The World’s Most Popular Museum of Contemporary Art

A museum of contemporary art must be ready to experiment and assume the risk of failure, to face the fact that everyone will not necessarily be overjoyed. We are not there to please everybody. This is not an easy task, but to play safe is the same as death.

Kiasma took people’s hearts by storm. For four years, it was the most popular museum in Finland, and remains the most well known. Kiasma is probably the world’s most popular museum of contemporary art, judged by admission rates in relation to the population.

After the five-year honeymoon, the novelty has worn off, but Kiasma has established its position. It still attracts visitors, not only those who just come to marvel or sneer at the architecture. I am particularly glad about the proportion of young people and young adults, and the fact that there are many boys and men among the visitors. I cannot think of Helsinki without Kiasma: it has become a meeting place, and you could not imagine the cityscape without its familiar shape.

Kiasma is the number one displayer of contemporary art in Finland, and also the one with the highest responsibility. Our responsibilities also cover activities other than exhibitions. The significance of augmenting and maintaining collections and other work that stays invisible from the great public cannot be overemphasised. Our aim is to present art so that Finnish art becomes internationally interesting. No one else has such opportunities for this work but us. It is quite a challenge, but we must live up to the standard – and have done, too.

INTERNATIONAL KIASMA

Next autumn, Kiasma will be taken over by a process event approaching the presentation of art in a novel way. After that we will sail new seas again. The Faster than History exhibition will have a social undertone: it will explore countries, which abolished certain borders but received a set of new ones. ARS, our large-scale review of international art, is also underway.

International exhibitions are necessary for us to put Finnish art in an international framework. Finnish and foreign art complement each other; we cannot remove a piece of one without harming the other. Kiasma is the sum of its exhibitions. The public is also interested in international art and artists as well. In that respect, we consider ourselves the carriers of the torch.

MUSEUM AS A PRODUCER OF ART

We should also produce art. I am afraid that the cuts made in our funding will be most harmful to this area, which has never been given enough resources. Supporting artistic production should be raised to the international level, as this is quintessential to contemporary art. Contemporary art is different from old art, with its own set of problems. This affects the way we operate.

Finnish media art has gained success around the world, and Kiasma’s Kontti is a central venue for young artists to both present their own works and see international media art. Venues and resources like this are rare in Finland. The Museum of Contemporary Art must see to young artists, searching for their place between the art school and the art world. This mission is hand in hand with internationalisation. When it comes to Studio K, we consider it a kind of laboratory of art. Its international exhibitions are important to both artists and the great public. It is always a thrill to hear someone say “I didn’t understand anything” and seeing at the same time that they are truly involved in thinking about what they have seen. That is success to me.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

The museum is also a social actor, and we have good opportunities to assume that role. The smallest contributions may have unusual consequences. Even now we have generated phenomena, which would be sorely missed. But I do wish our resources were larger in order to start up new projects. Multicultural contacts should be maintained and extended, as well as contacts with people facing the risk of marginalisation. These are only a few of the issues we should address in co-operation with other operators. Nation-wide activities should also not be overlooked. Currently, we are starting a mobile museum on wheels touring secondary schools outside the metropolitan area. Collaboration with schools is an immense challenge, to be developed constantly. This is how we can reach out beyond the museum walls.

I hope that in the future we will have retained our integrity both in Finland and internationally. For this, we have to do our basic work well: collections and exhibitions. And to remain a lively centre for art, a meeting place where people can come to see each other as well as art: a true chiasma. I do not think this is too much to ask when I look at Kiasma today. Our museum is something unique in the world.

Tuula Karjalainen
Director of Kiasma