Guarding the Baltic Sea
CAA collaborates in the 2026 edition of the project Guarding the Baltic Sea, guided by the question: What could it mean to become guardians of the Baltic Sea at the time of environmental emergency and escalating geopolitical tensions?
As a small inland sea the Baltic is considered a time machine, where the future effects of ecological changes such as global warming on the oceans are already evident. As an estuary of numerous rivers flowing across a vast area of Northern Europe, it is also a transnational body of water. The complex challenges faced by the sea demand collaboration across the boundaries between not only states but also different disciplines and sectors of society.
The project Guarding the Baltic Sea invites artists from diverse creative fields to navigate these liquid borders and futures emergent in the present. Artistic practices are increasingly acknowledged as having a critical role in the transdisciplinary efforts to address the socio-ecological urgencies of today – for example, in mediating conversations between conflicting perspectives, envisioning alternative futurities, amplifying voices otherwise unheard, and nurturing embodied sense-making.
During August 2026, Guarding the Baltic Sea brings together a group of artists from Finland, Estonia, Poland, Germany and France, to delve into fieldwork together on the shores and islands along the coast of Finland. The programme consists of an intensive collective research retreat, supported by individual residency periods. Vartiosaari island (“Guard island” in English) in Helsinki is the base of the activities.
The retreat includes visits to two marine research stations, Tvärminne Zoological Station (University of Helsinki) and Archipelago Research Institute (University of Turku), and the intergovernmental Baltic Sea protection commission HELCOM. The retreat programme focuses on the sharing of knowledge and methods between the participating artists and the scientists. The project includes public events and will culminate in the launch of a new publication on fieldwork practices.
Guarding the Baltic Sea programme in 2026 builds on the first stage of the project realised during the summer 2025, consisting of residencies, workshops, a conference and an exhibition. The project is curated by Taru Elfving and Julia Lohmann. It is organised and supported by EUNIC Finland and Goethe-Institut Finnland, French Institute of Finland, the Polish Embassy in Helsinki, and the Estonian Embassy in Helsinki, and realised in partnership with HELCOM and CAA Contemporary Art Archipelago. CAA co-hosts the research retreat on the island of Seili at the Archipelago Research Institute.
More information on the project website.
