The Anthropological Suitcase is an international artistic platform exploring how sound, materials, publishing, and collective creative processes can create new forms of cultural exchange and artistic research.
Working across sound art, field recording, vinyl production, graphic design, independent publishing, and participatory art practices, the platform brings together artists, local communities, and cultural environments through site-specific processes of collecting, making, and sharing.
Inspired by artistic fieldwork and DIY culture, each project begins with the collection of sounds, stories, materials, images, and experiences from a particular place. These traces are transformed through collaborative artistic production and later shared through exhibitions, publications, listening sessions, performances, and public presentations.
Rather than importing finished artworks, The Anthropological Suitcase develops artistic processes together with local participants, cultural producers, and communities. Every project becomes a temporary laboratory for experimentation, exchange, and collective creation.
The platform was initiated by Danish cultural producer Steen Andersen in collaboration with Japanese artist Chiaki Matsumoto and Danish musician and composer Felix Havstad Ziska.
Moldova 2026 serves as the pilot chapter of a long-term international programme exploring new models for artistic collaboration, independent cultural production, and cross-cultural dialogue.
WHO IS THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SUITCASE?
Steen Andersen (DK)
Steen Andersen is a Danish cultural producer, project developer, artist, writer, and festival manager working across contemporary art, sound, performance, publishing, and participatory culture.
He is founder and director of Enuk, co-founder of Handjob Records, and co-founder and festival manager of Lost Farm Festival. For more than two decades, he has developed artistic projects, festivals, publications, and cultural platforms that connect local communities with international artistic networks.
Within The Anthropological Suitcase, he serves as initiator, concept developer, fundraiser, and project manager.
Chiaki Matsumoto (JP)
Chiaki Matsumoto is a Japanese artist working with graphic design, symbols, painting, handmade paper, calligraphy, independent publishing, and visual storytelling.
Her practice combines traditional Japanese techniques with contemporary artistic processes, exploring the relationship between materials, symbols, memory, and communication.
Within The Anthropological Suitcase, she contributes visual methodologies, handmade paper production, graphic design, and independent publishing practices.
Felix Havstad Ziska (DK)
Felix Havstad Ziska is a Danish musician, composer, producer, and co-founder of Handjob Records.
His work spans experimental music, sound art, improvisation, field recording, analogue production, and collaborative artistic practices. Through performances, recordings, and workshops, he explores the social and cultural dimensions of sound.
Within The Anthropological Suitcase, he contributes sound-based methodologies, artistic development, and international music networks.
Moldova 2026
Moldova 2026 is the pilot phase of The Anthropological Suitcase.
Developed in collaboration with the Danish Cultural Institute Moldova, the project brings together artists, participants, and communities through a series of workshops, production laboratories, and public presentations.
The programme combines field recording, listening practices, handmade paper production, Japanese calligraphy, analogue vinyl production, graphic design, and independent publishing, and in facilitated together with local partners such as Art Labyrinth Festival, Sandbox, Sectia Forme, Bunker, and others.
Participants collect sounds, materials, fibres, stories, and visual impressions from the environment and surrounding landscapes at Art Labyrinth Festival . These materials are transformed into sound works, handmade 7″ vinyl records, printed matter, and visual works, culminating in a public exhibition and listening session in Chișinău.
Moldova 2026 represents the first chapter in a growing international platform dedicated to artistic research, cultural exchange, and collective creative production.