Writing Residency: Mustarinda, Finland, Sept. – Oct. 2013

From Friday September 13, I will be undertaking a writing residency at Mustarinda, Finland for a period of intense work on my new project ‘In the dark, dark, room.’

“In landscape as well as etymology, Mustarinda is related to the numerous Black Mountains of the Anglo-Saxon world and the German Schwarzwald. A model of sorts for the Mustarinda Association has been the Black Mountain College artist community that was active in North Carolina in the United States in the 1940’s and 1950’s. In Schwarzwald, Martin Heidegger wrote a large part of his philosophical works…In the cases of Black Mountain College and Heidegger, such hermitage has lead to significant advances in arts and philosophy.”

The Mustarinda House is situated on the second highest summit in the dark hills of Kainuu, near the Paljakka nature reserve. The surrounding area contains some completely untouched old-growth forests. Paljakka and Mustarinda are also some of Finland’s snowiest areas. Mustarinda is the only inhabited house on the summit.