Shaking up the status quo
Leading creativity can be paradoxical because it often includes destruction, uncertainty, and conflicts, says professor of practice Niina Nurmi.
Unfolded
Unfolded
The next ten years will bring the biggest design challenges we’ve ever faced. Here we showcase a wide variety of projects that prepare us for these sustainable transformations.
We have to act – now. Instead of building dystopias, we at Aalto University want to develop futures worth living for. Futures that are even better than what we currently have.
The Unfolded magazine articles concentrate on contemporary issues dealing with creativity, experimentation, and transdisciplinary co-creation.
Radical creativity sparks discoveries
An idea that may sound crazy at first can be the key to solving significant challenges. Aalto University provides a favourable environment for daring initiatives that can lead to the discovery of some genuinely novel solutions.
Helsinki Design Week 2021 has landed in Otaniemi, showcasing three paths to resource wisdom
Radical ideas and prototypes contributing to a resource-wise future. The exhibitions and online lectures are open to everyone, and they belong to the official Helsinki Design Week programme.
Creativity is an important future skill - this symposium will help you understand creativity in a new way
Thriving in today’s fast-changing world requires creativity. The Aalto Creativity Symposium (September 10–11, 2021) welcomes everyone who wants to better understand the science of creativity.
Riikka Mäkikoskela, Doctor of Arts, appointed as Head of Radical Creativity
Creativity is an important capability as we spark the game changers of tomorrow, and renew our society. A culture of radical creativity supports learning from exploration, experimentation and failure.
Tuomas Auvinen: Radical creativity as culture
Creativity is experimenting, and therefore a valuable skill for us all to master in a constantly changing and complex world. Radical creativity does not appear overnight, but we can build capabilities for it, says Dean Tuomas Auvinen.
Radical creativity empowers new thinking
Aalto aims to take an internationally leading position concerning radical creativity and its leadership.
Teaching creativity to computers - Christian Guckelsberger wants to equip AI with the motivation to discover the unexpected
Research on computational intrinsic motivation could answer some fundamental questions about the nature of creativity, but also improve household robotics or even self-driving cars
Imagining alternative futures with creativity
Creativity is a buzzword – but what does it mean?
Radical creativity – it’s a gamble
The first Finnish satellite was a creative and very risky project.
Contributing to a better future with creativity
Radical creativity is my elixir, it motivates and revitalises my interest in research and the world at large, says assistant professor Elisa Mekler.
Fuel for entrepreneurship
Professor of Practice Lauri Järvilehto says that radical creativity is an important part of entrepreneurship.
To experiment and explore
Curiosity breeds creativity says professor of practice Tua Björklund.
A virtue of the Nordic system
Henri Weijo focuses on what creativity is and how it can benefit both individuals and society as a whole.
Mixing people
Mixing people with different backgrounds is a nutrient for creativity, says professor Tapani Vuorinen.
From not knowing to new knowledge via imagining
Julia Lohmann considers design a bridge-building discipline that enables collaboration and communication across disciplines.
Designing smart digital worlds
We benefit from online learning approaches that bravely cut across all schools at Aalto University, says Tomi Kauppinen.
Artist group IC-98’s staircase artwork Mare Tranquillitatis has been installed at Aalto University
The artwork makes the three spiral staircases of the School of Business a zone of tranquillity and silence.
Julia Lohmann: ‘We know too much and do too little’
Lohmann’s magnificent seaweed pavilion won the sustainable design category for Dezeen Awards 2020.
Wood Wonders exhibition showcases climate-friendly building concepts
If all the buildings constructed in Finland each year were made of wood, the amount of wood needed for their construction would grow back in ten hours.
Campus art competition open to the whole Aalto community seeks works for outdoor areas
The main themes are sustainability, radical creativity and entrepreneurship.
Design Inside brings design education to all Aalto students
Design offers tools and new perspectives that would not be found otherwise. . It can help make a difference in every field. That is why Aalto University wants all students to have access to design education.
Designs for a Cooler Planet — Helsinki Design Week 2020
Helsinki Design Week at Otaniemi showcases inspiring future designs related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Toward a team that is able to achieve its potential
We believe in the promise of teamwork and collaboration. This post provides tips and introduces tools for teachers to utilise in supporting teamwork in project-based courses.
The age of digitalization and crises - how to navigate the unknown
Systemic problems call for changes, and this applies to higher education and research as well. The U-Create seminar discussed the limitations of our current university models and discussed alternative value systems, such as care.
