Ateneum theme: Lectures on A Question of Time

The exhibition A Question of Time does not tell a single uniform story, but it offers for reflection four different themes, through which to explore art created at different times. In her lecture, the museum director Marja Sakari discusses how the new collection exhibition is linked to our time and the current, ongoing discussions. 

Many of the most famous works at the Ateneum Art Museum are associated with the spread of the 19th-century nationalistic view of Finland. In the second lecture of the evening, the chief curator Timo Huusko sheds light on the ideas and aims on which the image of Finnishness has been built in art. Who has been included and who excluded in depictions of folklife? 

In their joint lecture, the curator Mariia Niskavaara and the curator of exhibitions Anne-Maria Pennonen talk about the depictions of nature found in the Finnish National Gallery’s collection, and how the collection captures the history of our relationship with nature. The works selected for the exhibition show what it means to be a part of nature. The lecture explores the changes in nature caused by humans, but also the ways in which we are tied to other species of animals and plants. 

In her lecture, the senior researcher Anu Utriainen provides an introduction to the themes of modernism and the modern. How have artists experienced the times they have lived in, and how does this experience show in art? The lecture also reveals why the Ateneum is the largest museum of modern art in Finland. 

To conclude the lecture series, the curator of collections Hanne Selkokari dives into the history of our national art collection. What kind of a group of collectors, museum directors, and lovers and preservers of art has, over the decades, influenced what types of works were acquired for the collection? Human relations and chance have both played a part in what Ateneum visitors get to see today.