Inventarium: Sculpture Symposium
About the event
A day of talks, conversation and interventions around the ideas of making and contemporary sculptural practice. What does it mean to make sculpture now?
Invited speakers are Anthea Hamilton, Cami Árboles, Heini Aho, Hanna Järvinen, Mireia c. Saladrigues, Paula Korte and Pekka & Teija Isorättyä.
The symposium has been developed in collaboration with students through a thematic theory course in Autumn 2025. The students have suggested and invited artists, set the physical arrangement of the day and will add interjections and responses throughout: Irini Arana, Sofie Carlson, Kiia Karjalainen, Amalia Kasakove, Taru Kavonius, Aapo Laakso, Anni-Anett Liik, Johanna Lindholm, Ziggy Liukko, Heli Lundström, Ilia Ollikainen, Ella Rahkonen, Marjaana Rantala, Teemu Ruissalo, Siiri Sainio, Deniz Satir, Sölvi Steinn Þórhallsson, Anna Stuart, Reeta Suvanto, Iida Valmé, Emma Vilppula, Olivia Viitakangas and Anne Yli-Ikkelä.
The symposium will be held in English. The symposium is part of the Sculpture students’ exhibition Inventarium at Kuva/Tila until 8 February.
Schedule
Thursday, January 29, 2026, 09:30–18:00 at Kuva/Tila, Sörnäisten rantatie 19, 00530 Helsinki
10:00 Coffee
10:30 Introduction: Andy Best / James Prevett
Anthea Hamilton – Keynote artist talk
Respondent: Hanna Järvinen
Questions
12:00 Lunch
13:15 Pekka and Teija Isorättyä, Heini Aho and Paula Korte – Contemporary Public Sculpture
15:15 Coffee
15:30 Mireia c. Saladrigues – Cooked Marble: Notes on Iconoclasm, Material Fatigue, and the Slow Disintegration of Sculpture
Cami Arboles interview – The body as sculpture
17:30 Closing Drinks
Speakers
Anthea Hamilton (b. 1978) is a London-based artist who has developed a complex practice that spans sculpture, installation, film, and performance. Her work is characterised by devotional creativity, positivity and flexibility, unexpected research trajectories, highly visual aesthetics, cross cultural interests, interdisciplinary modes of production, and collaborative dynamics. Hamilton dives into the meandering history of visual and cultural production, using her eye as a both subjective and productive lens through which to view (and recreate) the world. Her installations propose an alternative and fragmented reality where gender roles, sexualities, domestic life and the traditions of different cultures are no longer seen as established clichés but as fluid notions.’ Anne-Claire Schmitz
Dr Hanna Järvinen works as University Lecturer at the Research Institute, and at the Performing Arts Research Centre of the Theatre Academy of UNIARTS Helsinki, Finland. She holds the title of Docent in Dance History at the University of Turku. The author of Dancing Genius (Palgrave Macmillan 2014) and eight edited books as well as a number of articles and book chapters, her research combines dance scholarship with performance studies, history, cultural studies, and artistic research. In particular, she has been interested in authorship and canonisation, postcolonialism and decolonisation, and questions of materiality and contemporaneity in art practice. She enjoys making performances and collaborating with artists and her recent research projects include the Swedish Research Council workshop project Spectral Collaborations (2019–2020) and the Academy of Finland project How to Do Things with Performance (2016–2021).
Teija Isorättyä and Pekka Isorättyä (both b. 1980) are an artist couple who grew up in the industrial border town of Tornio, Finland. This environment, where the scale of heavy industry meets the raw nature of the North, serves as a primary catalyst for their aesthetic. Both artists are graduates of Aalto University, where they developed a methodology that treats mechanical engineering, electronics, and robotics as fundamental sculptural materials. Their academic background fostered a practice where creation is viewed as a way to investigate the essential questions of our relationship as humans to technological developments. The Isorättyäs’ work is defined by the creation of ”technological organisms”—kinetic installations that merge archaic materials like bone, leather, and scrap metal with sophisticated programming. A central element of their practice is a shared creative process, where the dialogue between the two artists informs the evolution of each work. Their methodology is deeply rooted in a dark but warm humor, a signature tone that allows them to navigate the melancholic boundaries between the biological and the artificial. By breathing life into discarded fragments and making machines behave with strange, sentient-like vulnerability, they create a satirical yet empathetic commentary on the human condition. Their speculations on parallel presents and ”new mythologies” encourage audiences to find a sense of soul within the cold logic of automation. The Isorättyäs have exhibited in galleries and museums across Finland, Mexico, Germany, the USA, and Japan. Their practice is informed by extensive international residencies and the duo was nominated for the Ars Fennica Award in 2017. A significant portion of their work is dedicated to public art in the shared urban landscapes. Works such as Kojamo (Tornio), Korppi (Tikkurila), and Love Gear (Aalto University collection) manifest the materialization of their interdisciplinary process as public landmarks.
