The polyphony of contemporary art

Contemporary art may find its expression in a world of colours and forms completely filling the canvas, or in a video, projected onto the base of a bed, depicting unrest in the streets in south-eastern Asia. Cleaning a floor on the Internet, a healing crystal placed as a pillow, infiltration into urban street life, a documented walk in the forests or a singing performance exploring childhood may also count as contemporary art.

Contemporary art has been all this and much besides during the age of Kiasma. Contemporary art is difficult to define unambiguously: it is a process living in real-time in relation to changes, which defines itself before our eyes. It can cover a vast spectrum of expressions and trends. Contemporary artists may explore artistic traditions or react to the world and interpret observations in many different ways. As a public institution, the Museum of Contemporary Art refuses to commit itself to only some of these expressions. The policy of Kiasma, therefor, is founded on polyphony, which introduces a variety of artists and ways of working.

The criteria for selecting artists and artworks vary: the deciding factor may be the significance of the phenomenon which is being depicted, the work or the artist in terms of the Finnish art scene, or in the development of art in general. The criteria may also include topical, interesting themes and features, or the high quality of artists and their work, which is defined in the context of the perspective and environment through which their art is observed. But Kiasma's artists are also those who have not yet become household names in the art world.

Polyphony also means that the programme is a collaboration between different people, and thus the mission of Kiasma becomes a reality through the views of all those people working in Kiasma.