HAM's year 2024 begins with a gaze at the collection

Opening in early February, The Girl Who Turned into a Rosebush juxtaposes works from the Leonard and Katarina Bäcksbacka Collection with contemporary art from HAM’s collection and a few private loans. The fresh dialogue highlights many topical themes, from gender to embodiment, and the close reading of the works draws attention to the often seemingly irrelevant details of the images. Curated by Asta Kihlman, PhD, the exhibition features works by Louise Bourgeois, Magnus Enckell, Emma Helle, Heikki Marila, Ana Mendieta, Dennis Oppenheim, Jalmari Ruokokoski, Vidha Saumya, Joel Slotte, Salla Tykkä, and others. The exhibition will be open from 9 February until 29 September. 

From the beginning of March, HAM's entire ticketing floor will feature an abundant celebration of collections. Bambi Forever!, a showcase of Raimo and Maarit Huttunen's donation collection, offers the opportunity to discover some 70 works assembled with passion and long-term vision. The featured artworks are painterly and expressive, conveying sadness and melancholy, but also hope and humour. The artists in the exhibition include Bo Haglund, Tiina Heiska, Mauri Kuitula, Elina Merenmies, Tarmo Paunu, Aurora Reinhard, Katja Tukiainen, Arto Väisänen and Riitta Åkerstedt. The exhibition, curated by HAM’s curator Leena Mattelmäki, will be open from 8 March 2024 until 19 January 2025.  

Rattling bells, Tove's frescoes and other things to experience at HAM in early 2024  

Taking over HAM’s two main exhibition halls, Haegue Yang's multisensory Continuous Reenactments is open until 7 April 2024. The activations of the bell-covered sculptures can be experienced on six Saturdays during spring 2024. The exhibition also features a talk programme, ending with a talk by the artist herself on the last Saturday of the exhibition on 6 April 2024. 

Tove Jansson's frescoes Party in the Countryside and Party in the City, part of Helsinki’s art collection, are on permanent display at HAM. The frescoes are accompanied by other works by Jansson in changing installations. The current installation was updated in late 2023 and it presents paintings made for the Aurora Hospital. The space also offers a photo opportunity with the characters in the paintings, an animation, and a chance to put together a jigsaw puzzle. The current installation is open until 29 September 2024.  

To Spring Pasture exhibition will delight the youngest museum visitors until 14 January 2024. Works on Paper, an exhibition about Erkki Pirtola as an artist, is open until 4 February 2024. Jaana Laakkonen's exhibition Seepy Stretches is open at the HAM gallery until 7 January 2024. The next artists in the gallery are Man Yau (13.1.–3.3.2024) and Kristiina Mäenpää (16.3.–5.5.2023). 

The collection of Helsinki residents is growing and on display 

Helsinki's art collection comprises approximately 10,000 works, of which more than 500 are public artworks created specifically for their location. Of these, more than 200 works are located in the city's semi-public indoor spaces such as libraries, kindergartens and schools, and about 300 in Helsinki's parks and squares.  HAM curates new public artworks and takes care of their maintenance. At the beginning of 2024, the public art collection will be expanded to include Kirsi Kivivirta's work for the Soittaja daycare center in Kannelmäki, Sanna Kannisto's installation for the Nuotti daycare center in Pukinmäki, Bogna Wisniewska's work for the Longinoja daycare center in Ala-Malmi, Alma Heikkilä's work for the Väinölä building in Käpylä Comprehensive School, and Komugi Ando's and Teemu Salonen's installation for the Vaasanpuistikko square.  

In addition, HAM has deposited around 2000 works from the collection in the city's public buildings and semi-public spaces. In January, Reetta Neittaanmäki's Lilliput, which has been conserved, will be returned to the children's section of Töölö library. Early in 2024, the deposit projects for Tehtaankatu Primary School, Tölö gymnasium Upper Secondary School, Meilahti Lower Secondary School, and Etu-Töölö Upper Secondary School will  be completed, bringing not only visual joy but also opportunities for dialogue and learning to the everyday lives of schoolchildren, students and staff. In addition, the deposition project for Helsingin kuvataidelukio (Visual Arts School of Helsinki, Upper Secondary School) will be completed in early 2024. As part of the project, the students were asked to vote for the works to be placed in the school from the pre-selected works. The students chose a total of 14 works by artists such as Anna Retulainen, Jani Leinonen, and Tuukka Peltonen.  

The Girl Who Turned into a Rosebush and the exhibitions at HAM gallery are supported by the Finnish Heritage Agency.