€193,700

The project’s Finnish-Afghan working group will study how decisions about wars affect people’s lives for generations to come, how a time of war shapes those of us living in peace, and how crises such as climate change contribute to the outbreak of wars. The project examines Finland’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan from a variety of perspectives. As part of the project, an illustrated non-fiction book for young people about war as a phenomenon will be produced, and the themes of the project will be turned into a podcast series. 

€275,000

War causes enormous suffering for the people who are attacked, but it is also violence against nature. This documentary series looks at the immediate damage to nature caused by war through the war in Ukraine and the longer-term damage to nature through the Vietnam War. In addition, arms industry and warfare experts provide insights into whether ecological warfare is possible at all. With the two-year grant, researchers from different countries will conduct extensive background research for the series. The development will include test footage and the production of a script, pitch deck and trailer for the series.

€417,200

Russia’s ethnic and religious minorities have been over-represented on the front lines of the war. For many Muslims, Russian propaganda calling Muslims to war contradicts the realities of the political persecution and violations of their rights. In the Western media and academic debate, however, Russians opposed to the war have been represented mainly by the pro-Western liberal opposition. The project will explore the divergent positions of Russia’s diverse Muslim population on the war by examining a range of materials, including public speeches by Islamic leaders, Islamic publications, blogs and discussions on social media, in an attempt to diversify perspectives on the global framing of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

€32,400

Central to the realities of the characters’ lives in Gaza is the concept of “shattered time”, which describes how political and social unrest has fragmented Palestinian history and identity. In addition to writing, Abusharekh collaborates with refugee communities and arts organisations in Helsinki by teaching storytelling and filmmaking.

€387,200

Combining research, performing arts and public dialogue, the project centers around Tove Jansson’s classic novel Comet in Moominland, which has been interpreted as dealing with the horrors of the Second World War and the fear of nuclear war in its aftermath. With the war in Ukraine, fears of world war and even nuclear war have been rekindled in Finland, and the war between Israel and Hamas has strained Jewish-Muslim relations to the extreme. The crises caused by climate change are also adding to universal fear. The research section of the project examines the lives of Tove Jansson’s Jewish friends, artist Sam Vanni, photographer Eva Konikoff, translator Maya London-Vanni, theatre musician Erna Tauro, and Jewish refugee Kurt Bandler, and their reactions to the war and prevailing threats. The result is a collective biography of Jansson’s Jewish friends, centred on the experience and encounter of fear. The artistic part of the project, directed by Mikaela Hasán, will produce a Yiddish translation of Comet in Moominland, and a new play based on it as an international production. Through the play and accompanying talks, the project explores the meaning of fear in today’s society and ways of dealing with fear. 

€34,900

The turmoil of recent years, from the COVID-19 pandemic to tensions between the US and China, has fundamentally undermined people’s sense of security. At the same time, a growing global business has been built around insecurity. As Huhtanen puts it: “When we are afraid, someone benefits from it”. The documentary explores an economy riding on fear and threats through people whose job involves creating fear, worry, a sense of danger and uncertainty. Through absurd means, the documentary makes visible how fear has come to structure our everyday lives and how our interpretation of the future has become defined by threats rather than hope.

€425,500

Polycrisis refers to a network of interconnected and simultaneous crises. The project explores how young people aged 16-19 in Finland and Morocco experience the combination of different crises in their everyday lives and what kind of future prospects they envision. Combining sociology with literary and reading studies, the project will examine young people’s experiences, particularly from the perspectives of security (e.g. wars, violence, extremism) and belonging (e.g. racism, hate speech, polarisation), while exploring the possibilities of resilience, hope and solidarity. The material for the study will be collected through reading circles and writing competitions in Moroccan and Finnish schools and organisations. 

€76,800

Take Shelter is a series of work combining video, word art and photography. The works are based on shelter as a physical and psychological space, and the different defence mechanisms of humans and other species. Human-made structures such as caves, nests and bomb shelters offer protection against threats and weather conditions. Animal defence mechanisms, on the other hand, can range from physical spaces to camouflage and mimicry, for example. While humans often communicate danger through technological means such as sound and light, other species may also communicate threats through smells, chemical messages or warning colours. The works explore the current globally volatile times and society’s historically, culturally and politically changing perceptions of security. Råst will work on the project at Kone Foundation’s Saari Residence in autumn 2025.