IHME Helsinki is bringing together the worlds of art and science in the time of climate crisis and biodiversity loss. The annual public commission by an internationally recognised artist continues to be the core of the programme. In addition to that IHME Helsinki produces 4-6 events every year in collaboration with art and scientific instutions. IHME Helsinki aims at carbon neutrality in all its activities.

The IHME Helsinki commission 2020 by artist Jana Winderen will be postponed until August 2021. Winderen wants to draw our attention to the state of the Baltic Sea and the other water systems in the world.

In 2021 there will be two commissions as both the commission for 2020 and 2021 will be realised for the audiences to be experienced. The dates for the IHME Helsinki commission 2021 by artist Katie Paterson will be 1-30 September.

The coronavirus epidemic and Finnish Government measures to slow its spread may cause changes in the programme.

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#IHMEmeriteko photo competition

The #IHMEmeriteko sea-action photo competition held on Instagram last summer highlighted actions benefitting the Baltic Sea. The goal of the competition was to shed light on small and large everyday acts for the good of our local sea, and to inspire others to join in. The competition is now being held once again, inspired by the artist Jana Winderen’s IHME Helsinki Commission sound installation Listening Through the Dead Zones. This was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and will now be staged at Helsinki’s Rowing Stadium in August 2021.

Enter the photo competition by sharing your own sea action on Instagram with the hashtag #IHMEmeriteko by Monday, August 23. Researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute Seppo Knuuttila will choose the winner of a Baltic friendly dinner. The winner photo will be announced on Baltic Sea Day, August 26. Read more >>

IHME Helsinki podcast: Art, Science, Ecology

Members of IHME Helsinki’s Advisory Board are to host a series of podcasts on the themes of Art, Science and Ecology. They will discuss new approaches in art and in the lives of artists and art institutions responding to the environmental crisis. How can we raise awareness and activate our audiences, reduce our carbon emissions, create a more sustainable art world, and promote a cultural shift in which less is more?

Helsinki Open Waves

The podcast is produced in collaboration with Helsinki Open Waves. HOW is a translingual non-profit, fee-free open platform that aims to design and initiate a new sustainable platform for people who live in Finland to represent themselves with their own language and culture in order to contribute to a more diverse society.

The podcasts will be released on several platforms: Helsinki Open Waves, Spotify, Apple podcast, Soundcloud.

We would love to have your feedback. Please give it here >>

Release dates:

• April 14th Paula Toppila & José Roca >>
• April 21st Ute Meta Bauer & Nabil Ahmed >>
• May 5th Hanna Johansson & Tracey Warr >>
• May 12th Jussi Parikka & Susan Schuppli >>
• May 19th Jussi Parikka & Samir Bhowmik >>
• June 9th Antti Majava & Emma Hakala & Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen >>

Read more about the podcast >>

Art, Science, Ecology course

In January 2021, the contemporary art commissioning agency IHME Helsinki will launch an Art, Science, Ecology course in cooperation with the Institute of Sustainability of the University of Helsinki and the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Internationally acclaimed artists act as lecturers for the course and facilitators of the workshops. All lectures of the course are conducted online and are free and open to anyone interested. The workshops of the course are aimed at students of partner universities. The course is in English.

The lecturers of the course and the facilitators of the workshops are artists, scientists and curators from Finland and abroad: artist and BIOS research institute researcher Antti Majava, UK-based researcher and artist Susan Schuppli, IHME Helsinki Commission 2020 Norwegian artist Jana Winderen, IHME Helsinki Commission 2021 Scottish artist Katie Paterson, professor emeritus Jan Zalasiewicz (University of Leicester), paleoclimatologist J.Sakari Salonen (Helsinki University), Helsinki based artist Samir Bhowmik and  IHME Helsinki Executive Director and Curator Paula Toppila.

