Kevätseminaari 2026: ”In, Out, and Between”

• The Spring Seminar by Finnish Society for Aesthetics
• Time: Tuesday 28/4/2026, 13:00–16:30
• Place: Tieteiden talo, Cedercreutz (Kirkkokatu 6, Helsinki)
• Free entrance
• Zoom Registration

In, Out, and Between

Art has invariably oscillated between the poles of popular versus niche – is it always a compromise to create art for the masses, and is difficulty an automatic seal of high art? Does the artist need to consider their audience? Without an audience, does a work of art even exist? Who belongs, who is an outsider, why, and how do these divisions affect our social relations? Is it possible to write in-depth art criticism that everyone understands? What kind of art and art discourse unites and includes, and what creates conflicts and excludes? Do we need both?  

The seminar examines both physical and conceptual access to art, the power relations that govern who and what is given a stage, and why we must protect freedom in art.

The event is free of charge and open to all audiences. You can also participate via Zoom. Register here by the 27th of April. The seminar is held in English.

Programme

13:00 Chair of Finnish Society for Aesthetics, Vice rector, Dr. Ossi Naukkarinen: Opening Remarks

13:15–13.45 Prof Dr. Michael Birchall: From the Margins to the Centre: Participation Models in Contemporary Art 

Since the rise of relational aesthetics in the 1990s, participation has become a defining paradigm in contemporary art. Artistic practices increasingly invite audiences to engage, contribute, and co-produce meaning, positioning participation as a strategy for inclusion. At the same time, this shift raises critical questions about access, agency, and the uneven distribution of cultural capital: who is truly able to participate, and under what conditions? As art institutions expand their commitment to accessibility and inclusion, participation itself may place new demands on audiences, requiring particular forms of knowledge or social positioning. By examining these tensions, the focus turns to how artistic practices move from the margins to the centre, and what is at stake in that transition.

13:45–14:15 Curator Paula Korte: “Something Colorful, Playful and Fun” – Public Art as Contemporary Art

The percentage for art principle has brought art into our shared public space for almost a century. Originally acquired to decorate schools and hospitals, the guiding ideals for public art were art education and the beautification of our everyday environment. Today, democratic accessibility is the ideological core of public art – art that doesn’t require cultural capital or a paid admission ticket. How do we reconcile the discourses and aesthetics of contemporary art with the public demand for simple and easy art? Can public art serve as a low-threshold first contact with contemporary art?

14:15–14:45 Coffee Break

14:45–15:15 Artistic Director Jussi Sorjanen: Edgy for Everyone: Can an Institution be Accessible without Compromises?

Like a Ramones t-shirt sold at H&M, like Lordi playing hard rock at Eurovision, like a former activist working for a corporate communications agency, many theatres and cultural institutions are chasing new audiences. They are balancing between trying not to be the most boring place ever but not to scare the former audiences and theatre lovers away. They strive to be relevant, they want to be edgy. Furthermore, they wish to be accessible and for everyone. Such paradoxes are felt by artistic directors every day while creating the repertoire, as they try to answer the question: ”Who is it for?”

15:15–15.45 Prof Dr. Reinold Schmücker: Art in the Age of Access – Why secondary conditions of access are becoming increasingly relevant and the distinction between high art and mass art may be obsolescent

Cultural participation requires access to works of art. However, the meaning of ‘access to works of art’ is undergoing profound change due to the digital transformation. The lecture explains why this is the case, why secondary conditions of access are becoming increasingly important, and why the distinction between high art and mass art is becoming increasingly difficult and losing its significance.

15:45–16:30 General Discussion 

Speakers

Michael Birchall is Professor of Exhibiting, Curating and Mediating in Contemporary Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. He was previously Co-Director of Exhibitions at Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, where he led a programme of exhibitions, commissions, and publications. His curatorial work focuses on fostering connections between international art histories and local communities, and he has curated exhibitions with artists including Renée Green, Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Pilvi Takala, Tarek Lakhrissi, Evan Ifekoya, and Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape, among others. He has held curatorial positions at Tate Liverpool, the Walter Phillips Gallery at the Banff Centre in Canada, and Künstlerhaus Stuttgart in Germany. He studied Art History, History, and Curating, and completed his PhD at the University of Wolverhampton. Birchall has taught and lectured at institutions such as Zurich University of the Arts, ETH Zurich, and the Liverpool School of Art, where he is a Visiting Fellow. He has edited and contributed to a wide range of catalogues and journals, and is currently preparing a book on artistic labour and collaboration for Routledge.

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, commissioning Percentage for Art artworks. 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.

Jussi Sorjanen has acted as the Artistic Director of & Espoo Theatre since 2024 having previously held the same position at Teatteri Viirus and Teatteri Vanha Juko, and worked as a director at Kajaanin Kaupunginteatteri. He has directed productions all over Finland and the theatres he has lead have received numerous awards such as the State Prize for Theatre (Näyttämötaiteen valtionpalkinto), Theatre of the Year, and the Finland Prize (Suomi-palkinto). In addition, Sorjanen has worked as an actor and dramaturg and been active at the culture sector via various positions of trust.

Reinold Schmücker is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change at the University of Münster, Germany. From 2022 to 2025, he was President of the German Society for Philosophy. Since 2023, he has been co-editor of the Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und Allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft. In 2024, he organised the XXVI German Congress of Philosophy #digital|denken. In addition to books and essays on aesthetics and the philosophy of art, he has published on ethics, legal philosophy and political philosophy. His current research interests focus in particular on the ethics of access to cultural goods, the temporal dimension of justice, and the philosophy of art and artefacts. His monograph Was ist Kunst? Eine Grundlegung (What is Art? A Groundwork) (1997) was republished in 2014, and the second edition of his book Gibt es einen gerechten Krieg? (Is There Such a Thing as a Just War?) (2021) was published in May 2025.