Materiality as part of the ecological transition in the arts

Project description

At Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts, there is a strong connection to the material and technical traditions of artmaking, which are both continued and renewed through the academy’s teaching and research.

In the teaching and research of the Academy of Fine Arts, the technical and chemical expertise related to materials is combined in a unique way with the experimental possibilities of art, as well as with knowledge from art philosophy and art history. In recent years, the academy’s different study areas (time and space arts, printmaking, sculpture, painting) have strengthened their engagement with materials and re-examined the postmodern relationship to materiality and the principles that guide how art interacts with different material things.

This renewed interest in materials is driven by a shared concern for the ecological state of our planet and its future. Today’s perspective on materiality is shaped not only by environmental crises and overconsumption but also by an awareness of the interrelations between material entities — the understanding that material things are not separate from one another but intertwined and co-constituted.

The aim of the research project includes developing ecological material practices for artistic work, outlining new ways of understanding the lifecycle and recycling of art materials, and expanding knowledge of materials from their origins and formation to their decomposition and potential re-use. The project also deepens understanding of the connections and histories between the material world and art, and creates space for new meanings that emerge between them.