Project

MOBIUS Manual

The MOBIUS Manual sheds light on the learnings from the first years of MOBIUS Fellowship Program. Alongside reflecting on the Program's pilot phase (2014-2016), the MOBIUS Manual looks towards the future, too, providing tools for institutions that are interested in rethinking models for international collaboration and mobility.

MOBIUS is a fellowship program for visual arts professionals based in New York, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Finland. The program enables transatlantic mobility and collaborative practices and supports long-lasting professional relationships.The MOBIUS Manual, just fresh off the press, sheds light on the learnings from the first years of this unique mobility program. Alongside reflecting on the Fellowship Program’s pilot phase (2014–2016), the MOBIUS Manual looks towards the future, too, providing tools for institutions that are interested in rethinking models for international collaboration and mobility.

Like a rhizome in nature, the MOBIUS Fellowship Program operates between individuals, institutions and disciplines, and aims to create encounters in unexpected and meaningful ways. The publication, edited by Ilari Laamanen and designed by Johanna Lundberg, follows this same logic and encourages the reader to dip in and out, to start reading or browsing from either end, and to independently connect the dots instead of following a linear narrative.

The publication features reflections and articles from the program’s organizers as well as from the program’s participants Boshko Boskovic, Jenni Nurmenniemi, Paavo Järvensivu, Andrea Lipps, Virve Miettinen, Mike Egan, Martti Kalliala, Stefan Kalmár, Markus Åström and Sam Watson. The Manual showcases projects realized by MOBIUS Fellows in collaboration with the partnering organizations such as The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Museum, Van Alen Institute,  Residency Unlimited, HIAP Helsinki International Artist Programme, No Longer Empty, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Sinne Gallery and Ramiken Crucible.

MOBIUS Project: What Am I?, Iiu Susiraja's solo exhibition at Ramiken Crucible, New York in 2016, curated by Mike Egan. 

MOBIUS Project: Ultimate Exit / Exitscape at Van Alen Institute in 2014, New York, by Martti Kalliala. 

MOBIUS Project: Deep Time Séance at Residency Unlimited, New York in 2015, curated by Jenni Nurmenniemi. 

“Instead of volume and numbers, MOBIUS Fellowship Program focuses fully on the artistic and thematic content of each collaboration.”

The MOBIUS Fellowship Program relies on the idea of customized fellowships for visual arts professionals (curators, mediators, researchers): not a single fellowship is strictly predetermined or fixed in terms of duration, working methods or project outcome. Instead, the MOBIUS Fellowship Program stretches temporality and aims to provide enough time for its participants. At the core of each fellowship is a thematic project that is realized in collaboration with the fellow and their partnering organization. 

The ongoing MOBIUS Fellowship Program is organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York and The Finnish Institute in London. The MOBIUS Manual is generously supported by the Kone Foundation.

Inquiries: info@fciny.org

MOBIUS Project: Mirage at Viherpaja Vantaa, Finland in 2016, curated by Markus Åström.

A spread from the MOBIUS Manual depicting the multifaceted connections the Fellowship Program has created. 

http://fciny.org/projects/mirage
http://fciny.org/projects/iiu-susiraja-what-am-i
http://fciny.org/projects/mobius-20