Maarit Mustonen
Group meeting (1 day) 
Performance (2 hours), Arkadia International Bookshop gallery, Helsinki
Course on Name and Identity (1 semester), University of Helsinki 

2016
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Maarit Mustonen was a group meeting of Maarit Mustonens. The work brought together nine people from around Finland who were strangers to each other but who all share the same name. Our meeting was a one-day gathering during which we got to know each other, discussed about our name and the experience of meeting people who have ”my name”.
The public part of the work was an open party, a performance, in an exhibition space. Maarit Mustonens were present in the event amongst other guests. Author Tuija Lehtinen, who in 1996 wrote a young adults' novel Kundi kesätukkainen with a 16-year-old protagonist named Maarit Mustonen, also visited the party to read an excerpt from her book. 
During the work I collaborated with linguist, university lecturer Terhi Ainiala. We arranged a course on name and identity at the University of Helsinki. The students could follow my work and three of them made a research project of the meeting of Maarit Mustonens.
The work was supported by University of Helsinki's Teachers' Academy / Terhi Ainiala. 

Read about the work:
Interview by Jussi Latvala at YleX 23.9.2016 (in Finnish): Yhdeksän Maarit Mustosta tapaa lauantaina Helsingissä, ja se on taideteos – mistä on kyse?
Photo: Tiina Palmu
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