Department of Art

Department of Art

Important notice! The departments of Art and Media at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture have merged as of 1st January 2022. Professor Harri Laakso has been appointed as Head of the new Department of Art & Media.

All existing operations in education and research of the Department of Art and the Department of Media will continue in 2022, within the context of the new Department of Art and Media.

Visit https://www.aalto.fi/en/department-of-art-and-media/

light colored artwork presenting exposures of a middle-aged body

Research and artistic activities at the Department of Art

The research and artistic activities of Department of Art takes place in the fields of contemporary art, art education, visual culture, and curating. The department has a long tradition with artistic and philosophical production and many researchers’ work emphasizes contemporary, critical, political and societal entanglements of art, curating, and pedagogy.

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(Im)possible Labor #3 – WWW³ (WORLD WIDE WEB - WILD WO.MEN WITCHES : WORLD WITHOUT WORK), 2019. Installation. Galleria Augusta, Helsinki, Finland. Photo: Sheung Yiu

Degree Programmes

A drawing machine and a messy drawing
Department of Art
A person behind red mask made of yarn.

Master's Programme in Nordic Visual Studies and Art Education (NoVA)

NoVA is a two-year masters programme that educates professionals and researchers of the best Nordic practices and traditions in art education and visual communication.

Department of Art and Media
Detail of an artwork. Blue surface with blurry text.

Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art (ViCCA)

Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art (ViCCA) is a two-year transdisciplinary Master’s Degree Programme at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Finland.

Department of Art
Mikko O. Koivisto The Art of Egress kansi ja sisus

Doctoral studies at the Department of Art

Doctoral studies at the Department of Art focus on research through contemporary art practices, visual culture phenomena and research in art education and curating.

Department of Art

Events

On a light blue background a bright orange illustration of a shoe and below the text "Bigger Shoes!"
Lectures and seminars, Networking

Bigger Shoes — weekly startup events (external link)

Bringing the biggest and boldest entrepreneurs to you, so you can learn from their successes and failures.
Event image with visual, event name and logos.
Lectures and seminars

AI generated it – who owns it?

Aalto University and University of Helsinki organise a hybrid event about artificial intelligence and copyright issues.
Exploring AI analysis of qualitative data
Lectures and seminars, Staff trainings, Support for teams, Training to support research

Exploring AI analysis of qualitative data, Apr 9, 2024

Learn about the possibilities of AI in analysing qualitative data with Staff Scientist & Data Agent Dr. Enrico Glerean.
Doctoral hat floating above a speaker's podium with a microphone
Public defences

Public defence in Building Design, Yoon Han

Architectural computation of spatial dynamics (title of the thesis)
Solargraphy by Tarja Trygg

Doctoral Candidate Exhibition at ARS Longa galleria 14.1.–30.1.2022

Doctoral candidate Tarja Trygg opens her solo exhibition "Solarigrafian ihmeellinen maailma" at ARS Long galleria 14.1.–30.1.2022

Department of Art
Image depicts a white wall with the words IV Konehuone OLO sprayed on it in red, referring that the engine room for AC is that way.

Aalto University announces two art competitions for a campus block under construction

Proposals can be sent 4.1.-4.4.2022 for the competition open to all artists, arranged for the first time

News
Image: Observing Silence UWAS, courtesy of Annika Sohlman

Department of Art Research Assemblage December 2021

The next Research Assemblage session will be on the 16th of December, at 13:15-15:00 in Zoom.

Events
An image of unindentifiable forms in piles overlapped with a text which says: Zine Launch 02 / 12 / 2021 Pengerkatu 6 Helsinki"

Launch: 'Questions of Labour' publication

Welcome to the launch of 'Questions of Labour' publication on Thursday 2nd of December! The event will be held at Lymy, Pengerkatu 6, at 6 PM.

Events
Data vitality exhibition. Visual identity by Olena Mohylna, 2021

Data Vitality: Soft Infrastructures and Economies of Knowledge

An exhibition engaging with the frameworks related to data-driven practices in University education, providing interdisciplinary perspectives on how data infrastructures and data economies are being formed globally and how these policies will shape education across arts, science, business and technology and society.

Events
Logo for ABRA consisting of a grey a-shaped logo and the text ARTIFICIAL BIOLOGY, ROBOTICS & ART

Call for interest to participate in the Artificial Biology, Robotics, and Art (ABRA) Workshop Series

ABRA is calling for applications to participate in a series of international transdisciplinary workshops between September 2021 and June 2023.

News
Four copies of The Waiting Room (Practising Building a Nest) lay together on white paper. Two covers are white, two are sky blue. They all show printed line drawings.

The Waiting Room (Practising Building a Nest), a hand-printed book by Athanasía Aarniosuo and Ronya Hirsma

Between January and June 2021, Athanasía Aarniosuo and Ronya Hirsma shared their thought, fears, and hopes in a series of letters to each other.

Department of Art
Video still of the poetry video Asking for permission. The performer stands, dressed in black, against a white screen while a co-performer places a scarf over her head

Pyydän lupaa // Asking for permission, Poetry Video by Kirsi-Marja Moberg

MA ViCCA student's poetry video and interactive performance, Asking for permission, depicts the things in our lives that we ask permission for.

