INTERPLAY OF CULTURES, exhibition at Museum of Finnish Architecture

Interplay of Cultures – the Museum of Finnish Architecture’s leading autumn exhibition – celebrates the 25th anniversary of education in global sustainability and humanitarian development at Aalto University.


The exhibition INTERPLAY OF CULTURES, 25 Years of Education in Global Sustainability & Humanitarian Development at Aalto University also raises concerns regarding the current state of world affairs. Our planet and our environment are facing irreversible changes due to globalisation, climate change and urbanisation. Careful planning of cities and our contexts can play a key role in preventing and addressing many problems. Architects should, therefore, be adequately trained to tackle the complex challenges of the future.
Curated by the architect, Saija Hollmén who is also vice dean, the exhibition showcases two of Aalto University's cross-disciplinary and collaborative initiatives. The Department of Architecture's course, Interplay of Cultures, originally developed and taught by architects Hennu Kjisik and Veikko Vasko under the leadership of Juhani Pallasmaa and the Department of Built Environment’s Sustainable Global Technologies (SGT) programme are run under the auspices of the Aalto World in Transition Research LAB (Aalto Wit LAB) research network, through which hundreds of architecture students have worked together to seek answers to agonising global challenges over the past 25 years.
The exhibition presents a selection of the students’ past projects – including a few realised plans – and revisits their journeys into new cultures. The examples presented show that global problems are forcing young architects to tackle increasingly complex design challenges. The show also highlights their professional evolution into experts whose work is driven by a code of morals and ethical responsibility.  For many of the young participants, working as a member of a multidisciplinary team in a foreign culture has been an important turning point in their careers.
Curator Saija Hollmén explains. "The exhibition offers a platform for dialogue on the role of architecture in today’s globalizing world. It also questions the traditional role of architects. Our changing world is forcing us to work together to tackle wicked problems in unpredictable conditions across a wide breadth of cultures.”
"Ultimately the exhibition poses a beautiful ideological question: can architecture build a better world?”, points out Reetta Heiskanen, interim director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture.
A series of lectures and discussions are being held in conjunction with the exhibition to shed further light on the topic. In-depth articles and project descriptions have been compiled in an accompanying catalogue.

Christiane Bürklein

Exhibition:
INTERPLAY OF CULTURES, 25 Years of Education in Global Sustainability & Humanitarian Development at Aalto University
from 26 September 2018 to 24 February 2019
Helsinki, Finland
Curated by architect and Vice Dean Saija Hollmén, with exhibition design by Maiju Suomi and Johanna Marttila as project assistant. Graphic design and catalogue by Salla Bedard. Technical solutions by Timo Vikkula.
Co-produced by the Museum of Finnish Architecture, the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture/ Department of Architecture, and the Aalto School of Engineering’s Department of Built Environment.
Additional events funded by the Allan & Bo Hjelt Art Foundation.
Images: see captions
1 The Women’s Centre, Rufisque, Senegal, 1996–2001
Saija Hollmén
Jenni Reuter
Helena Sandman
Photo Juha Ilonen
2. Lissa Gbassa / Extension to Villa Karo , Grand Popo, Benin, 2001–2004
Johanna Hyrkäs (original competition entry with Tuomas Siitonen)
Carl Becker and Kwassi Akpladokou (structural engineers)
Pentti Koivisto (lighting)
Pertti Kukkonen (colours and surfaces)
PhotoLauri Nykopp
3 Kouk Khleang Youth Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2010–2014
Komitu Architects:
Noora Aaltonen, Sisko Hovila, Tuuli Kassi, Maiju Suomi, Elina Koivisto, Inari Virkkala
Photo Susanna Alatalo
4 Community Toilets, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 2014–2016
Zita Floret
Photo Amanda Österlin
5 TagLab, Participatory Practice through Small Intervention in Tagbilaran City 
Tagbilaran, The Philippines, 2017
Johanna Marttila with students from Aalto University, Bohol Island State University and Nagoya Institute of Technology
Photo Johanna Marttila
6 The Lift, Greece, Lesvos, 2016
Oona Anttila, Melanie Wolowiec, 
Eve Zórawska
Mentor Kristjana Adalgeirsdottir, architect
Photo Oona Anttila
7 Aalto LAB Mexico, Calakmul, Mexico, 2012–
Claudia Garduño García, with students from Aalto University, Tecnológico de Monterrey Ciudad de México and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Photo Jan Ahlstedt
Find out more: http://www.mfa.fi/exhibition?nid=228487545