Kiasma is a contemporary art museum located on Mannerheimintie in Helsinki, Finland. Its name kiasma, Finnish for chiasma, alludes to the basic conceptual idea of its architect, Steven Holl. Kiasma is part of the Finnish National Gallery, and it is responsible for the gallery's contemporary art collection. Its mission is to showcase contemporary art and celebrate the art od our time.

History

thumb|150px|Under construction in Autumn 1996

thumb|150px|Nearly complete in Autumn 1997, with the now-demolished [[VR warehouses on the northern side]]

The contemporary art collection began as the Museum of Contemporary Art () in 1990. In its earliest stages, the collection was housed in Ateneum.

An architectural design competition to design a building for the contemporary arts museum was held in 1992. The competition was open to architects from the Nordic and Baltic countries, in addition to which four architects or studios from elsewhere were invited to participate, though they were obliged to submit their proposals anonymously: Steven Holl from the US, Alvaro Siza from Portugal, Coop Himmelb(l)au from Austria, and Kazuo Shinohara from Japan. The competition results were announced in 1993, and the winning proposal, titled Chiasma by Steven Holl, was selected from the 516 submitted entries. The design of the building, Finnish-ized as "Kiasma", underwent slight modification during the design process, but nevertheless was regarded as controversial; for instance its close proximity to the equestrian statue of Finnish President Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. Construction work began in 1996, and the museum opened in May 1998.

Kiasma was closed for repairs in September 2014 and reopened in March 2015. In 2016, Kiasma attracted over 310,000 visitors.

Collections

The collections include works by around 8,000 artists, including

Reetta Ahonen, Martti Aiha, Jan van Andersson Aken, Anders Gustaf, Antonio Rotta, Bernard Baron, Stig Baumgartner, Cornelis Pietersz Bega, Erik Snedsbøl, Nicolas Berchem, Honoré Daumier, Karel Dujardin, , , , , , Søren Dahlgaard and Risto Laakkonen.

thumb|400px|center|View from the north of the , with Kiasma on the right, to the left [[Helsinki Central Library Oodi and ]]

thumb|400px|center|View from the south, with [[Helsinki Central Station visible on the right edge]]

See also

  • Finnish National Gallery
  • Ateneum
  • Sinebrychoff Art Museum
  • EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art
  • List of national galleries

Further reading

  • Nancy Marmer, "Holl's Kiasma Debuts in Helsinki," Art in America, October 1998, p. 35.

References