{"id":3223,"date":"2026-05-28T20:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/?p=3223"},"modified":"2026-05-29T16:04:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:04:33","slug":"the-rural-cci-dilemma-between-hyperlocalism-and-the-springboard-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/2026\/05\/28\/the-rural-cci-dilemma-between-hyperlocalism-and-the-springboard-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rural CCI Dilemma: Between Hyperlocalism and the Springboard Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Mapsion Festival, Vuojoki manor, Eurajoki, 2024.
Photo: Niko Tiainen.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

While the \u201ccreative city\u201d remains a traveling planning concept (G\u00f3mez & Oinas 2022 ), it is common to talk about urban environments as empowering for cultural and creative industries (CCIs). This raises a question: can rural areas also serve as nurturing environments for creative entrepreneurs and projects? If so, what are their specific affordances and limitations, and what developmental trajectories do creative projects elaborate in the non-urban settings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n


We suggest to review the \u201cplace\u201d of the rural in the Finnish cultural and creative economy based on our experiences from the Finnish Lab of the IN SITU EU Horizon project . IN SITU: Place-based innovation of cultural and creative industries in non-urban areas (2022-2026)<\/a> studies and experiments with innovation-related practices of cultural and creative industries based in non-urban areas of the EU countries, with Finland one of them. The Finnish Lab, comprising the Landscape Studies Department and the Finland Futures Research Centre of UTU, focuses on CCIs in the Satakunta region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IN SITU analytical materials suggest that the key features of non-urban CCIs are their ecosystem-based operation and social-cultural nature of place-based innovations. This means that in rural contexts, creatives are dependent on informal horizontal networks, cross-sectoral collaborations, and embeddedness within the local communities. At the same time, the Finnish Lab has discovered that cultural and creative entrepreneurs of Satakunta face many uncertainties. These are characterized by constant multitasking, funding instability, unpredictability of project continuity, and the necessity of unpaid labor or parallel employment to sustain creative practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


We have closely followed two creative projects in rural Satakunta \u2014 the Mapsion Festival and the Footprint of the Giant.<\/a> Both are deeply rooted in the rural landscapes and cultural heritage of the region. Yet, they demonstrate two starkly different pathways of innovation and connection with the rural environment. Let\u2019s explore them in more detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innovation Beyond the Business Model<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As IN SITU reports demonstrate, non-urban CCI innovations are rooted in both their social capital, manifested through diverse networks and active community engagement, and cultural capital, driven by close engagement with heritage and local authenticity. This distinguishes them from purely economic innovations, associated with new business models or economic value chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


