My dream

In 2014, Kiasma was the best known museum in Finland. My term as director began at a good juncture in that after our renovation we had already reached our 2015 target for visitor numbers by October. I hope to be able to keep up the public interest we gained with our reopening and maintain the good buzz and flow.

My dream is to expand the circle where Kiasma is known. Our goal is to be the best known name in contemporary art in the Nordic region. My dream is for us to remain an approachable institution and to get people ever more interested in what is happening at Kiasma. I hope we will continue to be able to generate social discourse through art.

My dream is for visual arts, performance arts, and multidisciplinary projects to enjoy more respect and attention in Finnish cultural discourse and for art to continue to be relevant.

By Written by Olli Siitonen, translated by Tero Heikkinen, revised by Matthew Billington

Leevi Haapala

Born September 24, 1972, Keuruu

Master of Arts (art history, museology, cultural history) 1997, University of Turku
PhD (art history) 2012, University of Helsinki

Museum Director 2015–, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art
Professor of Praxis 2014–15, Academy of Fine Arts/University of the Arts
Acting Chief Curator of Collections, amanuensis and member of the acquisitions committee 2007–2014, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art
Researcher 1997–2007, Central Art Archives/ Finnish National Gallery
Civilian national service 1994–95, Museum of Contemporary Art

Jury member for the Ars Fennica Award 2015–
Board member of the Kiasma Foundation 2015–
Board member of the Pro Arte Foundation and member of the working group for the IHME Contemporary Art Festival 2008–15
Member of the expert group for Young Artist of the Year, Tampere Art Museum 2012–15

Photo: National Gallery/Pirje Mykkänen
Written by Olli Siitonen
Translated by Matthew Billington