The Helsinki School

The Helsinki School was a name introduced in an article by Boris Hohmeyer, "Aufbruch im hohen Norden" (Breakthrough in the Far North), in art Das Kunstmagazin in 2003. This was the first time it was used as a brand name to describe a selection of artists who had studied under adjunct professor Timothy Persons at the University of Art & Design in Espoo from the beginning of 1990s (since 2010 Aalto University, School of Arts, Design & Architecture). So far, with over a 180 international publications, the Helsinki School represents a collaborative approach, where students of photography, not only work together by presenting each other's works but, exhibit with their professors, mentors and former alumni in a joint effort to share in mutual contextual dialogue that uses the photographic process as a tool for thinking.
History.
In the beginning of the 1990s the University of Art & Design Helsinki (since 2010 part of the new Aalto University), Finland, embarked upon an educational experiment that challenged and initiated new approaches in teaching and preparing soon to be MA graduates for their professional careers. Yrjö Sotamaa the then acting Rector of the University, envisioned a program that would offer as well as create a different set of measurements in how one would evaluate graduating MA students. Led by the adjunct professor Timothy Persons and a group of his academic colleagues, , and , and Jyrki Parantainen, they adapted an "Open Studio" approach in how to teach through an emphasis on content, collaboration and experimental exercises. Timothy Persons who had done his graduate studies in Southern California during the 1970's at the Claremont Graduate University, was a recipient of that "Open Studio" ideology that was being championed by John Baldessari at CalArts and its sister school in Claremont at the time. Persons through his Professional Studies Program, built upon this Southern California model, by taking the class out of the classroom and into the various international art venues as means for experimenting, teaching, referencing and experiencing the realities of what a professional career demanded. This was realised through the creation of a virtual gallery known as "Gallery TaiK", now "Persons Projects". By joining all these generations together, it became the vehicle used by the Helsinki School artists to present their works on an international level through its participation in art fairs, publications, Pop-Up exhibitions and museum shows. The gallery was established in 1995 in Helsinki, however, since 2005 its permanent exhibition space has been located in Berlin. Its primary responsibility is to prepare and guide the students in how to manage their professional life. To this day it is directed by adjunct Professor Timothy Persons and Asia Żak Persons.
The Helsinki School was based upon a Professional Studies program that was unique in how it used its academic platform to create an environment that blended its teachers, students and former graduates together in a contextual dialogue through group exhibitions, publications and the utilisation of the international art fairs as a means for teaching, referencing and presenting these artists' works to the international community. It is grounded on an approach that introduces the students in how to use criticism as a positive tool. This places the emphasis more on how to find solutions rather than the fear of making mistakes. As a world-leading university in the field of Art & Design, Aalto University School of Arts, Design & Architecture supports and encourages the use of contemporary pedagogical methods including collaborative knowledge building and co-design in which students may also teach and learn from each other through their shared experiences. A good example of this is in internship programs in which selected students travel abroad to work in residencies, galleries and other professional platforms.
Characteristics.
The Helsinki School follows other of two key photographic movements: The New American Color Photography which established color photography as an important artistic medium, beginning with the William Eggleston exhibition at the MoMA in New York in 1976. And the Düsseldorf School, which emerged in the late 1970s under the guidance of Bernd and Hilla Becher, followers of the 1920s German tradition of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). Their students, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth modified the approach by applying new technical possibilities and contemporary vision. These movements combined with the influence of the Icelandic minimalism and artists like Donald Judd, played a pivotal role in understanding the roots of the Helsinki School.
The Helsinki School's defining trait is the use of the photographic process as a tool for conceptual thinking."There is a clarity of vision that seems to come out of the late evening northern summer light. The conceptual base is lucidly presented. There is an honesty and sincerity behind the work that is rare to find among a group of artists, (…) the borderland discourse, which touches the very idea of identity. Many Helsinki School pictures bear signs of Finnish culture, unconscious or not, meanings related to nature and remoteness. This is quite natural in a country so sparsely populated. These photographs seem to be presentations of artists who sink with themselves. (...) Their photographs seem to be covering something, preferably hiding and hinting than saying anything direct. Yes, there is ambiguity, yes there is a Northern loneliness, but it speaks very directly. There is a sense of isolation in the way several of the artists express their identity. Instead of direct contact with somebody in the picture, photographs became full of landscapes, empty spaces, and figures somewhere in distance." - Alistair Hicks (2014)
Artists.
Pentti Sammallahti and Arno Rafael Minkkinen were the original mentors who inspired the first generation of artists like , and .
The next generations include artists such as Jyrki Parantainen, Marjaana Kella, , Joakim Eskildsen, , , Elina Brotherus, Aino Kannisto, Ola Kolehmainen, , , , , and Jari Silomäki.
Group exhibitions.
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Publications.
The Helsinki School platform sustains a direct link to its former alumni by joining their works with each new generation of graduates through the publication of "The Helsinki School" books by Hatje Cantz, that is currently in its 6th volume. The first book under the brand name of the Helsinki School was published in 2005.