Open call for curators – Kirpilä Spring Salon 2027

The Kirpilä Art Collection is launching a call for a curator or curatorial collective to plan and implement a spring salon of contemporary art, to open in May 2027. 

The Spring Salon will be a contemporary art exhibition and/or performance project implemented at the Kirpilä Art Collection, engaging in dialogue with the museum’s permanent collection, salon-style hanging, and the cultural-historical context of the space.

Contentual theme: On the Romantic

The theme of Spring Salon 2027 examines the romantic in contemporary art, focusing on emotion, imagination and subjective experience, and on the meanings that romance and the romantic take on in the current age. The romantic may be expressed, for example, through nostalgic or historically inflected references, affective gestures, escapism, or through positions that oppose ways of thinking centred on rationalism and efficiency. The theme can be approached through queer and gender perspectives, or in relation to the myth of the artist, experiential modes of address, and personal relationships with the world, to name just a few examples.

Who may apply?

Individual curators or curator collectives / working groups may apply.
Applicants who live further away are asked to take into account their own travel practices and associated budget impacts in terms of the planning and hanging of the exhibition.

What are we looking for?

We hope that applicants will take into account the art scene across the entirety of Finland in their choices of artists. We value norm-critical perspectives and experimental curation that takes its context into consideration. We would like for exhibition proposals to engage in dialogue with the Kirpilä Art Collection’s intimate spatiality, salon-style hanging, and the permanent collection.

What are we not looking for?

We are not looking for pre-produced exhibition or performance entities or proposals based purely on the presentation of existing works. We want applications to be expressly designed for the space and context of the Kirpilä Art Collection.

Space and hanging

The Kirpilä Art Collection is located on the top floor of a 1934 apartment building. The space, which spans approximately 350 m², was originally the home of Doctor and Art Collector Juhani Kirpilä and Antiques Dealer Karl Rosenqvist. The former residential apartment now serves as a museum, in a space that is intimate, historically layered, and acoustically pleasing. The permanent collection limits how much the space can be modified. The rooms cannot be emptied entirely and requests to move the pieces in the art collection will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The home-like decor, routes, and original materials influence the hanging solutions available.

Accessibility:

Unfortunately the museum is not an accessible space. Please take into account obstacles to accessibility in the choice of pieces and exhibition design. More information about accessibility can be found here.

Technical solutions available

• video display and two projection screens;
• PA system, mixer and monitor system (microphones and cables included);
• spotlights that can be attached to rails;
• basic tools for minor hanging and finishing work.

A floorplan of the exhibition space can be downloaded as a separate PDF here.

Role and responsibilities of the curator

The curator will be responsible for the artistic design of the exhibition as a whole, the selection of artists, and the exhibition’s overall content in collaboration with the staff of the Kirpilä Art Collection.

The Kirpilä Art Collection will support the curator in communications, marketing, technical realisation, hanging of pieces, and dismantling of the overall exhibition, as well as in contractual practices in so far as its own practices permit.

The work of the curator will entail close dialogue with the organisation and management of the exhibition process as a whole, from idea to realisation.

Budget and fee

The chosen curator will be provided with a production budget of EUR 20,000, which is to include the curator’s fee.

The budget must cover, for example:

• artist fees and any artwork-specific production costs;
• transportation of artworks;
• any additional technical arrangements or specialist solutions.

The Kirpilä Art Collection shall be responsible, in so far as its own practices permit, for the basic production costs of the exhibition (hanging of works, dismantling, communications and marketing), and therefore these costs do not need to be included in the budget.

The cost structure presented in the application should be approximate and clear enough to allow for the feasibility of the project to be assessed.

Content of applications

Each application should be submitted by email to taidekoti@skr.fi as one PDF file (max. 6 MB, no more than five pages). The email subject line should follow the format: ‘Kirpilä Spring Salon 2027 – Application / First name Last name ’. The application should include the following:

• presentation and CV of the curator / collective of curators;
• an exhibition plan (max. one side of A4, font 11 pt, may include images) that sets out the artistic vision, relationship to the Kirpilä Art Collection and its collection, and link to the theme of the call;
• preliminary list of artists or creator profiles;
• description of working practices, preliminary schedule, and cost structure;
• link to examples of previous work (portfolio, photos, video/audio samples), if available;
• contact details.

Selection criteria

Applications will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• curatorial and artistic quality;
• originality and how the application ties in with the theme of the call;
• feasibility in terms of the space and budget;
• relevancy of the selection of artists and cohesiveness of the overall whole;
• ability to take into account the audience relationship and context.

Schedule

Call open: 13 April – 8 June 2026 at 23:59 (Finnish time)

All applicants will be informed of the progress of the application process by 23 June 2026. The final selection of the successful curator or curator collective will be made by 31 August 2026.

The exhibition project will be started with the selected curator in autumn 2026 and a more precise production schedule will be agreed with the Kirpilä Art Collection.

Lisätiedot

More information

Please send any questions concerning the application process or exhibition space to taidekoti@skr.fi. Responses will primarily be given by email. Applicants can visit the Kirpilä Art Collection to familiarise themselves with the space free of charge during the museum’s opening hours: Wednesdays 14:00–18:00 and Sundays 12:00–16:00.

Photo: Jussi Tiainen