In March, the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture appointed a new Board of Directors to oversee the work of the Frame Foundation for a three-year term from 2021 to 2024.
The Board has seven members. Director Esa Alanne and legal counsel Jaakko Lindgren will continue from the previous term. The new members are Dean Hanna Johansson, artist Tellervo Kalleinen, artist Ali Akbar Mehta, Executive Director Oskari Nokso-Koivisto and Acting Director Anni Venäläinen.
“Frame’s Board of Directors changes every three years. We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the outgoing board, which convened more than 20 times to ponder myriad issues including the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the distribution of grants,” states Raija Koli, Director of Frame.
“Frame’s new, fourth board represents an extensive range of expertise on contemporary art, bringing together insight and experience from across the entire visual arts ecosystem, from art education to the museum industry and from artist communities to the international art scene, not to forget expertise in both copyright law and funding. The new Board of Directors also has a special interest in sustainability, equality and other responsibility issues related to Frame’s strategy,” adds Koli.
Frame Contemporary Art Finland (Frame Foundation) is an advocate for Finnish contemporary art. Frame supports international initiatives, facilitates professional partnerships, and encourages critical development of the field.
Frame’s Board of Directors for 2021–2024:
Esa Alanne is Director of the Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark, which specialises in bilateral collaborations between Finland and Denmark specifically in the field of contemporary art. Alanne has built up strong and extensive international networks in the field of contemporary arts from residences to museums, galleries and art fairs.
Hanna Johansson is Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts at Helsinki’s University of the Arts. She possesses vast knowledge of contemporary art and has studied the relationship between Finnish contemporary art and ecology and the involvement of non-human actors in contemporary art. Johansson holds the title of docent at the University of Helsinki. She is also Vice Chairman of the Board at the Pro Arte Foundation, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Uusimaa Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Tellervo Kalleinen is a contemporary artist who bases her practice on creative collaboration. Kalleinen graduated from Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts in 2003 and also studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg and the Hochschule für Bildende Kunste Braunschweig, Germany. Kalleinen has collaborated with Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen since 2002. The duo were awarded the AVEK media art award in 2012 and the Ars Fennica prize in 2014. Together they have held numerous exhibitions around the world.
Jaakko Lindgren is an attorney with extensive expertise in legal issues related to contemporary art in Finland and abroad.
Ali Akbar Mehta is a co-founder of Helsinki’s Museum of Impossible Forms, in which he was involved as co-Artistic Director from 2018 to 2020. In his artistic practice, he creates immersive cyber archives that map histories, memory, and identity through narratives of violence and conflict. He is currently pursuing doctoral research at Aalto University and holds a BFA in Drawing and Painting from the Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, as well as an MA in Visual Culture, Curating, and Contemporary Art from Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland.
Oskari Nokso-Koivisto is Executive Director at the Aalto Economic Institute, an organisation tasked with overseeing the linkage of research and decision making in the Aalto University Department of Economics. The aim of the Institute’s projects has been to integrate economic knowledge into decision making. Nokso-Koivisto is the co-founder of the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics, a joint economic unit of Aalto University, University of Helsinki and Hanken School of Economics, and he currently works as the secretary of its board.
Anni Venäläinen is the Acting Director of Pori Art Museum. She is a member of the City of Pori Education and Culture Division executive team and a member of the Maire Gullichsen Art Foundation’s Board of Directors. In addition to her involvement in the museum field, Ms Venäläinen has also worked as a visiting lecturer, freelance curator and writer.
More information:
Raija Koli, Director
raija.koli@frame-finland.fi