Heini Aho (born 1979 in Turku) combines elements of sculpture, installation and the moving image into works addressing issues of space and perceptions of the environment. In her works, the analytical meets the intuitive, and the material meets the immaterial. Aho’s method is based on observing a concrete phenomenon and the law-like characteristics of the material. A subtly light-hearted tone typical of the artist is present in them; it may be a touch of humour, wonderment with an element of joie de vivre to it, or a surprising feeling of freedom before ordinary matters. Heini Aho graduated from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2015, and the Turku Academy of Arts in 2003. During the last year her work has been shown in solo exhibitions The Spider Learned To Count at Galerie Anhava in Helsinki and Parting at WAM Kilta gallery in Turku. In 2016, Aho was awarded the main prize of the William Thuring Foundation.
Paula Korte is a Finnish curator and critic based in Helsinki. Her field of interest concerns site specific art, public space, posthumanism and ecology in contemporary art. Korte currently works as a Curator of Public Art at HAM Helsinki Art Museum, and recent projects from her previous role at Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva include a temporary public art exhibition for Lahti’s European Green Capital year (2021), and an exhibition of three Finnish contemporary artists that examined the role of gardens in forming our relationship with nature (2023). She holds an MA in Aesthetics from the University of Helsinki and BA in Photography, Media, and Digital Imaging from University of Sunderland.
Mireia c. Saladrigues is an artist-researcher whose practice unfolds through sustained inquiry and site-specific installations combining video, drawing, performance, and publications. In collaboration with scientists, restorers, and stone experts, she examines the essence of sculpture and the impermanence of marble, tracing its transformation into dust and the memory held in its disintegration. Her work has been in solo exhibitions at Galleria Sculptor (2025), Fondia (2025), Pengerkatu Työhuone 7 (2024), and the Contemporary Art Centre of Barcelona (2023); and in group shows at Taidehalli (2025), Kuva/Tila (2024), 2nd Research Pavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale (2017), Kiasma (2009), and Pori Art Museum (2008). She has performed in Titanik Galleria (2019), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut (2023), and the National Art Museum of Catalonia (2023). Notable residencies include the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome (2022), Saari (2019), and HIAP (2006). RAI Radio 3 launched La Martellata based on her work (2023).
About the event
A day of talks, conversation and interventions around the ideas of making and contemporary sculptural practice. What does it mean to make sculpture now?
Invited speakers are Anthea Hamilton, Cami Árboles, Heini Aho, Hanna Järvinen, Mireia c. Saladrigues, Paula Korte and Pekka & Teija Isorättyä.
The symposium has been developed in collaboration with students through a thematic theory course in Autumn 2025. The students have suggested and invited artists, set the physical arrangement of the day and will add interjections and responses throughout: Irini Arana, Sofie Carlson, Kiia Karjalainen, Amalia Kasakove, Taru Kavonius, Aapo Laakso, Anni-Anett Liik, Johanna Lindholm, Ziggy Liukko, Heli Lundström, Ilia Ollikainen, Ella Rahkonen, Marjaana Rantala, Teemu Ruissalo, Siiri Sainio, Deniz Satir, Sölvi Steinn Þórhallsson, Anna Stuart, Reeta Suvanto, Iida Valmé, Emma Vilppula, Olivia Viitakangas and Anne Yli-Ikkelä.
The symposium will be held in English. The symposium is part of the Sculpture students’ exhibition Inventarium at Kuva/Tila until 8 February.
Schedule
Thursday, January 29, 2026, 09:30–18:00 at Kuva/Tila, Sörnäisten rantatie 19, 00530 Helsinki
10:00 Coffee
10:30 Introduction: Andy Best / James Prevett
Anthea Hamilton – Keynote artist talk
Respondent: Hanna Järvinen
Questions
12:00 Lunch
13:15 Pekka and Teija Isorättyä, Heini Aho and Paula Korte – Contemporary Public Sculpture
15:15 Coffee
15:30 Mireia c. Saladrigues – Cooked Marble: Notes on Iconoclasm, Material Fatigue, and the Slow Disintegration of Sculpture
Cami Arboles interview – The body as sculpture
17:30 Closing Drinks
Speakers
Anthea Hamilton (b. 1978) is a London-based artist who has developed a complex practice that spans sculpture, installation, film, and performance. Her work is characterised by devotional creativity, positivity and flexibility, unexpected research trajectories, highly visual aesthetics, cross cultural interests, interdisciplinary modes of production, and collaborative dynamics. Hamilton dives into the meandering history of visual and cultural production, using her eye as a both subjective and productive lens through which to view (and recreate) the world. Her installations propose an alternative and fragmented reality where gender roles, sexualities, domestic life and the traditions of different cultures are no longer seen as established clichés but as fluid notions.’ Anne-Claire Schmitz
Dr Hanna Järvinen works as University Lecturer at the Research Institute, and at the Performing Arts Research Centre of the Theatre Academy of UNIARTS Helsinki, Finland. She holds the title of Docent in Dance History at the University of Turku. The author of Dancing Genius (Palgrave Macmillan 2014) and eight edited books as well as a number of articles and book chapters, her research combines dance scholarship with performance studies, history, cultural studies, and artistic research. In particular, she has been interested in authorship and canonisation, postcolonialism and decolonisation, and questions of materiality and contemporaneity in art practice. She enjoys making performances and collaborating with artists and her recent research projects include the Swedish Research Council workshop project Spectral Collaborations (2019–2020) and the Academy of Finland project How to Do Things with Performance (2016–2021).
