Archival exclusivity and the marginalisation of development cooperation schemes in the Finnish architectural narrative
Abstract
This article studies the role of archival collections as enablers or disablers of inclusive historical research approaches. The case in point is the archive of the Architecture & Design Museum, Helsinki. The article argues that the museum collections have been exclusive of the Finnish architects’ global endeavours in Africa, Asia and Latin America, because they have deviated from the national project of canon formation, which has been at the centre of the museum’s archival practices until recently. The analysis proceeds by comparing the Suomi rakentaa (Finland builds) exhibition series (1953–1998), which represents the national canonical approach, with a completely new, research based, thematic collection of archival materials from private collections, which represents the regions that, during the Cold War, were called the “Third World”. The goal of the research is to identify the major factors that have contributed to these regions being almost systematically excluded from the museum’s archival collections. Identifying them is instrumental in developing more inclusive archival practices in the future and overcoming similar distortions of epistemological representation in other Finnish archives. Simultaneously, the article questions what the comparison tells us of the wider value-based clash evident in the Finnish architectural culture in the late 20th century.