Porin kulttuurisäätö to Curate Kirpilä Spring Salon 2027

Kirpilä Spring Salon 2027 opens to the public in May as part of the Kirpilä Art Collection’s 35th anniversary programme. The exhibition showcases notable contemporary artists whose works create new interpretations of Kirpilä and its collection.

An open call held in spring 2026 on the theme On the Romantic received a total of 15 applications. The jury was impressed by the diversity, thoughtful engagement, and high quality of the submissions.

Porin kulttuurisäätö has been selected to curate Kirpilä Spring Salon 2027 with their proposal Return to Innocence. The curatorial collective is represented in the project by Anna Jensen and Eliisa Suvanto.

Return to Innocence explores a romantic relationship with time. The curators describe the exhibition as “a tribute to art’s romantic nature, its ability to create moments of enchantment in a world that, since modernism and industrialisation, has been accused of losing its capacity for wonder.”

Return to Innocence reflects on the passage of time and its shifting meanings. The jury was particularly drawn to the exhibition’s tension between the permanence of home and the transience of the present moment. The proposal also captured the spirit of Juhani Kirpilä’s art collection as an intimate archive of moments and experiences.

The jury also wished to highlight the consistently high-quality and distinctive curatorial work carried out by Porin kulttuurisäätö within the Finnish arts and cultural field. Kirpilä Spring Salon 2027 forms part of a continuum of exhibitions presented by Porin kulttuurisäätö since 2013.

The jury responsible for selecting the curators included Kirpilä Art Collection Museum Director Heta Kaisto, Acting Museum Director Laura Eweis, Producer Mia Dillemuth, and artist Timo Wright, a member of the Kirpilä Advisory Board.

Further information about Spring Salon 2027 will be released on our website and social media channels as preparations for the exhibition continue. The Kirpilä Art Collection warmly thanks all applicants for their interest and for the care they put into their proposals.

Photo: Emma Suominen