KuvA Research Days 2026
Participate in discussions about art and research generated by talks and performances by the Academy of Fine Arts researchers and doctoral researchers, as well as guest speakers they have invited. Save the date!
The Academy of Fine Arts Research Days will be held in December at the Uniarts Helsinki’s Sörnäinen campus, in the Academy of Fine Arts Mylly (White studio, Sörnäisten rantatie 19, Helsinki). During the days, the public has an opportunity to participate in discussions about art and research generated by talks and performances by the Academy of Fine Arts researchers and doctoral researchers as well as guest speakers they have invited. The program will be published in November. Welcome to think together!
Tuesday 8.12.2026: Mylly Materials Audit
Hanna Johansson, Professor of Contemporary Art Research, Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki
Material Studies Working Group
The Mylly (mill) building on Sörnäisten has been the Academy of Fine Arts’ home since Autumn 2021. As a building, Mylly is also a “machine” that facilitates our work, through access to interior space, and to building services like ventilation, lighting and wastewater filtration—with our practices likewise depending on a diversity of analogue and digital technologies. How sustainable is Mylly in its construction and interior operations, and across our various disciplinary organs? Here we present some initial findings of the Material Studies Working Group, in the form of a five-year “post-occupancy survey” of Mylly and its resident operations. Invited speakers and in-situ demonstrations will additionally present ongoing research into sustainable non-toxic materials and practices (bioplastics, biochar-based concrete substitutes, home-made pigments), and more sustainable approaches to IT procurement and digital storage. The language of the day is English.
Wednesday 9.12.2026:
How can we conceive of art pedagogy without hierarchy?
Marika Orenius, Lecturer, Art Pedagogy, Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki
At this research day, we will examine art pedagogy through the lens of connections, interdependencies and relationships. What happens when we look at the realities that exist alongside our own activities – and realise that they may, in fact, be constructed through one another? Could topological thinking open up new ways of looking at the studying, teaching and researching of art? What might an individual student, researcher or teacher take away from this?
Throughout the day, there will be opportunities to take part in workshops, listen to presentations and discuss fine art education, artistic research, connections to art(ist) pedagogy and the role of the artist-teacher. The discussion will be sparked by recent publications in the field and their authors, as well as perspectives from outside our own institution.
Come along and see what emerges when the pedagogy of different art forms is examined through relationships and connections. The language of the day is Finnish.
Thursday 10.12.2026: Universe of Images
Leevi Haapala, Dean, Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki
Salla Tykkä, Professor for Contemporary Art and Moving Image, Time and Space Arts, Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki
In contemporary society, we live amid a flood of images. Their abundance is not limited to material representations but extends to a wide range of linguistic and mental phenomena. The many forms that images take in our reality are at once self-evident and deeply complex.
Throughout this year, questions surrounding images have been explored at the Academy of Fine Arts through both the thematic theory course Universe of Images and the exhibition of the same name, opening in December in the Academy of Fine Arts’ exhibition spaces. Together, we have examined different ways of understanding images and their agency in diverse contexts, seeking to think the world with images, despite images, against images, and in lineage with them.
Beginning with the question “What are images?”, we have engaged with the historical, spatial, kinetic, social, political, material, and anthropological dimensions of image theories and image practices. We have investigated how images function, what they convey, and how their meanings are formed, layered, and perceived.
As part of this research day, we will address several particularly timely themes related to images and conclude with a visit to the Universe of Images exhibition. The language of the day is English.
The Academy of Fine Arts Research Days will be held in December at the Uniarts Helsinki’s Sörnäinen campus, in the Academy of Fine Arts Mylly (White studio, Sörnäisten rantatie 19, Helsinki). During the days, the public has an opportunity to participate in discussions about art and research generated by talks and performances by the Academy of Fine Arts researchers and doctoral researchers as well as guest speakers they have invited. The program will be published in November. Welcome to think together!
Tuesday 8.12.2026: Mylly Materials Audit
Hanna Johansson, Professor of Contemporary Art Research, Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki
Material Studies Working Group
The Mylly (mill) building on Sörnäisten has been the Academy of Fine Arts’ home since Autumn 2021. As a building, Mylly is also a “machine” that facilitates our work, through access to interior space, and to building services like ventilation, lighting and wastewater filtration—with our practices likewise depending on a diversity of analogue and digital technologies. How sustainable is Mylly in its construction and interior operations, and across our various disciplinary organs? Here we present some initial findings of the Material Studies Working Group, in the form of a five-year “post-occupancy survey” of Mylly and its resident operations. Invited speakers and in-situ demonstrations will additionally present ongoing research into sustainable non-toxic materials and practices (bioplastics, biochar-based concrete substitutes, home-made pigments), and more sustainable approaches to IT procurement and digital storage. The language of the day is English.
Wednesday 9.12.2026:
How can we conceive of art pedagogy without hierarchy?
Marika Orenius, Lecturer, Art Pedagogy, Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki
At this research day, we will examine art pedagogy through the lens of connections, interdependencies and relationships. What happens when we look at the realities that exist alongside our own activities – and realise that they may, in fact, be constructed through one another? Could topological thinking open up new ways of looking at the studying, teaching and researching of art? What might an individual student, researcher or teacher take away from this?
Throughout the day, there will be opportunities to take part in workshops, listen to presentations and discuss fine art education, artistic research, connections to art(ist) pedagogy and the role of the artist-teacher. The discussion will be sparked by recent publications in the field and their authors, as well as perspectives from outside our own institution.
Come along and see what emerges when the pedagogy of different art forms is examined through relationships and connections. The language of the day is Finnish.
Thursday 10.12.2026: Universe of Images
Leevi Haapala, Dean, Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki
Salla Tykkä, Professor for Contemporary Art and Moving Image, Time and Space Arts, Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki
In contemporary society, we live amid a flood of images. Their abundance is not limited to material representations but extends to a wide range of linguistic and mental phenomena. The many forms that images take in our reality are at once self-evident and deeply complex.
Throughout this year, questions surrounding images have been explored at the Academy of Fine Arts through both the thematic theory course Universe of Images and the exhibition of the same name, opening in December in the Academy of Fine Arts’ exhibition spaces. Together, we have examined different ways of understanding images and their agency in diverse contexts, seeking to think the world with images, despite images, against images, and in lineage with them.
Beginning with the question “What are images?”, we have engaged with the historical, spatial, kinetic, social, political, material, and anthropological dimensions of image theories and image practices. We have investigated how images function, what they convey, and how their meanings are formed, layered, and perceived.
As part of this research day, we will address several particularly timely themes related to images and conclude with a visit to the Universe of Images exhibition. The language of the day is English.