City clerk in Tampere for four weeks

Hans Brinkmann

Hans Brinkmann, Chemnitz author and poet, spent four weeks in Tampere as the city writer. He was in Chemnitz's twin city at the invitation of the German Cultural Centre Tampere and the Goethe-Institut Finland. After his return, we met up with him to find out what impressions he brought back to Chemnitz from the twin city and how they influence his work.

What exactly does an official town clerk actually do?
Hans Brinkmann: Many people thought I was on holiday there and writing something privately (laughs). But far from it: I had a permanent contract and lived 20 minutes by bus from the city centre in a cultural area with a windmill, puppet theatre and exhibition space. There's a little house there for exchange artists. It was contractually agreed that I would write a blog about my stay. A total of five texts were to be published. In the end, my texts were much longer than those of my predecessors.
Nina Dannert from the German Cultural Centre Tampere looked after me very well and intensively. I came into contact with various artists from the scene, including the "underground". I then wrote about that. My application already stated that I was focussing on this. The result was five blog entries, each three to four pages long. That's quite a lot. It was translated into Finnish and is now online.
I've also done various readings, including at Kansankioski. That means folk kiosk in German. The owner, Mara Balls, is a fairly well-known Finnish rock musician who is widely networked in the scene. Through this contact, I ended up in Pispala, a trendy neighbourhood in Tampere, among other places. I gave a total of seven readings in Finland.

Why were you so keen to go to Tampere?
I was asked if I could imagine doing the job and would like to apply. Then I thought, why not? I asked around in my circle of friends who had already been there. They were all visual artists with whom I am in good contact. They all said I absolutely had to go there. They were right.

The decision in favour of Hans Brinkmann was based on a call for tenders by the Kulturbetrieb and the Cultural Advisory Board of the City of Chemnitz. An independent jury selected the author, who is mainly known as a poet and storyteller, but also as an art and cultural critic. Brinkmann's works include numerous publications such as the poetry collection "Schlummernde Hunde" (2006) and the novel "Die Butter vom Brot" (2011). He lives as a freelance author in Chemnitz.

How did the people in Tampere react to your texts?
A group of rewriters from Bielefeld University once translated six of my poems into ten different languages. Finnish was one of them. That was of course a plus when applying. I always read these poems aloud there and people got them translated. Finnish is very difficult for me. So I travelled with these six poems. But then I also read out other texts, some of which I translated into English myself. Especially in Kansankioski. But I also performed in front of German studies students and Germans living in Finland. That led to some great discussions.

Hans Brinkmann presented his works written in Chemnitz at readings at the book fair in the capital Helsinki, a Hans Brinkmann evening at the University of Tampere and on the Day of Finnish Literature at the Finnish Book Museum Pukstaavi in Sastamala.

If you were to make a recommendation as to what is particularly worth seeing in Tampere, what would it be?
In Tampere, it would be the cathedral. It's a really great Protestant cathedral with a fantastic organ and murals that you don't see in any other church here. Really very beautiful. The city has many museums and you should visit the observation tower. The best thing about the city is that it is full of lakes. Finland is full of lakes anyway. The city was actually created when a canal and a power station were built between one lake in the north and the other lake in the south. That essentially shaped the city.

Can you compare Chemnitz and Tampere?
You can. They are both industrial cities, both working-class cities in terms of history and the mentality of the people. What the industrial museum is here is the museum of the workers' way of life there. I found that very interesting. There are many industrial buildings. For example, on the Finleyson site, a historic industrial site in the centre of Tampere, there is a lot of culture, museums, exhibitions, cafes, etc. The site is named after an Englishman. The site was named after an Englishman who built a large factory in Tampere.

About your work as a freelance author: How did you get into it? Because you studied museology?
I studied museology with the ulterior motive of writing. It's difficult with writing. I was also asked in Tampere why and for what I write. I'm already quite old. It's a process, it just happens. I never start anything from scratch. I've always known what I'm doing, I've been working on it forever. My poetry collections are always a continuation of traditions and my own work.

On the day of Brinkmann's arrival in Finland, there was a shooting rampage at a Finnish vocational school in Kuopio, when an attacker armed with a sabre killed one person and injured ten others. With a view to August 2018 in Chemnitz, he emphasises that the Finns are also struggling with similar problems to those in Chemnitz. "These are concerns that people have everywhere in Europe today," says Brinkmann.
He learnt a lot about the Finns during his stay in Finland. They are very focused on Eastern Europe as their direct neighbours. "There are many small nations and small states that see the world a little differently. Eastern Europe is different from Western Europe. Scandinavia has always been a bit on the outside, especially Finland with its policy of neutrality. That's interesting."

It's clear that the four weeks in Finland have inspired you.
Yes, they do a lot of things differently, for example the school system is similar to that of the GDR, with a late separation between grammar school and secondary school. There is a certain Scandinavian ideology. This country knows exactly where it wants to go. High tech, artificial intelligence, sustainability. They want to take everyone with them, are very keen on integration, e.g. weaker pupils are also given extra support. I like that.

Would you now travel to Finland again with the experience you gained from four weeks in Tampere and do you intend to do so?
I would like to do it again. Let's see if something comes up. I would also like to receive people from there in Chemnitz. Perhaps that could be organised through an artist exchange.

Tampere is applying to be the Capital of Culture in 2026. How is this major project being handled there?
There are a lot of projects going on. When I arrived, there was an event in a park with large light installations and art in public spaces. A whole series of concerts were organised under the banner of Europe. The events were very well attended, it's a city that loves culture.
The museums are also very popular on normal days. When I left, a piece of the Berlin Wall was being erected and a Trabant from Chemnitz with lots of stickers from the Industrial Museum was being put up.

Chemnitz wants to be the Capital of Culture in 2025. Are you optimistic that we can achieve this?
Even if we don't make it, at least we've done something. And the application process has already set a lot of things in motion. I think that's very positive. Many people say that this process is starting a dialogue with their own city.
What people in Finland have asked me about is the "NOW" exhibition in the Gunzenhauser. Many found it interesting. You first have to get used to the fact that the view from outside is a completely random one. It's no longer determined by the leading media. Many had already forgotten about the so-called Chemnitz events.

Further information on Hans Brinkmann's blog: www.chemnitz.de/Tampere