At the same time, there are more nuances to how the socio-cultural capacity to innovate unfolds and where it leads the projects. Stories of Mapsion and the Footprint of the Giant show that even in the same context, there can be at least two distinct development trajectories. We named them the rural springboard and the rural commitment (or hyperlocalism).<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The rural springboard <\/em>is the path of creative projects which, consciously or not, use the rural setting as an incubator to develop ideas before scaling up or moving to resource-richer urban contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The rural commitment (hyperlocalism) <\/em>describes the path of deeply rooted practitioners who adapt their work to specific local conditions and maintain a long-term presence, however remain micro in their scale and recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mapsion \u2014 The Rural Springboard<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mapsion is Finland\u2019s first international video mapping festival and competition. Its name combines the words \u201cmapping\u201d and \u201cmansion\u201d, signifying the link between the novel art of video-mapping and the cultural heritage of historical estates. Initially held at the Vuojoki manor<\/a> in Eurajoki [see photo above], the festival\u2019s ambition was twofold: on the one hand, to bring cutting-edge video-art \u201cas in New York\u201d to a remote rural setting, and on the other, to inspire contemporary projection works anchored in the history and architecture of heritage manors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mapsion embodies many characteristic traits of non-urban CCIs. Its origins are firmly place-based, with its format and concept deeply rooted in the local history and materiality of Vuojoki Manor. Its core mission directly responds to the manor’s contemporary condition as a significant, yet underutilized and undervisited regional landmark. The organizing team carefully cultivated a network of partnerships, leveraging collaboration with the Eurajoki municipality, educational institutions, and local businesses. Despite these efforts, the festival faced typical rural challenges: uncertainty of resources, dependence on the goodwill of local partners, and eventually reaching an inevitable ”growth threshold” within a remote geographic location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What set Mapsion apart were its \u201cnon-typical\u201d traits: the exceptional professionalism of participants secured through the personal networks of the lead curator, Niko Tiainen, as well as the high degree of internationalization due to the diverse geography of artists. Moreover, the festival boldly paired high-tech digital tools with creative reconceptualization of cultural heritage, as well as targeted a broader audience, including tourists. Although Mapsion\u2019s approach aligned closely with the regional strategy of Satakunta, seeking to attract tourism and develop hotspots of event-based experience economy, the festival organisers increasingly felt constrained by the limitations of the rural setting. Their ambition to scale up the event led to the decision to leave the rural context for an urban one when an inviting opportunity arose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Push to the City: From Eurajoki to Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The invitation came from the \u201cCity of Light\u201d (Valon kaupunki) brand and annual event series in Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4. In 2024, the Mapsion team faced increasingly difficult conditions regarding the use of Vuojoki Manor, imposed by its then operating management company. This complication was a critical push factor for the organisers\u2019 decision to relocate to Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The move to Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4 unlocked several advantages in front of the team. Having long invested in cultural development, the city provided Mapsion with access to rich municipal resources and heightened visibility. Furthermore, the city boasts a rich array of built cultural heritage sites, including the widely renowned architectural legacy of Alvar Aalto, which the festival can work with and increase attention of international artists. Finally, the audience growth was not a problem anymore; in 2025, Mapsion\u2019s visitors\u2019 numbers grew exponentially.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Mapsion Festival, Vuojoki manor, Eurajoki, 2024.
Photo: Niko Tiainen.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Despite the move, the Mapsion team has maintained its local roots by launching the Luxion Festival, an event dedicated to light art and design on the grounds of Vuojoki Manor. Yet, the rural-urban transition inevitably challenged one of the festival\u2019s foundational values: bringing global art to a remote location. All in all, Mapsion\u2019s trajectory illustrates how the rural context of Eurajoki has become a springboard for a cultural event to grow but then to move to a more resourceful, albeit more conventional, urban setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Footprint of the Giant \u2014 Maintaining Hyperlocalism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In contrast to Mapsion\u2019s urban migration, the Footprint of the Giant represents a commitment to the rural environment, where it was conceived. Led by artist Maija Esko, this research-creation project unveils the undersurveyed historical and ecological layers of Lake Lutta (Lutanj\u00e4rvi), located on the border of Eurajoki and Rauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is deeply embedded in the lived experiences of the forest and the lake. Maija Esko\u2019s innovation lies in environmental \u201cattuning\u201d: to the rhythms of the site, to the locally meaningful but externally invisible changes. Her work involves what can be called the sensorial mapping \u2014 identifying sensorial experiences as well as emotional and meaningful memories and narratives of Lutanj\u00e4rvi and signifying them with artistic means. Thus one of the artist\u2019s practices has been marking the trees growing around the lake with organic luminescent paint, displaying the unique metaphorical contour of the water body.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Lutanj\u00e4rvi, the Footprint of the Giant project, 2025.
Photo: Maija Esko.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The artist additionally engaged with gender narratives on place and placemaking. For instance, using autoethnography, Esko reflected on the archetype of the woman living alone in the forest, examining her own deep connection to the surrounding \u201cwild nature\u201d. She interrogated the gendered stereotypes and clich\u00e9s associated with such a lifestyle. Later in the project, the artist launched \u201csauna storytelling\u201d \u2014 a format of female bonding through sharing stories about lives and places in an intimate and secure environment of an old sauna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond Esko\u2019s personal and sole artistic activities, the Footprint of the Giant has established moments of micro-group interaction and community participation. The project included collective gatherings and performances with local residents, students from beyond Eurajoki, as well as female guests of the sauna evenings arriving from diverse locations.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The sauna, the Footprint of the Giant project, 2025.
Photo: Maija Esko.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Unlike Mapsion, the lead artist of the Footprint of the Giant avoided creating a \u201cbusiness model\u201d and did not have an ambition of scaling up. The project relies on the social capital of its main author, small grants, and non-monetary contributions of participating partners and community. The project is deeply rooted in place and can not be transferred elsewhere without loss of meaning. It generates the sense of place and place attachment between local residents and their landscape. In spite of this \u201chyperlocalism\u201d, the project is capable of raising wider cultural and ecological questions, such as the understudied aspects of the Bronze Age heritage in this area and the fragility of the local ecosystems in view of the granite extraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takeaways: The Rural and Its Creative Triggers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The two cases trace divergent pathways, demonstrating that the rural context does generate creative innovation as well as does so in fundamentally distinct ways. While the two trajectories do not exhaust the entire spectrum of possible paths, they represent quite polar development vectors of the non-urban CCIs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mapsion has eventually moved to the city as a more conventional experience economy environment. Its concept was born in a rural context, nurtured by the impulse to bring art of video projection there, and was successfully tested over several festival editions. Yet, despite these rural roots, several of the festival\u2019s core characteristics naturally favored a transition to an urban context. The concept proved to be interesting and easily transferable to an urban environment. The digital and technological character of Mapsion aligned well with the dominance of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the post-industrial cities. Mapsion\u2019s event-based nature made it easy to integrate the festival into the existing framework of the city branding approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Footprint of the Giant remains in its initial setting, localizing itself more deeply with each new activity and bit of local knowledge incorporated into the project. Guided by a feminist standpoint, Maija Esko develops a caring attitude toward Lake Lutta and its surrounding historical landscape, looking for its hidden treasures. She builds her unique artistic environment around her own homeplace, bridging personal everyday practices with creative activities, which, in their turn, acquire an intimate, personalized, dimension. There are no obvious reasons for moving or scaling up in this kind of approach; however, further turns in the project\u2019s trajectory remain to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the obvious differences, we see that the rural context is present in both cases. Significantly, both projects maintain their connection to Eurajoki, either directly through continued local practice or mediated through a new alternative event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oleksandra Nenko and Maunu H\u00e4yrynen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nenko is a Collegium Fellow at the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies (TIAS), University of Turku<\/a>; H\u00e4yrynen is the Professor of Landscape Studies<\/a> in the Degree Programme in Digital Culture, Landscape and Cultural Heritage, University of Turku<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the \u201ccreative city\u201d remains a traveling planning concept (G\u00f3mez & Oinas 2022 ), it is common to talk about urban environments as empowering for cultural and creative industries (CCIs). This raises a question: can rural areas also serve as nurturing environments for creative entrepreneurs and projects? If so, what are their specific affordances and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3223"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3237,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions\/3237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}