Exhibition activities at the Academy of Fine Arts
On this page, you can read the guidelines for exhibition activities at the Academy of Fine Arts.
Exhibition activities
Exhibitions and other public activities are a vital part of teaching and artistic activities at Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts. Besides exhibitions, artistic activities may refer to projects, workshops and fairs/shows. The activities may take place in Finland or in other countries, in the academy’s own facilities as well as in other venues in cooperation with the academy’s partners.
Exhibition activities at the Academy of Fine Arts are always integrated into teaching. Students must be registered as attending students to be able to participate in exhibition activities organised by the Academy of Fine Arts.
In exhibition activities, the goal is not only to organise successful exhibitions but also to help students gain experiences in working professionally as visual artists.
Exhibition-related decision-making
Decisions on Academy of Fine Arts exhibitions being organised at Kuva/Tila and Tasku are made by the division for artistic activities. The division for artistic activities is tasked with planning and carrying out the calls for exhibitions organised in the exhibition facilities of the Academy of Fine Arts and making a proposal on the galleries’ exhibition programmes along with the side programmes. The composition of the group changes each season, and the group is also in charge of making decisions on exhibition activities in terms of their content.
Calls for exhibitions are announced by email and on Artsi. Applications are handled by the division for artistic activities. Read about the division for artistic activities on Artsi intranet.
Facilities for exhibitions and events
The Academy of Fine Arts has its own public exhibition facilities in the Mylly building on the Sörnäinen campus: Kuva/Tila, Tasku and Myllytori. The facilities make it possible to arrange various kinds of exhibitions and events and to carry out other artistic activities. The academy also engages in exhibition collaborations with outside partners. Read more about the exhibition and event facilities.
Exhibition communication
Exhibition communication services at the Academy of Fine Arts are primarily aimed at exhibitions taking place in the Kuva/Tila and Tasku galleries. Read the guidelines for exhibition communication.
How to organise an exhibition at Kuva/Tila and Tasku
Once you have been granted an exhibition slot at Kuva/Tila, read the space-specific guidelines for exhibitors. The amount of help that is available for production, communication and technical matters varies slightly depending on the space, as do the responsibilities of the exhibitor. The conditions and responsibilities are defined on the exhibition agreement – please read the document carefully.
Degree exhibitions
Each year, the artistic components of thesis projects are usually exhibited either in BFA exhibitions in the autumn term or Kuvan Kevät exhibitions in the spring term, depending on whether the participant is a bachelor’s or a master’s student. Artistic components of thesis projects may also be exhibited in public elsewhere.
BFA exhibition
The BFA exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts presents works by bachelor’s students in a joint exhibition as part of the BFA seminar module.
Kuvan Kevät
The annual Kuvan Kevät MFA exhibition is a joint exhibition presenting works by students who are finishing their master’s degree.
Exhibition collaborations
Fondia
The legal service company Fondia offers its lobby gallery for the exhibition use of Academy of Fine Arts students. Fondia’s facilities are located in the Helsinki city centre in the corner of Aleksanterinkatu and Kluuvikatu (Aleksanterinkatu 11, second floor). The space serves as a venue for exhibitions featuring works by Academy of Fine Arts students twice a year. At other times, the Fondia lobby gallery is in other exhibition use.
The call for exhibitions is twice a year, in spring and autumn. Fondia exhibitions fall under the responsibilities of the academy’s production manager. The space is best suited for exhibiting prints, paintings and photographs that are framed and/or equipped with hanger frames. Works are hung on a picture rail. It is not possible to install works directly on the walls with nails or screws. Modifying the space with paint or structures is not allowed.
The Academy of Fine Arts takes care of the transportation of the works from the school to the gallery, but students are responsible for hanging their own works on site and for taking them down and packing them for transport after the exhibition. No rental costs are charged for the space. Works are sold by sharing the contact information of the students with interested buyers. No commission is charged for the sale of works.
Exchange exhibitions
The Academy of Fine Arts has a long history of engaging in international exchange exhibitions with various art institutes. An exchange exhibition means that a group of Academy of Fine Arts students carries out an exhibition in the exhibition facilities of another art school, while the other school’s students carry out an exhibition at Kuva/Tila. Partners for exchange exhibitions and the participating student groups vary each year. The goal is to learn about exhibition activities in an international context and to learn how to verbalise one’s practice to a visiting teacher curator who makes the decisions on the participating students.