Introduction – Timothy Persons

The Helsinki School represents far more than a selected group of artists using the medium of photography who emerged from the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture (formerly TaiK). It has served as a model for a new approach to education, as well as a vehicle for collaborative thinking and cooperation. More than that, it is a shared vision that began as an experiment in the early nineteen-nineties and eventually evolved into one of the most recognizable teaching programs in the world.

Designed in part by myself, Jorma Puranen, and the then acting director of the school Yrjö Sotamaa, the program sought from the beginning to initiate and advance new career opportunities that were virtually nonexistent at the time for graduating MA photography students. Finland had just emerged from the devastating recession of the early nineteen-nineties and thus found itself in a moment of economic and cultural stagnation. The cultural climate for galleries was provincial and lacked international standards by which to measure itself.

This was the perfect time to create a professional studies program that could introduce, teach, and in a sense mentor the skills needed to begin an international career. There was a whole generation of artists who had no other choice than to look outside the Nordic region if they dreamed of pursuing an artistic career. Our vision at Aalto University was to build an open environment where students could be introduced to the international expectations they would later face. To do this we designed a multilevel teaching system, using both the commercial and institutional environment as a means of referencing information for self-evaluation.

Our emphasis was not only on teaching photography, but also on questioning art and ideas in terms of the quality of their content. This approach tried to show students not only how to think, but also how to present, write, and edit their ideas to the highest artistic and professional standards. This academic platform could not have been realized without the inspired efforts of a core group of professors, beginning with Pentti Sammallahti, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Jorma Puranen, Ulla Jokisalo, Timo Kelaranta, and Jyrki Parantainen.

I find it amazing that after twenty years of existence, the Helsinki School cannot be defined by any one fixed point of view. Conceptually there is a red thread connecting one generation to another in the way they perceive and present their ideas, but not necessarily in how they apply them.

Historically, the name "Helsinki School” was introduced in an article by Boris Hohmeyer, "Aufbruch im hohen Norden,” in ART Kunstmagazin in 2003. It was the first time the name was used to describe a specific group of artists who all came from the same department at Aalto University. It referred to artists from the second and third generation, such as Elina Brotherus, Miklos Gaál, Ilkka Halso, Ola Kolehmainen, and Riitta Päiväläinen. However, the article served another purpose by opening a new chapter for other artists associated with this group who were not mentioned, such as Tiina Itkonen, Pertti Kekarainen, Joakim Eskildsen, Aino Kannisto, Nanna Hänninen, and Jyrki Parantainen. What they all had in common was a conceptual education and a mutual desire to build their own solo careers out of a recessed cultural environment. The challenge was to find a way to combine all these factors into one collaborative effort. Experience cannot be bought but has to be earned through trial and error. It is an old teaching tool that can be used to generate an influx of knowledge by creating situations where it can then be collectively shared.

Collective dialogue is one of the cornerstones that the Helsinki School concept was built on. It affords each generation the time and space to invent itself while learning from the others. Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture learned early on that unlike other institutions of its kind, it needed a plan for using the knowledge learned from its former graduates and pulling it into its current curriculum as a shared dialogue.

I’ve always joked that being part of the Helsinki School isn’t a life sentence but an opportunity to be used or not. In the case of many of the artists selected, such as Miklos Gaál, Elina Brotherus, Aino Kannisto, Janne Lehtinen, and Sanna Kannisto, they chose to establish their careers outside the group yet still remain a part of it through shared exhibitions and publications.

Persons Projects (formerly Gallery Taik Persons) was conceived as a vehicle for joining all four generations together. Its primary responsibility was to prepare the students and guide them in the management of their professional lives. The gallery also acted as an educational bridge connecting selected students with other galleries both in and around the Nordic region. It is one of the cultural conduits for introducing these artists’ works to established curators, publishers, collectors, and museums through participation in these various international forums. Nevertheless, sustaining any successful program for over twenty years takes an enormous amount of support both in- and outside the university. The Helsinki School would not be where it is today had it not been for the directorships of Yrjö Sotamaa, Helena Hyvönen, and Anna Valtonen, whose combined endeavors found the means to keep this project moving forward. Another nod of thanks must go to Philip Dean and his staff at the department of media, who manage day-to-day affairs and keep the program pointed in the right direction.