ALIPH FOUNDATION

for its significant work in protecting cultural heritage against the impacts of conflicts, crises, and climate change. 

ALIPH is a key global agent in the field of cultural heritage protection. The foundation offers funding and scientific expertise for projects aimed at preventing the deterioration and destruction of cultural heritage, protecting cultural heritage under imminent threat, and rehabilitating heritage that has already been affected by war and environmental changes. In the past years, ALIPH has directed emergency funds to save cultural heritage in Afghanistan, Gaza, Lebanon, and Ukraine, and in 2024, the foundation launched a call for projects aimed at protecting cultural heritage from the impact of climate change. The Finnish Society for Aesthetics wishes to acknowledge and raise awareness for ALIPH’s work as a significant aesthetic achievement, since the preservation of cultural heritage also entails the preservation of past and present aesthetic cultures for future generations.

The recipient of the award was chosen by PhD, docent Harri Mäcklin and MA Jussi Pentikäinen on behalf of the Finnish Society for Aesthetics.

Kesällä 2024 Töölönlahden puiston pitkäaikaissuunnitelman osana toteutettu väliaikainen kukkaniitty, joka kuului paikalle rakennettuun kesäpuistoon, lumosi ohikulkijat poikkeuksellisella runsaudellaan. Kukkaniitty ilahdutti kaupunkilaisia ja tarjosi myös hyönteisille mieluisan paikan viipyillä alueella. Siten Töölönlahti ei ollut tänä kesänä pelkästään ihmisten suosima paikka, vaan se toimi elinympäristönä myös monille pölyttäjille, jotka rikastuttivat läsnäolollaan ympäristöä.

Istutukset toivat Töölönlahdelle esteettistä vetovoimaa ja lisäsivät alueen viihtyvyyttä. Kesäpuiston kukkaniitty oli esteettisesti arvokas teko, joka mahdollisti erilaisia tapoja kokea ja havainnoida ympäristöä. Kirsti Oksanen Helsingin kaupungin rakentamispalveluliikelaitos Starasta on suunnitellut kukkaniityn kokemuksella, sillä hän on vastannut jo yli kolmenkymmenen vuoden ajan Helsingin kesäkukkaistutusten suunnitellusta ja kasvivalinnoista.

Näillä perusteilla Vuoden esteettinen teko on päätetty myöntää vuonna 2024 Kirsti Oksaselle.

Suomen Estetiikan Seuran nimeäminä palkinnon valitsi seuran hallituksen jäsenet KuT Denise Ziegler ja FM Alpo Väkevä.

Article of the Year 2024

Marcos Nadal & Martin Skov, “The Sensory Valuation Account of Aesthetic Experience.” (Nature Reviews Psychology, 2024).

The authors Marcos Nadal and Martin Skov take up the challenge of studying aesthetic experience, a core phenomenon for the field of aesthetics, and its relation to non-aesthetic experience. They do this with empirical methods but with appropriate awareness of philosophical work on the topic. Nadal and Skov argue that neurobiological mechanisms that are needed for experiencing aesthetically are shared with non-human animals. The argument that aesthetic experience should be seen as domain-general sensory valuation is based on careful consideration of previous studies in empirical aesthetics, and it challenges some previous notions in the field by suggesting that aesthetic experience is not “disinterested, non-utilitarian and uniquely human”. As such, it is a bold and insightful statement that at the same time clarifies the conceptual framework in aesthetics and makes this framework accessible for other fields of research.

In sum, the article is a well-balanced example of research with relevance to both empirical and philosophical aesthetics, and hence, it furthers discussion of the key concepts in the field of aesthetics in an exceptionally comprehensive manner.

The recipient of the award was chosen by the Society’s Vice-President Onerva Kiianlinna (University of Helsinki & Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research) on behalf of the Finnish Society for Aesthetics.

Article of the Year 2023

Since 2015, the Finnish Society for Aesthetics has awarded a high-quality research article in the field of Aesthetics. In 2023 the award goes to Michelle Liu for her article “Mental Imagery and Poetry” (The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Volume 81, Issue 1, March 2023, Pages 24–34).

In her article Liu analyses the way in which the psychological and philosophical concept of “the mental image” can be helpful in exploring the role of images in poetry beyond the traditional ekphratic approach. Liu shows how the ekphratic approach can be enriched rather than replaced by a deeper understanding of the relationship between mental imagery and poetry.

Liu also argues that an analysis of mental imagery in poetry offers a potential solution to “the heresy of paraphrase”, the idea that the imagist effects in poetry cannot be paraphrased without them losing their effect. The capacity of language to evoke mental images opens the possibility of finding a suitable prose paraphrase which does justice to the poem.

The article tackles an interesting and important topic in the field of aesthetics and literary studies from an enlightening perspective. It is strengthened by the acuity of argumentation and conceptual clarity which contribute to the article being worthy of this recognition.

The recipient of the award was chosen by Jussi Pentikäinen (Doctoral Researcher, University of Helsinki) on behalf of the Finnish Society for Aesthetics.

Viime vuosina Uuden Musiikin Kilpailusta on kasvanut korkeatasoinen ja kansainvälistä huomiota keräävä musiikkikilpailu, joka houkuttelee niin eturivin artisteja kuin läpimurtoaan etsiviä tulokkaita. UMK on tuottanut monia Suomen viime vuosien kuunnelluimpia kappaleita ja näin vaikuttanut siihen, mitä suomalaiset kuuntelevat ja miten suomalainen populaarimusiikki näyttäytyy maailmalla. UMK:ta on etenkin kiittäminen rap-artisti Käärijän läpimurrosta, joka on ollut vuoden 2023 huomattavin esteettinen ilmiö. 

