ArtHelsinki Contemporary Art Event, to be organised in association with Habitare Design Fair on 7–11 September, will present Nina Colosi, founder of the Streaming Museum, and art consultant Alistair Hicks as the event’s keynote speakers. Frame’s director Raija Koli will participate in the panel discussion about the future of the art market (Wed 7 Sept). Blogger and Frame’s communications officer – soon back from parental leave – Laura Boxberg will take part in the panel discussion about instagramming about art (Wed 7 Sept). Frame supports ArtHelsinki by organising a visit for international press in collaboration with the event and the Finnish Foreign Ministry.
ArtHelsinki’s international programme for professionals will, through its themes, explore the art market of the future, the digitalisation of art, and the interaction between the commercial and non-commercial art worlds. The programme, to be held in English in the ArtHelsinki area, will feature well-known Finnish and international experts in the field of art.
“Along with ArtHelsinki, Helsinki will see the long-term development of an international art event that connects art buyers with people and organisations in the field of art, while at the same time bringing art closer to the public at large. Our focus is a high-quality and current programme, with debates for both professionals and the general public, and we hope that we can, for our part, give a boost to bringing back to Finland a vibrant culture of art ownership,” says programme director Laura Sarvilinna.
Professional programme
The programme for professionals, on Wednesday 7 September, will focus on the art market of the future. The British art expert Alistair Hicks will speak about collecting art and the future trends of collecting. Hicks is an art consultant who has worked among other things as senior curator for the Deutsche Bank Art Collection, which is one of the most significant business art collections in the world. His book The Global Art Compass was published in 2014. Hicks will also take part in a panel discussion that will explore the future of art and the art market. The panel discussion will also feature the private collector Ville Vasaramäki (CEO, foodora FI), and it will be led by the director of Frame Finland, Raija Koli.
On Thursday 8 September, the programme will explore the collecting and showing of digital art. The founder of Streaming Museum, Nina Colosi, will speak about showing digital art, while the chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Arja Miller, will shed light on digital collecting, using ARS17online as a case example. Both will also participate in a panel discussion that explores the digital future of art. The third panelist to join the discussion will be Mari Männistö (ARTAP by Helsinki Contemporary)
On Friday 9 September, the programme will focus on the interaction between the commercial and non-commercial worlds of art. The Director of the Art & Finance department at Deloitte Luxembourg, Adriano Picinati di Torcello, will speak about art as an investment, from the perspective of both businesses and private individuals. He will also participate together with Curator Kati Kivinen from Contemporary Art Museum Kiasma in a panel discussion, which looks at the commercial and non-commercial worlds of art interact and what it is like working in the middle of the two.
From Wednesday to Friday, as the last item on the programme for professionals, a Finnish designer and an artist will meet in a discussion entitled Artbate: Designer versus Artist.
Public programme
ArtHelsinki’s programme for all audiences has been produced in collaboration with the Artists’ Association of Finland.
On Wednesday, the stage will see the presentation of ArtHelsinki’s international Moving Image cooperation concept, with its American founders Murat Orozobekov and Edward Winkleman acting as curators of an ArtHelsinki media art display. Also on Wednesday, a blogger specialising in visual art, Laura Boxberg, visual artist Sami Havia, and the executive director of Kuvasto the copyright society for visual art, Tommi Nilsson, will discuss art in relation to social media and social sharing. On Thursday, in a discussion facilitated by the Artists’ Association of Finland, experts will present seven good reasons to visit an art gallery.
On Friday, interior designer Tomi Kouvola and an ArtHelsinki gallerist will discuss how you can create unique interiors by using art. On Saturday, there will be a discussion on how art works as part of everyday life at home. Both of these are in cooperation with ARTAP by Helsinki Contemporary. On both Friday and Saturday, the ArtHelsinki programme will end with a speech on the theme of “an art museum as a collector” by experts from EMMA – the Espoo Museum of Modern Art. On Sunday, there will be a discussion, coordinated by the Artists’ Association of Finland, with guests such as the journalist Maria Veitola and the President of the Photographic Artists’ Association and visual artist Ida Pimenoff, talking about how easy it is to buy art.
The ArtHelsinki contemporary art event will be held at Messukeskus in Helsinki from 7 to 11 September 2016. To be held concurrently with ArtHelsinki at Messukeskus are Habitare, the leading furniture, interior decoration and design event in Finland; the Antiikki antiques event; the Valo Light lighting event; and the HifiExpo high-quality audio and image fair.