Department of Art

Art

This page features artworks, art projects, publications, exhibitions and curated shows by the Department of Art faculty, students and alumni
Image of the Finlandia building with three inflatable sculptures placed on its roof

University Lecturer Andy Best & Merja Puustinen: Strange Fruit (2019)

Strange Fruit consists of three inflatable sculptures. The forms resemble genetically mutated plants, the results of soil and radioactive contamination caused by anthropocentric activities such as mining, deforestation, pollution and population growth. The name Strange Fruit alludes to Billy Holiday’s infamous song of the terrible consequences of racism and intolerance. The Strange Fruit are beautiful yet ominous heralds of a possible future.

Department of Art
A photo of a performance where a person is pushing a two-wheeled cart in the street. The cart is lit with neon lights, around are people who are waving silver flags.

Doctoral Candidate Jon Irigoyen: Mobile Carnival (2020)

For New Performance Turku Festival 2020 artist and researcher Jon Irigoyen created an audio-visual artifact on wheels, illuminating the darkening city streets of Turku. In a manifesto of togetherness, the carnival reminds us of the power in joining forces, if only temporarily, to push against isolation and the atomization of life.

Department of Art
Photo of a visual performance depicting a person in black clothes moving in front of a large canvas

Doctoral Candidate Agnieszka Karasch: DYSHOMEOSTASIS (2019)

A visual performance by Agnieszka Karasch and Sophia Hörmann conducted at Kleine Humboldt Galerie during the Ausstellungsfestival unselect in Berlin.

Department of Art
Photograph of an island taken with a long exposure
Department of Art
A single frame of an animation work

Doctoral Candidate Severi Virolainen: Shapes in Action (2020)

Animation is based on my doctoral research

Department of Art
Photo of an art installation consisting of tapestry and fabrics in a gallery space

Doctoral Candidate Marie-Andrée Godin: (Im)possible Labor – WWW³ (WORLD WIDE WEB/ WILD WO.MEN WITCHES/ WORLD WITHOUT WORK) (2017– )

(Im)possible Labor is part of a research cycle on feminism, magic and post-capitalism. Initiated in 2017, the cycle is called WWW³ (WORLD WIDE WEB / WILD WO.MEN WITCHES/ WORLD WITHOUT WORK). The aims is to think collectively about our future(s). Through a corpus of installation and performance, as well as socially engaged artistic practices, this research asks the following questions: What links can we weave between magic and post-capitalism? Are we capable of imagining an "exit" from capitalism and putting it into action? How can art, magic and politics be understood in the same way, as creative actions? Evoking both domesticity and laborious work (Im)possible Labor is imagined as a space of circulation for ideas regarding women’s work — invisible, domestic, care, reproductive labor — post-capitalism, post-work, feminist economics, wages for housework, universal basic income and magic as creative action. Highlighting the various connections between witchcraft, handicraft, domesticity and politics, the exhibition proposes the inclusion of certain craft techniques, namely weaving and tapestry. Aiming at an appropriation of skills and knowledge endangered by capitalism, this inclusion raises questions relating to the real or imagined opposition of craftwork and labor work, private and public, as well as production and reproduction work. During the exhibition(s) both formal and informal discussions were held in the installation in order to activate the sharing and the space.

Department of Art
Image of an abstract painting with tones of grey and yellow

University Teacher Sini Vihma: Untitled (2018)

My goal in painting is to create content that can be sensed, finding the point where my own feeling and the look of the painting meet.

Department of Art

Publications

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
AAB_Art as We Don't Know It

Art As We Don't Know It (2020)

2018 marked the 10th anniversary of the Bioart Society and created the impetus for the publication of Art as We Don’t Know It. For this publication, the Bioart Society joined forces with the School of Arts, Design and Architecture of the Aalto University.

Department of Art
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