Kirpilä Art Collection’s Anniversary Year Opens with Helena Hietanen’s Exhibition TIME 21.9.2026 In 2027, Kirpilä Art Collection celebrates its 35th anniversary with a diverse programme of exhibitions and public events. The anniversary year opens with sculptor Helena Hietanen’s exhibition TIME, on view from 7 February to 16 May 2027. The memory of the body and the traces left by time form the central themes of the exhibition. The selection of works on view establishes a connection to Hietanen’s 1996 exhibition of the same name at Galerie Anhava in Helsinki. Two years later, Hietanen was diagnosed with breast cancer, which imposed new conditions on her artistic practice. The pace of her work slowed, and the rapid international ascent of her career came to an abrupt halt. Helena Hietanen says: “I have not made art for others to view in the 19 years since retiring. Yet the images have continued to live on in my mind. When I was invited to put together an exhibition from my earlier works, new ideas began to emerge. I have revisited and commented on my works by modifying them. Braid, from 1996, is a six-metre-long work made from braids donated to me by an elderly woman who had collected them over a period of twenty years. Over time, the hair had changed from brown to grey. The woman told me how she had wondered why she had started saving the hair that fell from her head, and she recalled the thick braid of her youth. For decades, I carried with me an image of the braid wrapped around my own head as a crown. Now I find myself wondering why that image stayed with me. Did I want to imagine myself as an old woman because I hoped to live a long life?” As a sculptor, Hietanen has sought materials and working methods suited to her body and physical strength at different stages of her life. The works presented at Kirpilä Art Collection offer an overview of Hietanen’s artistic production over three decades. At the same time, the exhibition builds an intimate portrait of the artist living in the shadow of serious illness. The exhibition unfolds throughout Kirpilä Art Collection through self-portraits, works made from hair, and sculptures constructed from optical fibre. The works enter into dialogue with Kirpilä’s historic setting and explore how materials, memories and experiences acquire new meanings over time. Further details of the public programme and schedule will be announced in early 2027. Helena Hietanen (b. 1963, Helsinki) is a sculptor known for works incorporating light, optical fibre, hair, rubber and textiles. Her work has been exhibited extensively in Finland and internationally. Her work Technolace was presented at the Venice Biennale in Frame’s project on the Grand Canal in 1997. Hietanen has received numerous honours, including the Finnish State Prize for Visual Arts in 1999 and the William Thuring Foundation main prize in 2007. She was nominated for the Ars Fennica Prize in 2001 and was awarded a special state artist’s pension in 2007. Hietanen has completed numerous public art commissions and has also collaborated with her spouse, visual artist Jaakko Niemelä. Helena Hietanen, Portrait from the series Old (queen), 2026Photograph by Heidi Piiroinen.
Porin kulttuurisäätö to Curate Kirpilä Spring Salon 2027 28.8.2026 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
Kirpilä Art Collection open all summer – renovation begins in August 3.6.2026 Kirpilä Art Collection is open as usual throughout the summer. Welcome to explore the collection and enjoy a unique art environment in the heart of the city. Free guided tours are held in Finnish on Wednesdays at 2:30 pm and Sundays at 12:30 pm. Booked group tours can also be arranged by appointment. Towards the anniversary year – Kirpilä is being renewed Kirpilä Art Collection will celebrate its 35th anniversary next year. To mark the occasion, we are preparing a diverse programme, including the first-ever Kirpilä Spring Salon. Ahead of the anniversary year, we will renovate the premises to further enhance the visitor experience. The renovation will begin in mid-August, during which the museum will be closed for several months. The last day open to the public before the renovation is Wednesday, 12 August. We will reopen with renewed spaces as we head into the anniversary year. More detailed information about the schedule will be shared on our website and social media channels. Photo: Heikki Tuuli
A New Work by Kholod Hawash at the Kirpilä Art Collection 3.6.2026 At the Kirpilä Art Collection, a new work by textile artist Kholod Hawash (b. 1977) is on view. Shy Sun also serves as a protective cover for Maria Wiik’s work Thistles (1898). Wiik’s pastel and gouache piece was the first artwork Juhani Kirpilä acquired with his own funds at the age of 23. It is displayed in the museum’s Grand Salon, but as a work on paper and sensitive to light, it requires special protection. For this purpose, a dedicated protective cover has been created. When the museum is closed, the cover safeguards the original work; during opening hours, Shy Sun is presented as an independent artwork. Born in Iraq and now working in Finland, Hawash moved to Finland in 2019 through the Artists at Risk network. Her practice draws in part on textile traditions she learned in childhood. Initially inspired by Mesopotamian cultural heritage, her artistic expression has since developed in a more personal direction—more symbolic than autobiographical. Hawash works with recycled materials and employs the traditional jodaleia patchwork technique, in which pieces of fabric are sewn together by hand. Her works address themes such as women’s social position and questions of independence. Hawash’s work has been exhibited, among other venues, in the ARS22 exhibition at Kiasma in 2022 and at the Venice Biennale in 2024 as part of the Nordic Pavilion. Her works are included in the collections of Kiasma, the Saastamoinen Foundation, and HAM, among others. Welcome to discover the work. Kholod Hawash, Shy Sun, 2026Photo: Jussi Tiainen
