HAM’s group exhibition focusing on art in public space reflects on coexistence and the sense of place 

The Shared Space exhibition includes site-specific works commissioned for public and semi-public spaces around Helsinki. The works reflect on themes such as multispecies entanglements, other-than-human agencies, coexistence, presence and care, as well as the sense of place and the layering of time and materialities. Media include video, painting, sculpture, and participatory processes.  

After the exhibition, some of the artworks commissioned for semi-public venues such as day-care centres and schools will find permanent homes in the buildings for which they were intended. Some of the works will evolve into their final forms over the course of the coming year, and they will be presented as process fragments in the exhibition. A video based on A Great Mess, a site-specific performance staged on Vuosaarenhuippu Landfill Hill by the W A U H A U S arts collective, will be premiering in this exhibition. A Stream among Streams is a curatorial concept of public artworks that will spread across the Kalasatama district over the coming decade. 

During the spring and autumn, the exhibition will spread across the city in the form of guided tours of spaces that are not typically open to the public, such as day-care centres and schools.  

Featured artists: Alma Heikkilä, Nayab Ikram, Sanna Kannisto, Jan Lütjohann, Other Spaces, W A U H A U S, and Bogna Luiza Wiśniewska. 

The exhibition and commissioned works are curated by HAM’s Public Art Curators Aleksandra Kiskonen and Kristiina Ljokkoi. 

Artists whose works are introduced on the tours are Jussi Juurinen, Tuomas A. Laitinen, Maija Luutonen, Pearla Pigao, Jani Ruscica, Kustaa Saksi, and Man Yau.  
 
Maija Luutonen’s piece is curated by Mikko Oranen, HAM, and all others by HAM’s Public Art Curators Aleksandra Kiskonen and Kristiina Ljokkoi. 

HAM Helsinki Art Museum’s Public Art team provides art expertise in the City of Helsinki’s public art acquisitions. Most of these acquisitions are enabled by Helsinki’s Percent for Art policy, which means that roughly one percent of a construction project’s budget is set aside for commissioning public art. Helsinki has followed the percent policy since 1991, and over 200 public artworks have been implemented in public buildings, parks, and squares with this funding model. 

Additionally, HAM Helsinki Art Museum commissions a few public art works annually with a separate budget. The city receives some public artworks as donations. 

The works become permanent features of the City of Helsinki’s public art collection, managed by HAM Helsinki Art Museum. In time, each work requires maintenance, repair, and conservation, for which the museum’s Public Art Unit is responsible, together with the Urban Environment Division. The multi-professional unit takes care of various public art expert assignments. 

Shared Space / HAM Helsinki Art Museum 3 March 2023 – 13 August 2023

Shared Space guided tours (In Finnish):

Tuesday 14 March at 16–17 / Jussi Juurinen / Verkkosaari Day-Care Centre 

Tuesday 21 March at 16–17 / Pearla Pigao / Vuosaari Upper Secondary School  

Tuesday 18 April at 15.30–16.30 / Kustaa Saksi / Etu-Töölö Upper Secondary School 

Tuesday 25 April at 16–17 / Maija Luutonen / Lauttasaari Day-Care Centre 

Tuesday 8 August at 16–17 / Jani Ruscica / Helsinki Upper Secondary School of Languages 

Tuesday 15 August at 16–17 / Man Yau / Kuninkaantammi, Kannelmäki Comprehensive School, TAMMI 

 

More information on HAM’s Shared Space exhibition:
Curator Kristiina Ljokkoi, kristiina.ljokkoi(at)hamhelsinki.fi, +358 40 507 6031 
Curator Aleksandra Kiskonen, aleksandra.kiskonen(at)hamhelsinki.fi 

More information on the Shared Space guided tours: 
Curator of Education (temp.) Aino Mäntyvaara, aino.mantyvaara(at)hamhelsinki.fi 

We will not be holding a press conference. Advance visits and interviews by the media: Communications Planner Reetta Haarajoki, reetta.haarajoki(at)hamhelsinki.fi, +358 40 168 3669  

Press photos: www.hamhelsinki.fi/info/medialle (password: hammedia) Album: Shared Space