Participation in Kandinäyttely – BFA exhibition

Published 6.2.2023 | Updated 6.11.2024

The BFA exhibition is organized every fall in Kuva/Tila and other spaces of the Mylly building. The exhibition is a part the BFA seminar that supports the student in completing their BFA thesis. The seminar includes a joint final review of the BFA exhibition.

Participating in the BFA exhibition

In the BFA exhibition the artistic parts of your BFA thesis are presented publicly in a group show. The artistic part of the thesis can also be another public presentation of the work. Participating in the exhibition is a part of the seminar, in which you will also learn exhibition and presentation practices and you will learn to write about your own artistic work. Participating in the teaching of presentation practices is mandatory for everyone regardless of the way in which their work is presented to the public.

Thesis plan and thesis grant

The artistic part of your thesis work is supported with a thesis grant. In order to receive the grant your thesis plan has to be accepted by your supervising teacher of your study area. You will receive a separate form to apply for the grant via email.

Exhibition process

Here you will find the recurring basic information about the BFA Exhibition process – the dates and other details that change every year can be found on the Moodle platform.

Joint meetings

During the exhibition process, there will be several joint meetings between the supervising teachers, the students participating in the exhibition and the exhibition production staff. The first meeting will take place early in the year.

Studio visits

The exhibition process includes two studio visits with the exhibition coordinating teacher during the spring. You can find more detailed instructions and schedules for this on Moodle. After the studio visits, the exhibition’s coordinating teacher will start planning the exhibition architecture and installation.

Work on your artwork

You will receive guidance from the supervising teachers of your study area, your responsible teacher and other teachers. Each student has a responsible teacher of their area of study, who is responsible for guiding the artistic work before working in the exhibition space. Plan the technical execution of your work and, if necessary, arrange a meeting with the exhibition technician to discuss the details of the installation.

Exhibition materials

Artwork text and artwork details

Students participating in the exhibition are expected to write an artwork text. The text can be a continuation of the thesis plan written earlier in the spring. Finished drafts will also be sent to the examiners.

Artwork texts will be proofread and translated by external freelancers. If you translate the text yourself, the text will only be proofread by the translator. You will receive the translations for review, after which no further changes will be made. The texts of the works will be presented in print in the exhibition information material and on the website.

For providing artwork details (name, size, technique, year), the producer will send a separate form via e-mail.

Website

The BFA exhibition website will have a individual page for each participant, where the will be the artwork text and short bio of the artist. Once the exhibition opens, the artist pages will be updated with photographs of the works, primarily taken by the academy’s photographer for the sake of consistency. However, if you wish to have your own photo used on the page, please contact the producer or communications.

CV

Artistic CV (curriculum vitae) will be gathered to the exhibition into a separate folder for audience to browse. Providing the CV is optional.

Exhibition installation

The exhibition building is part of the teaching of presentation practices. The teaching of presentation practices will be carried out in the form of workshops and small group work. Small groups will be divided according to the installation and technical needs of the works. Participation in workshops and small group teaching is mandatory.

During the exhibition

Prepare to invigilate the exhibition

The exhibition is invigilated by the exhibitors themselves, so be prepared to invigilate the exhibition for 2-3 shifts during the exhibition opening hours. Kuva/Tila is open Tue-Sun 11am-6pm. The producer will email you with instructions on how to book a shift.

Document your work for your thesis 

The Academy of Fine Arts documents all its shows only for communication and teaching purposes. For your thesis, you must document your artwork yourself. Please note that the written component of the thesis project must include sufficient visual documentation of the artistic component. A camera set will be available to borrow to document your work. Instructions on borrowing the camera will be sent out via email. The equipment can’t be taken out school premises and the files must be moved to your own device immediately, so other students may use the camera set as well.

Examination event

In the joint examination event, the artistic part of the thesis is presented verbally next to the work. In the event, the examiners will give have 15 minutes to comment your work, followed by a few minutes of discussion.

The supervising teachers will select the examiners during the spring. The examiners have reviewed your work before and have read the artistic text you’ve written. All students will take part in both examination days. The examinations will be held in Finnish or in English, and Finnish speeches will be simultaneously translated to English.

Finish your written part of your thesis and return it to be examined within three weeks from the examination event. The examiners will assess your thesis project, consisting of both the artistic and written components, as a whole after you have submitted the written component.

Deinstallation

You are responsible for deinstalling, packing and transportation of your works as well as delivering the possible sold works to clients. Work requiring technical assistance, such as the use of lifts, will only be carried out in the presence of technical staff.