Kirpilä Art Collection as a Helsinki Pride 2026 Community Partner 1.6.2026 We are proud to take part in Helsinki Pride 2026 as a community partner. This year’s theme, Growing with Pride, highlights that every child and young person has the right to grow up in peace and become their authentic self. At Kirpilä Art Collection, we support this by providing an open, safe, and inclusive space for all. During Pride Week, we present two queer-themed guided tours that explore the collection through an LGBTQIA+ lens. The tours are led by Antti Solin. In addition, riot pop artist Elsi Sloan will perform at Kirpilä. Programme: Wed 24 June, 5–6 pmElsi Sloan: Lesbioosi (in Finnish)Free admission. Advance registration opens on the event page on 10 June at 10 am. Thu 25 June, 5–6 pmQueer tour (in Finnish)Free admission, no registration required. Sun 28 June, 2:30–3:30 pmQueer tour (in English)Free admission, no registration required. Helsinki Pride Week takes place from 22 to 28 June. Explore the official Helsinki Pride 2026 programme here.
Open Call for Curators – Kirpilä Spring Salon 2027 13.4.2026 The Kirpilä Art Collection is launching a call for a curator or curatorial collective to plan and implement a spring salon of contemporary art, to open in May 2027. The Spring Salon will be a contemporary art exhibition and/or performance project implemented at the Kirpilä Art Collection, engaging in dialogue with the museum’s permanent collection, salon-style hanging, and the cultural-historical context of the space. Contentual theme: On the Romantic The theme of Spring Salon 2027 examines the romantic in contemporary art, focusing on emotion, imagination and subjective experience, and on the meanings that romance and the romantic take on in the current age. The romantic may be expressed, for example, through nostalgic or historically inflected references, affective gestures, escapism, or through positions that oppose ways of thinking centred on rationalism and efficiency. The theme can be approached through queer and gender perspectives, or in relation to the myth of the artist, experiential modes of address, and personal relationships with the world, to name just a few examples. Who may apply? Individual curators or curator collectives / working groups may apply.Applicants who live further away are asked to take into account their own travel practices and associated budget impacts in terms of the planning and hanging of the exhibition. What are we looking for? We hope that applicants will take into account the art scene across the entirety of Finland in their choices of artists. We value norm-critical perspectives and experimental curation that takes its context into consideration. We would like for exhibition proposals to engage in dialogue with the Kirpilä Art Collection’s intimate spatiality, salon-style hanging, and the permanent collection. What are we not looking for? We are not looking for pre-produced exhibition or performance entities or proposals based purely on the presentation of existing works. We want applications to be expressly designed for the space and context of the Kirpilä Art Collection. Space and hanging The Kirpilä Art Collection is located on the top floor of a 1934 apartment building. The space, which spans approximately 350 m², was originally the home of Doctor and Art Collector Juhani Kirpilä and Antiques Dealer Karl Rosenqvist. The former residential apartment now serves as a museum, in a space that is intimate, historically layered, and acoustically pleasing. The permanent collection limits how much the space can be modified. The rooms cannot be emptied entirely and requests to move the pieces in the art collection will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The home-like decor, routes, and original materials influence the hanging solutions available. Accessibility: Unfortunately the museum is not an accessible space. Please take into account obstacles to accessibility in the choice of pieces and exhibition design. More information about accessibility can be found here. Technical solutions available video display and two projection screens; PA system, mixer and monitor system (microphones and cables included); spotlights that can be attached to rails; basic tools for minor hanging and finishing work. A floorplan of the exhibition space can be downloaded as a separate PDF here. Role and responsibilities of the curator The curator will be responsible for the artistic design of the exhibition as a whole, the selection of artists, and the exhibition’s overall content in collaboration with the staff of the Kirpilä Art Collection. The Kirpilä Art Collection will support the curator in communications, marketing, technical realisation, hanging of pieces, and dismantling of the overall exhibition, as well as in contractual practices in so far as its own practices permit. The work of the curator will entail close dialogue with the organisation and management of the exhibition process as a whole, from idea to realisation. Budget and fee The chosen curator will be provided with a production budget of EUR 20,000, which is to include the curator’s fee. The budget must cover, for example: artist fees and