Our upcoming exhibitions

Concrete Currents – Photographs of Arto Saari
18.5.-27.8.2024 

These photographs at the Aalto2 Museum Centre represent small personal glimpse of Arto Saari into a subculture called skateboarding – a subculture that has evolved from backyard pools and city wastelands into an Olympic sport.

”There are two crucial factors that had a huge impact on the birth of modern skateboarding. One is surfing and the other – less well known factor – is Alvar Aalto’s design of the first free form pool in Villa Mairea, Finland which later with it’s revolutionary kidney shape transformed California into a skateboarding Mecca. Villa Mairea was built in 1938 and eight years later first kidney shaped pool in California was built. In the early days surfers would seek out empty pools to ride since that was the closest thing to a wave when there was no swell. 

It is wonderful to witness how Alvar Aalto’s design has broken through boundaries and started a completely new living organism. I am not sure what Alvar’s intentions were when he designed the Villa Mairea pool but it ended up being so much more than just a swimming pool," Arto Saari.
 

The Capital - Samples of Jyväskylä Rap
18.5.2024-5.1.2025

Jyväskylä has been called the cultural hiphop capital of Finland. How has rap in Jyväskylä influenced the genesis of this reputation? The Capital - Samples of Jyväskylä Rap exhibition digs into rap history in Jyväskylä from the end of the 1980’s until the year 2015.

The exhibition includes clarification on the the international roots of rap music and hiphop culture, as well as on the first pioneers of hiphop in Jyväskylä in the 1980’s, among other topics. In addition, the exhibition also recalls the rise of Finnish rap in the 2000’s and the nightclubs that served as nesting grounds for Jyväskylä rap. Along with how all of this lead up to hiphop culture in Jyväskylä today.