Samalla UMK on palkintoperusteiden mukaisesti siivittänyt keskustelua hyvästä ja huonosta mausta, Euroviisuista ja jaetuista esteettisistä kokemuksista. 

Suomen Estetiikan Seuran nimeämänä palkinnon valitsi seuran puheenjohtaja FT, dos. Harri Mäcklin sekä seuran hallituksen jäsen, FM Anne Rysti.

The Global Aesthetic Achievement of the Year 2023

The Little Princess Trust has been gifting free wigs to children and young people with hair loss since 2005. In doing so, the charity has promoted discussion about the dimension and relevance of aesthetics in everyday life and its connection to ethics and personal identity beyond commercial interests and influences.

The charity has diligently highlighted the importance of being able to express one’s identity in a way one chooses regardless of age, state of one’s health, and financial status. Additionally, relying on donations, the Little Princess Trust has brought attention to the duty of social care we all share in our everyday lives and to the potential low threshold actions, such as donating hair, that can improve the aesthetic well-being of others.

For these reasons, the jury deems The Little Princess Trust to fulfill the criteria of the Global Aesthetic Achievement of the Year Prize for its long-standing and praiseworthy work.

The Prize winner was chosen on the behalf of the Finnish Society for Aesthetics by Nemesio García-Carril Puy (PhD, Complutense University of Madrid), Onerva Kiianlinna (Doctoral Researcher, University of Helsinki) and Alpo Väkevä (Doctoral Researcher, University of Helsinki).

Article of the Year 2022

Since 2015, the Finnish Society for Aesthetics has awarded a high-quality research article in the field of Aesthetics. In 2022, the award of the Article of the Year is granted to Simon Høffding, Carlos Vara Sánchez, and Tone Roald for their article “Being Moved by Art: A Phenomenological and Pragmatist Dialogue” (Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics LIX/XV, no. 2, pp. 85–102). 

The authors explore the experience of “being moved” by an artwork by interpreting phenomenological interviews in the light of Mikel Dufrenne’s phenomenology and John Dewey’s pragmatist aesthetics. The authors uncover a complex intentional process in which an overt perceptual awareness of the artwork forms a dynamic loop with a covert affective awareness of oneself as the subject of the experience. The article is both intriguing in its substance and bold in its synthesis of theoretical and empirical methods.

The awarded article is part of a larger body of recent publications, in which the authors have innovatively explored various facets of aesthetic experience, such as absorption, participation, and passivity. With this award, the Finnish Society for Aesthetics encourages the authors to continue their important work on this fundamental theme of philosophical aesthetics.

The recipient of the award was chosen by Dr. Harri Mäcklin (University of Helsinki) on behalf of the Finnish Society for Aesthetics.

Heikkilä on vastannut taidekritiikin perusteiden opetuksesta Helsingin yliopistossa useiden vuosien ajan, ja hänen toimittamansa teos Taidekritiikin perusteet (Gaudeamus, 2012) on ensimmäinen suomenkielinen taidekritiikin filosofian oppikirja. Tutkimuksen ja opetuksen lisäksi Heikkilä on tehnyt taidekritiikkiä näkyväksi yhteiskunnassa julkaisemalla omia kirjoituksiaan sekä toimimalla aktiivisesti Suomen arvostelijain liitto ry:ssä.

Heikkilä on myös julkaissut useita ranskalaista nykyfilosofiaa käsitteleviä estetiikan tutkimuksia ja osallistunut aktiivisesti estetiikan tieteellisten seurojen toimintaan sekä Suomessa että ulkomailla. Hän on esimerkiksi toiminut Suomen Estetiikan Seuran hallituksessa kymmenen vuoden ajan, ja vuonna 2022 hän toimitti seuran 50-vuotishistoriikin. Suomen Estetiikan Seuran hallitus haluaa täten tunnustaa Heikkilän työn estetiikan hyväksi niin tiedemaailmassa kuin laajemmin kulttuurin kentällä.

Global Aesthetic Deed of the Year

The Finnish Society for Aesthetics grants an honorary prize for the Global Aesthetic Deed of the year to a person or an organization that, with their actions, has developed discourse on the questions of art, beauty and aesthetics. In the year 2022 the prize will be granted to the Swiss Artistic Research Network (SARN) in collaboration with Zettel Macht Sachen for their workshop held during the annual meeting of SARN in the Spring of 2022.

The international association Swiss Artistic Research Network SARN in collaboration with Zettel Macht Sachen opened the annual meeting of SARN in the Spring of 2022 with an extraordinary workshop for the participants of the online meeting: Each attendee had the chance to arrange 12 small round shaped objects received in the mail before the meeting into an image of the future board of SARN.

The round objects served as transitory objects to make something like an annual meeting of an association a more tangible event in times of Pandemic. We like to award this aesthetic, radically creative and playful act with the annual Global Aesthetic Act Award of The Finnish Society for Aesthetics.

The prize winner was chosen by artist researcher and university lecturer Denise Ziegler, on behalf of the Finnish Society for Aesthetics.