Department of Art
Saara Salmi painting in Keran Hallit. Deep red roots spread out across the wall

Concreate Urban Art Festival Comes to Keran Hallit

Artists transform the interior of Keran Hallit for the Concreate Urban Art Festival 2021.

Department of Art
Still from the film Like Shadows Through Leaves, 2021. A lamp-lit tent stands in a dark landscape, it's orange interior matching the orange skyline

Like Shadows Through Leaves Awarded FIPRESCI Prize at Oberhausen

{if your bait can sing the wild one will come} Like Shadows Through Leaves wins the FIPRESCI Prize at Oberhausen 2021.

News
Screenshot of Somewhere I Go Places on the ViCCA Production webpage. Black text on yellow background, 'to remodel ViCCA production you must destroy ViCCA production'

ViCCA Production 2021: Sometimes I Go Places

ViCCA Production addresses the idea that artistic practice and research requires experimenting with how the practice and research is performed to a public

Department of Art
Promotional Graphic for Tick Talks. Yellow and Purple text on a green background

TICK TALKs: Questing Ticks with Laura Beloff, Kira O'Reilly and Jani Sormunen

Artists Laura Beloff and Kira O'Reilly discuss methods of tick population fieldwork with Jani Sormunen from University of Turku.

Department of Art
An image of fine lines drawn by the artist Mira Caselius. The lines are light on a dark background, some are concentrated, others are spread sparsely.

International Women's Day 2021: Feminist Practices and Practitioners from the MA ViCCA Programme

A series of contributions from practitioners who are speaking, listening, conversing, making, reading and writing about feminist practices.

Department of Art
Image of a book cover

On the Philosophy of Central European Art Published by Rowman & Littlefield's Lexington Books

Senior University Lecturer Max Ryynänen's book is an introduction to the history of the concept and the institution of (fine) art, from its ancient Southern European roots to the establishment of the modern system of the arts in eighteenth century Central Europe.

Department of Art
Artists from the peripheries in parallax research group take part in a performance: they hold a red string between them. They stand in a snowy forest.

peripheries in parallax: BRAVE NEW PERIPHERIES, Opening Conference and Art Event

peripheries in parallax: BRAVE NEW PERIPHERIES is a two-part conference mapping out the implications and alliances of ‘peripheries’ and ‘peripheral approaches’ through art, artistic research and related fields in society. Alongside the conference, a durational, curated Art Event ‘MATTER’ takes place at the Aalto University Campus. The opening event will be held on the 22nd January 2021.

Department of Art
museum of impossible forms

Museum of Impossible Forms wins State Art Prize 2020

ViCCA congratulates its students and alumni who have been active (and often founding) members of the Museum of Impossible Forms (est. 2017) – an anti-racist and queer-feminist cultural center in the suburb of Kontula – for the 2020 State Art Prize that they received from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.

News

Past events

Department of Art Research Assemblage December 2021

The next Research Assemblage session will be on the 16th of December, at 13:15-15:00 in Zoom.

Image: Observing Silence UWAS, courtesy of Annika Sohlman

Department of Art Research Assemblage November 2021

Next Research Assemblage session will be on the 4th of November at 13:15-15:00 in Zoom.

Vladimir Tatlin, Nursing Vessel (1929).

The 3rd International Conference on Disability Studies, Arts & Education - 7-9th October 2021

The 3rd International Conference on Disability Studies, Arts, and Education brings together researchers, students, and members of the disability community who share an interest in, or whose work addresses, the intersections and interplay between critical disability studies, arts, and education.

Image Description: black and white photograph of artist Yo-Yo Lin performing on a stage with right knee and her left hand touching the floor. She is surrounded by a translucent scrim with graphical images projected upon it.   the image credits:  the walls of my room are curved (2019). Courtesy of artist Yo-Yo Lin. Photo by Steve Dabal.

Department of Art Research Assemblage September 2021

This Thursday, September 30th, at 13:15 – 15:00 (Finland) we will have the first Research Assemblage session in this academic year. In Research Assemblage one researching faculty member and one doctoral student present their ongoing, or recent research. Everyone is welcome!

 Post-Digital, Post-Internet Art and Education The Future is All-Over

peripheries in parallax: BRAVE NEW PERIPHERIES

The event is a series of four 1-day online Conferences mapping out the implications and alliances of ‘peripheries’ and ‘peripheral approaches’ through art, artistic research and related fields in society.

a grid photo of steel and glass elements in beige

Art of Research Conference VII: Authorship and Responsibility

Art of Research Conference: Authorship and Responsibility, Aalto University, Dec. 3-4 2020

7th Art of Research Conference

Quality education for sustainable development

This session of Aalto Sustainability Talks discusses education's role on sustainability and sustainable development through quality lenses.

Aalto Sustainability Talks - Quality education for sustainable development

Contact information

Postal address

[name of the person]
PL 31000
FI-00076 AALTO

School of Arts, Design and Architecture by Sari Dhima

Väre

Otaniementie 14
School of Arts, Design and Architecture

Locations
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