After a successful first edition in 2025, the Guarding the Baltic Sea project returns this year, bringing together a new group of artists from five European countries to collaborate and raise awareness of the ecological challenges facing the Baltic Sea.
This year’s edition explores the following question: What does it mean to become guardians of the Baltic Sea in a time of environmental emergency and escalating geopolitical tensions?
To address this question, Guarding the Baltic Sea brings together artists from Finland, Estonia, Poland, Germany and France for a collective fieldwork experience along the Finnish coastline and archipelago. The programme combines an intensive group research retreat with individual residency periods. Activities are based on Vartiosaari Island in Helsinki — whose name translates as “Guard Island.” The programme also includes visits to marine research stations, fostering exchanges of knowledge and methods between artists and scientists.
Mia Tamme
Estonia is represented in the project by Tallinn-based artist, writer and filmmaker Mia Tamme. Her research-based practice combines textiles, moving image, writing and community-based approaches. Focusing on the heritage, memory and identities of the Baltic Sea region, her work explores how stories and knowledge are transmitted through people, places and objects.
Tamme’s work has been exhibited at institutions including KUMU Art Museum and the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM). She has participated in the HIAP residency programme in Helsinki and studied at the Dutch Art Institute.
Guarding the Baltic Sea – Artist Talk | 23 August
Where: SOLU Bioart Society (Panimokatu 1, 3rd floor, 00580 Helsinki)
When: 23 August 2026, 4:00-6:00 pm
Artists participating in the Guarding the Baltic Sea residency will present their artistic practices and research related to the Baltic Sea. The discussion will explore how contemporary art can address environmental challenges and offer new perspectives on the relationship between people and nature.
The event will be held in English. Admission is free, but advance registration is required: Artist Talk: Guarding the Baltic Sea – Institut français.
Guarding the Baltic Sea is a project by EUNIC Finland and Goethe-Institut Finnland, French Institute of Finland, the Polish Embassy in Helsinki, and the Estonian Embassy in Helsinki.
EUNIC — European Union National Institutes for Culture — is Europe’s network of national cultural institutes and organisations, with 39 members from all EU member states and associated countries.
Photo: artist Mia Tamme. Photographer: Derek MF Di Fabio