25.1.2021 at 16:00-17:00 EEST Artist, researcher Antti Majava: Art – a Radical Transition Strategy >>   The lecture documentation >>

8.2.2021 at 16:00-17:00 EEST Artist Katie Paterson – On Artistic Practice >>

10.2.2021 at 16:00-17:00 EEST Artist Katie Paterson, Emeritus Professor of Palaeobiology Jan Zalasiewicz , Docent in Paleoclimatology J. Sakari Salonen: IHME Helsinki Commission 2021: To Burn, Forest, Fire >>  The conversation documentation >>

16.2.2021 at 16:00-18:00 EEST Artist, Researcher Susan Schuppli: Ice Cores – FILM AND ONLINE LECTURE >> The lecture documentation >>

24.2.2021 at 16:00-17:00 EEST Artist Jana Winderen: Listening Through the Dead Zones, the work for a sound installation >> The lecture documentation >>

15.3.2021 at 16:00–17:00 EEST Artist Samir Bhowmik: Media Cultures of Extraction >>  The lecture documentation >>

23.3.2021 at 16:00-17:00 EEST IHME’s Executive Director, Curator Paula Toppila: Ecologically sustainable curating – IHME Helsinki. Collaboration with the artists Jana Winderen and Katie Paterson. >> The lecture documentation >>

The course info >>

The lecture documentations at IHME’s YouTube channel >>

Eco-seminar on Nov 19

The environmental crisis is also a crisis of the artworld, requiring concrete action instead of mere words. The contemporary art organisations Frame Contemporary Art Finland, IHME Helsinki, Mustarinda and HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme are holding an open, free, one-day webinar Environmental Crisis – From Words to Deeds in the Field of Art on 19 November 2020. 

The seminar languages were Finnish and English. Documentations and summaries in Finnish and English on IHME Helsinki’s YouTube channel.

Speakers >>

Programme

9:00 Opening remarks (in Finnish)
Paula Toppila, Executive Director, IHME Helsinki
Raija Koli, CEO, Frame Contemporary Art Finland

9:15 Greeting by the Minister of Environment (in Finnish, summary in Finnish and in English >>)
Krista Mikkonen, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change

9:35 Why is it necessary to take climate action? (in Finnish, summary in Finnish and English >>)
Mari Pantsar, Director, Carbon Neutral Circular Economy, Sitra

9:50 Discussion and questions

9:55 Break

10:00 Towards a new cultural ecology (in English, summary in Finnish and English >>)
Graciela Melitsko Thornton, Leader of Creative Green Programme, Julie’s Bicycle (in English)

10:30 Discussion and questions

11:00 Do we need explorers?
Jana Winderen, sound artist, IHME Helsinki commission 2020 

11:10 – 11:20 Discussion and questions

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11:30-12:30 Lunch break

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12:30 Ecologically sustainable curation and production (in Finnish, summary in English >>)
Paula Toppila, Executive Director and Curator, IHME Helsinki

12:45 Slow and ecological travel (in Finnish)
Juha Huuskonen, Director, HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme

13:00 Together on the hill – care and hospitality as a tool for more ecological residency practice (in Finnish , summary in English >>)
Sanna Ritvanen, Active member, Mustarinda

13:15 Environmental actions of an art museum (in Finnish, summary in English >>)
Jonna Hurskainen, Head of Helsinki Biennial, HAM Helsinki Art Museum, and Kiira Kivisaari, environmental coordinator, Helsinki Biennial, HAM Helsinki Art Museum

13:30 Internationality, funding and the environment (in Finnish, summary in Finnish and English >>)
Raija Koli, CEO, Frame Contemporary Art Finland

13:45 Discussion and questions

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14:00 – 14:30 Coffee break

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14:30 Artist’s practice and opportunities to choose (in Finnish, summary in Finnish and English >>)
Alma Heikkilä, visual artist and Antti Majava, visual artist

14:50 The carbon footprint of an art organization (in Finnish, summary in  Finnish and English >>)
Saara Korpela, Eco-Coordinator, IHME, Frame, HIAP and Mustarinda

15:05 Discussion and questions

15:15 Summary and instructions for the group discussions

15:20 Break

15:25 Group discussions (preliminary registration has ended, the groups are full)

16:25 The way forward. Summary of working-group discussions

16:45 Closing remarks

The documentations of the speeches on IHME’s YouTube channel.