any artwork-specific production costs; transportation of artworks; any additional technical arrangements or specialist solutions. The Kirpilä Art Collection shall be responsible, in so far as its own practices permit, for the basic production costs of the exhibition (hanging of works, dismantling, communications and marketing), and therefore these costs do not need to be included in the budget. The cost structure presented in the application should be approximate and clear enough to allow for the feasibility of the project to be assessed. Content of applications Each application should be submitted by email to taidekoti@skr.fi as one PDF file (max. 6 MB, no more than five pages). The email subject line should follow the format: ‘Kirpilä Spring Salon 2027 – Application / First name Last name ’. The application should include the following: presentation and CV of the curator / collective of curators; an exhibition plan (max. one side of A4, font 11 pt, may include images) that sets out the artistic vision, relationship to the Kirpilä Art Collection and its collection, and link to the theme of the call; preliminary list of artists or creator profiles; description of working practices, preliminary schedule, and cost structure; link to examples of previous work (portfolio, photos, video/audio samples), if available; contact details. Selection criteria Applications will be assessed based on the following criteria: curatorial and artistic quality; originality and how the application ties in with the theme of the call; feasibility in terms of the space and budget; relevancy of the selection of artists and cohesiveness of the overall whole; ability to take into account the audience relationship and context. Schedule Call open: 13 April – 8 June 2026 at 23:59 (Finnish time) All applicants will be informed of the progress of the application process by 23 June 2026. The final selection of the successful curator or curator collective will be made by 31 August 2026. The exhibition project will be started with the selected curator in autumn 2026 and a more precise production schedule will be agreed with the Kirpilä Art Collection. Lisätiedot More information Please send any questions concerning the application process or exhibition space to taidekoti@skr.fi. Responses will primarily be given by email. Applicants can visit the Kirpilä Art Collection to familiarise themselves with the space free of charge during the museum’s opening hours: Wednesdays 14:00–18:00 and Sundays 12:00–16:00. Photo: Jussi Tiainen
The Finnish Cultural Foundation awarded €29 million to science and the arts – Kirpilä Art Collection Research Grant to Tiina Salmia 13.2.2026 The Finnish Cultural Foundation awarded 784 grants, totalling €29 million, to support science, research and the arts. The largest individual grant of the October round, €800,000, was awarded for the opening exhibition of the National Museum of Finland. From the Juhani Kirpilä Fund, the Kirpilä Art Collection Research Grant was awarded to Tiina Salmia, M.A. The grant supports her postdoctoral research on interactions between humans and non-human animals in the works of the Kirpilä Art Collection. Other recipients of a grant from the Juhani Kirpilä Fund: Mirza Cizmic, Anna Estarriola, Joel Hilska-Heikkinen, Kaisa Huotari, Kuvataideopettajat kuvis ry, Pauliina Mäkelä, Frans Nybacka, Karoliina Paatos, Raimo Saarinen ja Kristiina Uusitalo. Discover more: skr.fi Anitra Lucander: Still Life with FlowersPhoto: Rauno Träskelin
Sanna Kekäläinen: FORMICA FUSCA – Speech and a Song of Ants 3.2.2026 Kirpilä Art Collection will host a new performance which takes the audience to the world of ants. When you look more closely at the worlds of ants and humans, you come across things which, despite of their great differences, tempt you to draw parallels. Two examples: of all the species only ants and humans have spread over the globe excluding polar regions and a speculative estimation has been presented that the common weight of all the ants would be roughly equal with the common weight of all humans. In this work various activities of ants are observed: the path formation, the organization of the ant colony, communication, decision-making in task allocation, building activity, foraging and reproduction, i.e., the nuptial flight. Throughout history, humans have projected onto ants concepts that say more about humans themselves than about ants. For example, the notions of queens and obedient workers date back to the times of l’ancien regime, while during the French Revolution, naturalists in Paris argued about ants as decent republicans. Today, it is not clear which resembles the other more, robots or ants. Thus the assumptions about ants are like a mirror in which humans look at themselves. Concept, choreography, direction and performance: Sanna KekäläinenText: Kari HukkilaSong: Janne Marja-aho Performance times:Thu 9 Apr, 6–7 pmSat 11 Apr, 4–5 pmThu 16 Apr, 6–7 pmSat 18 Apr, 4–5 pmThu 23 Apr, 6–7 pmSat 25 Apr, 4–5 pm Language: English / FinnishPrice: €10Reserve your seat by buying your ticket in advance. Go to the online ticket shop here. Photo: Heli Rekula
“Seppo Fränti: Third Life” among the finalists of The Most Beautiful Books 2025 2.2.2026 The finalists of The Most Beautiful Books 2025 have been announced – Seppo Fränti: Third Life has been selected into a wonderful lineup in the Non-fiction and Textbooks category. The publication, which focuses on art collecting, was produced in late 2025 to accompany the Third Life exhibition presented at Kirpilä Art Collection. Explore all finalists here.The book is available for purchase at the museum for €10. Credits: Graphic design: Tytti Halonen, Tino Nyman Texts: Pia Hyttinen, Sanna Lipponen, Johanna Ruohonen Translations: Elävä Kieli Production: Mia Dillemuth Photographs: Helen Korpak Images of Artworks: Jussi Tiainen; Petri Virtanen & Kirsi Halkola (Finnish National Gallery) Print: Tallinna Raamatutrükikoda