Teija Isorättyä and Pekka Isorättyä (both b. 1980) are an artist couple who grew up in the industrial border town of Tornio, Finland. This environment, where the scale of heavy industry meets the raw nature of the North, serves as a primary catalyst for their aesthetic. Both artists are graduates of Aalto University, where they developed a methodology that treats mechanical engineering, electronics, and robotics as fundamental sculptural materials. Their academic background fostered a practice where creation is viewed as a way to investigate the essential questions of our relationship as humans to technological developments. The Isorättyäs’ work is defined by the creation of ”technological organisms”—kinetic installations that merge archaic materials like bone, leather, and scrap metal with sophisticated programming. A central element of their practice is a shared creative process, where the dialogue between the two artists informs the evolution of each work. Their methodology is deeply rooted in a dark but warm humor, a signature tone that allows them to navigate the melancholic boundaries between the biological and the artificial. By breathing life into discarded fragments and making machines behave with strange, sentient-like vulnerability, they create a satirical yet empathetic commentary on the human condition. Their speculations on parallel presents and ”new mythologies” encourage audiences to find a sense of soul within the cold logic of automation. The Isorättyäs have exhibited in galleries and museums across Finland, Mexico, Germany, the USA, and Japan. Their practice is informed by extensive international residencies and the duo was nominated for the Ars Fennica Award in 2017. A significant portion of their work is dedicated to public art in the shared urban landscapes. Works such as Kojamo (Tornio), Korppi (Tikkurila), and Love Gear (Aalto University collection) manifest the materialization of their interdisciplinary process as public landmarks.
Heini Aho (born 1979 in Turku) combines elements of sculpture, installation and the moving image into works addressing issues of space and perceptions of the environment. In her works, the analytical meets the intuitive, and the material meets the immaterial. Aho’s method is based on observing a concrete phenomenon and the law-like characteristics of the material. A subtly light-hearted tone typical of the artist is present in them; it may be a touch of humour, wonderment with an element of joie de vivre to it, or a surprising feeling of freedom before ordinary matters. Heini Aho graduated from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2015, and the Turku Academy of Arts in 2003. During the last year her work has been shown in solo exhibitions The Spider Learned To Count at Galerie Anhava in Helsinki and Parting at WAM Kilta gallery in Turku. In 2016, Aho was awarded the main prize of the William Thuring Foundation.
Paula Korte is a Finnish curator and critic based in Helsinki. Her field of interest concerns site specific art, public space, posthumanism and ecology in contemporary art. Korte currently works as a Curator of Public Art at HAM Helsinki Art Museum, and recent projects from her previous role at Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva include a temporary public art exhibition for Lahti’s European Green Capital year (2021), and an exhibition of three Finnish contemporary artists that examined the role of gardens in forming our relationship with nature (2023). She holds an MA in Aesthetics from the University of Helsinki and BA in Photography, Media, and Digital Imaging from University of Sunderland.
Mireia c. Saladrigues is an artist-researcher whose practice unfolds through sustained inquiry and site-specific installations combining video, drawing, performance, and publications. In collaboration with scientists, restorers, and stone experts, she examines the essence of sculpture and the impermanence of marble, tracing its transformation into dust and the memory held in its disintegration. Her work has been in solo exhibitions at Galleria Sculptor (2025), Fondia (2025), Pengerkatu Työhuone 7 (2024), and the Contemporary Art Centre of Barcelona (2023); and in group shows at Taidehalli (2025), Kuva/Tila (2024), 2nd Research Pavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale (2017), Kiasma (2009), and Pori Art Museum (2008). She has performed in Titanik Galleria (2019), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut (2023), and the National Art Museum of Catalonia (2023). Notable residencies include the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome (2022), Saari (2019), and HIAP (2006). RAI Radio 3 launched La Martellata based on her work (2023).