‘Textiles are unlimited’
Saving the world starts with textiles, says trend forecaster Li Edelkoort.
We need to redesign everything—but how?
Meeting sustainable development goals requires more collaboration between disciplines.
Innovative Approach to Circular Economy
Aalto University's innovative pilot course studied the circular economy, arts and systemic changes.
Tomorrow's Sustainable Lifestyles Showcased in Otaniemi
One of Helsinki Design Week's main events, Designs for a Cooler Planet, will showcase Aalto University's cross-cutting future prototypes, such as a nanocellulose bicycle, microbial headphones and Ioncell clothes
Chemartsing with Bio-based Materials
CHEMARTS Summer School 2019 explored novel material solutions and their innovative applications
Natural Indigo: New Luxury from Northern Fields
Crops4Luxury (PeltoLuksus) project studied special crops that could replace synthetic textile dyes sustainably and ethically
What is contemporary design?
Concept, (non)manifesto, and facilitation by contemporary design MA students.
What does a Doctor of Arts do at the School of Electrical Engineering?
Salu Ylirisku, Doctor of Arts, teaches design process and related skills to aspiring engineers at the School of Electrical Engineering.
Design professors' insights
How do the professors think about the impact of design – both for Aalto University's Strategy 3.0 and beyond
A visual artist wielding more than a hammer
Aalto University’s fifth Artist in Residence Matthew C. Wilson explores the entangled nature of ideas.
What can you do for the climate?
Within the next ten years, Finns need to cut down more than 75% of our carbon footprint. The change is enormous, and will be based on new lifestyles, says Michael Lettenmeier.
Contemporary design enables critical reflection
Design is the method with which we shape our world. The new MA Contemporary Design combines material-led design with critical and conceptual thinking practices.
A fairy dance takes over Kuunsilta: student art exhibition opened at the Espoo Cultural Centre
The exhibition was inspired by the students' own experiences and relationship with the environment, and adapted to fit into the Cultural Centre.
Sustainable Transformations: Exploring the Arts and Creativity in Stimulating Innovations and Technologies with a Human Touch
On Thursday, October 17, Aalto University in partnership with STARTS initiative of EU will organize a Seminar Day in BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels.
Arts and creativity in stimulating innovation and technologies with a human touch
The know-how on sustainability that Finnish society, educational system, and industries have been long excelling in, is something that the world is eagerly willing to learn from Finland and other Nordic communities.
Traces from the Anthropocene. Working with Soil.
A multidisciplinary research project that addresses the ecological consequences of the human footprint through ceramic art. The exhibition is a part of Venice Biennale during summer 2019.
Working with contaminated soil in Venice
Revealing human traces in Venice Biennale.
The trip to Venice—in the words of the students
Contemporary design students spent a week in Venice setting up the exhibition and gathering soil samples for the research.
Critical Tide exhibition at the Design Museum’s Gallery
At a time of deep ecological crises, Critical Tide will open our eyes to the urgent issues our oceans face and showcase creative ways of intervening.
Empathy: Design in a Social Context
Reaching out to non-human stakeholders
About Critical Tide Exhibition
From critical design to critical practice
Baltic characters
In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught. –Baba Dioum, 1968.
News about creativity and transdisciplinarity
5 ways to train your creativity this Spring and Summer
To celebrate the United Nations World Creativity Day on April 21, we made a list of five tips to boost your creativity this Spring/Summer
The Most Beautiful Books 2023 - The Finnish Book Arts Committee awarded several Aaltonians
Personnel and alumni were awarded in various categories
The Making of ARTEFAKTI
The founding story of ARTEFAKTI - the annual CoDe graduation show
Panu Savolainen: I wish we would have a day when we remove the power dynamics completely
‘In many indigenous cultures, there are such periods, when leaders relinquish their power. Either that power is given to someone, maybe the poorest or most oppressed community member, or then the power isn’t used by anyone.’
CoDe Community Day for Students and Alumni - May 7th 2024
A day of community, connection and discussion about creating ways of making a living through our creative practices.
“A Knitted River” - Textile and emotional memory of the waters of the Cochrane River
Textile arts, design, craft, and science converge to give prominence to the Cochrane River.Renewing society by art, creativity and design
Aalto University promotes creativity in all disciplines and communities. One of our strategic targets is to renew society through art, creativity and design. We are a forerunner in combining art and creative practices with research and education.
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