memorials and public works of art. Camera? A good quality cellphone camera is good enough. When constructing these lists I get acquainted with local and general history, rulers and folks, artists and art history, styles and genres of art. I get to know both old and contemporary art, surrounding landscape and architecture. Where I live, I orientate, relate and identify myself with public art.
Usually cities and towns have a history and profile of their own concerning public art in their squares, parks and streets. There are cities that are well known for their public art such as Kotka. Public art is not only urban endeavor, we can find it in suburbs and countryside as well. Then there are more historic cities, such as as Vaasa and of course the old Finnish capital Turku. Not to mention the present capital Helsinki, which has about 500 public art works, of which we have gathered in Wikipedia about 370 (June 2016). I think that mere listing is not sufficient for encyclopedia, so usually I write a brief definition and summary with the list.
First, I usually contact local art museum or search for previously published lists of public art in net and create incomplete, so called ”raw list” of works. Finnish Wikipedia has a settled formula of these lists. After that I contact people in this city and ask if they would like to contribute in gathering further information, photographing and uploading pictures into Finnish Wikipedia. Wikimedia Suomi organizes editing events and plans to arrange competitions in this area.
In addition to writing articles in artists and art works, there are two Wikimedia family members that are important with these lists. They are Wikidata and Wikimaps.
I am confident that by about 2020 we have a Wikipedia, where people can easily create their own lists of public art, make their own public art routes in any city or their own living environment. Public art, often unknown, unnoticed and immovable only waits Wikipedia to make it a live and animate part of our cultural heritage.
On public art
edit- Lists of public art in English language Wikipedia.
- Public art
- Statuomania (in Finnish only) is a historical term for enthusiasm for public art. It refers to mostly times that have passed us, but sometimes I feel I am a statuomaniac.