A Sea of Symbols on the Façade

ARS 06 began to make inroads into the lives of Helsinki residents back in December, when the building’s façades began to dress up for the grand occasion. The walls were covered with symbols of passion, hate, temptation, soul-searching and responsibility, all inviting us to think about the themes of the ARS 06 exhibition and about life itself. The façade still attracts much attention among passers-by and the media.

When the process of designing a visual image for the ARS 06 exhibition began, we had long, rewarding discussions with the staff of a number of Helsinki design and ad agencies. We quickly found a common tune with Taivas Design, and became enchanted with the many dimensions and versatility of their proposal. It was equally well suited to the exhibition catalogue or product labels, the façade or brochures without losing any of its strength. The visual image of ARS 06 activates the imagination. The viewer can choose the symbols of his or her liking, meditate on them or build a story, creating links between symbols.

Today, the original ideas are condensed into five colours and their symbolic significance: green for responsibility and man’s relationship with nature, black for hate and violence, purple for spirituality, pink for passion and pleasure and gold for consumption. In the beginning, there were hundreds of symbols, which were then pruned and polished for months, and the ones left are each laden with individual meanings, yet also work together.

The visual image designed for the ARS 06 exhibition has been applied across a wide front, from a commercial break logo of our partner, Nelonen television channel, to the labels of ARS wine. Several organisations and numerous people have engaged passionately in the process. The enthusiasm of our partners has been rewarding. It has been wonderful to see how much art and the themes of the ARS 06 exhibition have touched people, regardless of their speciality.

The aim of the wide array of ARS merchandise and the energetic marketing is to make the art experience part of the lives of people, even if they have not yet visited the exhibition. Simultaneously, we aim at prolonging the memory of the exhibition. Kiasma wants to participate in societal activities in many ways, and, being the cultural organisation that we are, participation in this way is already familiar to us.

Annukka Klinge
Head of Marketing and Sponsorship