Contact
IHME Helsinki / Pro Arte Foundation Finland
Kalevankatu 4, 2nd floor
00100 Helsinki, Finland
info(at)ihmehelsinki.fi
About us
Billing information
Pro Arte Foundation Finland has electronic processing of invoices. More detailed instructions here.
Our electronic invoice addresses are:
Electronic invoice address: 003721485721
Operator: Maventa (003721291126)
Pro Arte Foundation Finland’s business ID (Y-tunnus) 2148572-1
Office
Executive Director Paula Toppila
IHME Helsinki Commission / Collaborations / Management
tel. +358-45-1240096, paula.toppila(at)ihmehelsinki.fi
Communications planner Saara Moisio
Communications / Events / Audiences
tel. +358-45-2350080, saara.moisio(at)ihmehelsinki.fi
Eco-coordinator Saara Korpela
saara.korpela(at)ihmehelsinki.fi
IHME Helsinki – Mission
IHME is a contemporary art organization that situates its activities in a dialogue between art and science. IHME’s core activity is the annual staging of a new artwork, together with an artist and Finnish and foreign partners, in public space in Finland and abroad. We combine the worlds of art and science to create a vision of our planet’s crisis of sustainability while increasing hope. Contemporary art is a constantly changing, active pursuit. It not only mirrors the world, but also shapes it. Art gives us a chance to do things differently and it has the power to change the way people think.
IHME’s goal is to promote eco-social education, a sustainable, democratic society, and a good life on many levels. IHME has already spent ten years courageously producing new, previously unseen art. Now, as the climate crisis accelerates, we are focussing on art’s power to create impact and bringing agents of art and science together around eco-social, environmental issues.
Our actions are experimental and the freedom of art is an essential aspect of our productions. Our objective is to make contemporary art more accessible and to bring art to new audiences.
IHME commissions extend beyond the everyday and suggest possible worlds and new meanings. We take a critical, exploratory view of the world, increasing hope and an ability to act to advance understanding of environmental issues and to preserve and develop shared well-being. At the same time, we are committed to working according to ecologically sustainable principles.
We believe in action. We produce new, experiential knowledge and events linked to the themes of the annual artwork. We also openly share our expertise and engage in social debate through our work.
The Finnish word IHME means “miracle” or “wonder”. However, it is in daily use in a variety of phrases meaning something strange, weird, something that wakens curiosity.
IHME’s values
The freedom of art within a framework of life-sustaining systems (being ecological)
IHME Helsinki has its starting points in the visual arts and in the expertise of the invited artist. The core of IHME Helsinki is the annual commissioned artwork, which is based on the artist’s proposal and created in dialogue with IHME Helsinki. Productions will employ solutions that are as far as possible sustainable, low-emission, or where possible, emission-free.
Equality
In its operations IHME Helsinki implements its own equality strategy drawn up in 2017. The enactment of equality is taken into account in all decisions related to the production of the work and the event.
Truthfulness
IHME Helsinki commits to being honest and open in its operations and communications.
High-level professional skills/quality (continual learning)
Each year, IHME Helsinki aspires to a high standard and high quality in its implementation, and that applies artistically, to production, and in its marketing communications. The measures used to assess activities are tailored to suit each production and the assessment spans a wide range of viewpoints, including interest groups, the goal being continual learning. IHME Helsinki is run in line with the principles of good foundation administration.
Willingness to take risks
IHME Helsinki takes conscious risks in focusing on producing a single work each year, in producing new, previously unrealized artworks, and in testing out new production solutions that share the spirit of ecological reconstruction.
Accessibility (new audiences)
IHME Helsinki’s goal is to make contemporary art more accessible than it is at present and to bring art within reach of new audiences. This goal is facilitated by the public(-space) operating context and solutions tailored for specific audiences.
Perseverance
IHME Helsinki has perseverance built in. Perseverance is required both by the collaboration needed to create a new artwork and by science as one of the artwork’s operating contexts.
Ecological Sustainability
IHME is committed to:
• Promoting art that gives people a chance to deal with feelings and information about the environmental crisis
• Promoting eco-social education
• Monitoring the carbon footprint of its operations and their impact on biodiversity
• Cutting down on the atmospheric emissions generated by its travel, energy consumption, catering, purchases and waste management, and by offsetting remaining emissions
• Choosing services that are as environment-friendly as possible and developing environment-friendly operating models with its partners in collaboration
• Sharing information about its environmental work
More information: IHME carbon footprint, IHME Ecoblog and links to ecological information.
IHME Commissioning artists
Antony Gormley, Susan Philipsz, Superflex, Christian Boltanski, Miroslaw Balka, Jeremy Deller, Katrina Seda, Theaster Gates & the Black Monks of Mississippi, Henrik Håkansson, Jana Winderen, Katie Paterson, Amar Kanwar
Board
Chair Marja Ramm-Schmidt
Board Members:
Kalle Hamm, Max Mickelsson, Lauri Paloheimo, Marja Sakari ja Hanna Snellman
Advisory Board
The advisory board of IHME invites the IHME artist to conceive the Project, and also plans the programme around the Project.
The advisory board of the foundation is Ute Meta Bauer, Hanna Guttorm, Antti Majava, Jussi Parikka and Paula Toppila (chair).
Funding
The work of IHME Helsinki is possible with the support from Saastamoinen Foundation, Kone Foundation and Abakanowicz Arts and Culture Charitable Foundation in 2023-25.