Kirpilä Studio: Martin Bergström 27.1.2026 The curated online gallery Kirpilä Studio presents artist Martin Bergström, whose artistic practice moves fluidly across the fields of fashion, design, and visual art. Bergström’s approach is exploratory and investigative, drawing inspiration from transient plant life, mythical natural phenomena, and historical cycles. These themes recur in his works as structural rhythms and temporal tensions that shift from one material to another. Organic and graphic elements enter into dialogue, as found objects, dried plants, and abstract forms transform across scales and materials. For Bergström, Kirpilä Art Collection is a familiar and deeply meaningful place. Immersing himself in the art collection and the museum interior strengthened his relationship to his favourite works while also revealing new, unexpected details. For Kirpilä Studio, Bergström created a collage-like artwork that was printed as a scarf. The scarf will be worn by the museum’s guides and staff. Its subtle translucency alludes to the spatial porosity of the museum space — the way the collection and everyday life, history and the present moment overlap within the visitor’s perceptual experience. Martin Bergström, 2026 Could you tell us a bit about your diverse background as a designer? What kinds of projects occupy you the most? Patterns and their relationship to the body, time, and space form the overarching theme of my artistic practice. My approach is exploratory and investigative, drawing inspiration from transient plant life as well as from mythical natural phenomena and historical cycles. My works often carry traces of historical references and are rooted in textile craft traditions, while also extending into materials such as metal, paper, and glass. In 2023, my book Flora Poetica – Edith Södergran i växtriket (Appell Förlag) was published, presenting Södergran’s nature poetry in dialogue with my work. The book functions both as an artwork and a research project, compiling all the plants that appear in her poetry. During this process, I had access to Södergran’s archives in Helsinki at the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland, which proved to be deeply inspiring. For more than a decade, I have collected and studied pressed plants from 1860–1920, incorporating them into my work through collage. These herbarium specimens form a bridge between past and present — between life and death. Currently, jacquard weaving occupies much of my time, and I am captivated by how my patterns transform when rendered in woven form. Kirpilä is a familiar and beloved place for you. Did this bring something extra to your design process? The atmosphere in the space, the artworks, the furniture, the rooms — all of it, how it stretches outward yet holds together — left an imprint on my process. I wanted to preserve the delicate intimacy of the small within the expanse of the whole. Could you tell us about the artworks that ended up being featured on the scarf, and at the same time describe your working process? I asked myself: if I could save only one painting from a fire, which would it be? For me, it would be Magnus Enckell’s Young Male Nude (c. 1920s), one of my absolute favourites. I placed it at the centre of the composition. Around it, I wanted to weave in nature and textures — the pattern on the stones from the fireplace became a grounding element. I also included Maria Wiik’s Thistles (1898) and Lennart Forstén’s Pair of Black Grouse (1869). Maria Wiik, Thistles, 1898Photo: Rauno Träskelin Lennart Forstén, Pair of Black Grouse, 1869Photo: Rauno Träskelin The process began with permission to work from high-resolution images of the artworks, which I printed on thick aquarelle paper. I then created an analogue collage, cutting, gluing, and combining the images with pressed 19th-century plants. Once completed, the collage was digitised and sent to the factory in Italy. The scarf carries this layered dialogue between art, nature, and memory. What projects are you currently working on or have coming up in the future – exhibitions, design work, anything else? I am currently working on several large exhibitions, including the upcoming installation Flora Hysterica at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm and a show called Growth and Decay at the Västerås Art Museum. In addition, I have designed new pieces for my collection Itu for Kalevala, which will be released this spring. Alongside these projects, I am also developing several other art initiatives, including woven works for churches and various other projects. Through all aspects of my practice, I aim to create a dialogue between nature and culture, past and present, observation and imagination. My work is an ongoing exploration of patterns that carry history, poetry, and embodied experience – a continuous investigation of the cycles of time and nature. Kirpilä Scarf, Martin BergströmPhoto: Sofia Okkonen Kirpilä Studio is a curated online gallery of the Kirpilä Art Collection. It invites artists and collectives into dialogue with the collection and the museum surroundings. Each visit results in a work of art or a series — a trace of the time spent in the space. The artist of the year 2025 was Sandra Kantanen.