Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) awards the State Art Prize 2020 to Museum of Impossible Forms

The National Arts Council and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) have awarded the State Art Prize 2020 to the Museum of Impossible Forms in the field of multi-disciplinary art.

We share with you this joyous news and thank The National Arts Council and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) for the recognition and encouragement of our work over the past four years.

Museum of Impossible Forms (M{if}) is a cultural centre located in Kontula, East-Helsinki. For us the Museum is a space in flux – a contested space representing a contact zone, a space of unlearning, formulating identity constructs, norm-critical consciousness, and critical thinking, already containing within it the potential for the para museum, the counter museum, the anti museum. ‘Impossible Forms’ are those that facilitate the process of transgressing the boundaries/borders between art, politics, practice, theory, the artist, and the spectator.

M{if} was founded in spring 2017 as an antiracist and queer-feminist project, a heterogeneous space, and as an experimental and migrant form of expression. Envisioned as a response to the issues of the margins, but also the marginalization of time, space, and bodies – to shift the site of culture away from a centralized and elitist position. As a free space, M{if} is a method for making visible the cultures of the margins, by engaging the performativity of its own culture and as a contemporary institution remaking its own center. M{if} holds the belief that the word ‘Museum’ contains within it the contemporary notions of the para-museum, the counter-museum, the anti-museum – that the real issue concerning museum building as a possible form of critical praxis are ways in which praxis can contribute to questioning the dominant hegemony. It believes that museums today must (re)establish their relationship to society to take on the role of being educational. It must regularly ask ‘how do we choose to act, in our media-saturated, socially omnipresent, politically fractured, economically segregated, xenophobic, disembodied world?

Museum of Impossible Forms was founded in 2017 with the support of the Kone Foundation by a collective comprising Ahmed Al-Nawas, Christopher Wessels, Marianne Savallampi, Ali Akbar Mehta, Raine Aiava, Selina Väliheikki, and Vidha Saumya. Over the years the list of members has grown to include Vishnu Vardhani Rajan, Danai Anagnostou, Heidi Hänninen, Zahrah Ehsan, Soko Hwang, Christopher Thomas, Giovanna Esposito Yousif, David Muoz, Martta Tuomaala, and Elena Näsänen. We would also like to thank our previous board members Koko Hubara, Mona Eid and Caroline Suinner. We wish to thank our several project curators, many of whom may not be official members, but who have worked closely with us to develop some amazing programs. Thank you Sergio Castrillión, Linnea Saarits, Ubuntu Film Club (Alice Mutoni, Fiona Musanga, Rewina Teklai), Aman Askarizad, varialambo (Varia Sjöström and Hatz Lambo), for the unwavering support structure you have created for our collective work.

Apart from thanking ourselves, we would also like to thank the various individuals, collectives, organizations that have worked with us, the various artists, curators, performers, musicians, filmmakers, lecturers, pedagogists, dreamers, makers, and doers who collaborated on various weekly, monthly and ongoing projects through our multiple events, our multilingual library, and an ongoing archive.

Thank you:

Nora Sternfeld, Hassan Blasim, Natalie Bayer, Minna Henriksson, Kontula Electronic, Pekka Tuominen, Pertti Ylikojola, Katja Lindroos, Eeva Berglund, Marko Juntunen, Ilona Ogbeide, Karolina Kucia, Anna Bromley, Faith Adiele, Freja Bäckman, Satu Herrala, David Muñoz-Alcantara, Elske Rosenfeld, Liv Strand, Amarildo Valeriano Ajasse, Oliver Marchart, Pauliina Feodoroff, Daniel Blanga Gubbay, Antti Rautiainen, Jaakko Pallasvuo, Osei Bonsu, Pith Bull (aka Renuka Rajiv), The Nest Collective, Ayse Güleç, Susann Schuppli, Barbara Steiner, Jowan Safadi, Efe Ogbeide, Warda Ahmed, Sarah Rifky, Khadar Ahmed, Weaving Kiosk (Rosa Tolnov Clausen and Merja Hannele Ulvinen), Vishnu Vardhani Rajan, Kaisa Kukkonen, Rogério Nuno Costa, Pinkkimusta Helsinki, Étienne Wuori, Vuokko Viljanen, Touko Vaahtera, Soko Hwang, Ahmed Al-Nawas, Roberta Lima, to kosie, Paul Mecheril, Martta Tuomaala, Gregoire Rousseau, Samuli Tanner, Ruskeat Tytot Lit Akatemia, Harold Offeh, Publics, Ramy Essam, Hara Alonso, Heli Hartikainen, Ville Lehtimäki, Natalia Castrillón, Hugh Sheenan, Guro Johanssen, Sergio Castrillón, Emmanuel Acquah, Abbyan Ali, Mona Eid, Inga Angersaari, Marie Augustsso, Léo Custódio, Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur, Thulile Gamedze, Pauline Hortelano, Pia Mikander, Faith Mkwesha, Lawen Mohtadi, Adrian Perera, Trifa Shakely, Essi Ruuskanen, Milla Eklund, Tuuli Malla, Runokuu Poetry Festival, Ainokaisa Huusko, Nelli Ruotsalainen, Essi Laakkonen, Susi Nousiainen, Ksenia Yurkova, Ada Hoel, Lauri Hyvärinen, Athena Farrokhzad, Blaue Frau (Sonja Ahlfors & Joanna Wingren), Michelle Williams Gamaker, Samia Malik, Parsa Kamehkhosh, Kaisa Mäenpää, Grisell Macdonell, Laponia Improvisation Ensemble, Linnea Saarits, Inari Viimakoski, Jack Halberstam, Ubuntu Film Club (Alice Mutoni, Fiona Musanga & Rewina Teklai), Jakub Bobrowski, Silvana Bahia, ARMA Alliance (Leonardo Custodio and Monica Gathuo), Hami Bahadori, Pedra Costâ, Ana Teo Ala-Ruona, Support Structures Collective (Katie Lenanton, Neicia Marsh, Orlan Ohtonen & Selina Väliheikki), Sonya Lindfors, veiculoSUR (Andrea Arobba, Maëlys Meyer, Marcela Olate, Mario Lopes & Thaïs Ushirobira), Ana Gutieszca, Nicolina Stylianou, Огни, Linda Lazarov, Jan Lutjohann, Pixelache (Saša Nemec, Steve Maher, Vishnu Vardhani Rajan & Alan Bulfin), Derek Holzer, Salla Sariola, Eva Bakkeslett, Mark Drifter, RabRab Press, Sezgin Boynik, Arvind Ramachandran, Outi Pulkkinen, Jaak Sikk, The Laconian Improv Ensemble, Katri Tikka, Eemeli Solehmainen, Myrtti Lehtinen, Justina Kaminskaité, Jean-Lorin Sterian, Maryam Kouhestani, Aino Juutilainen and Adam Cadell, POC Open Mic Helsinki (Tania Nathan, Monica Gathuo & Arvind Ramachandran), FAR Night School (Ella Alin, Arvind Ramachandran, Ana Teo Ala-Ruona, Aino Jauhiainen), Heiny Srour, JuanFran Cabrera, Sirpa Jokinen, Sharron Todd, Kontula Art School (KAS), Heidi Hänninen, Kontula Library, D-Asema, Kontupiste, Luuppi (Kontula Youth Center), Frame Contemporary Art Finland, Jussi Koitela, Yvonne Billimore, Asematila (Sanna Ritvanen, Océane Bruel), Nynnyt (Orlan Ohtonen & Selina Väliheikki), Vidisha Fadescha, varialambo (Varia Sjöström and Hatz Lambo), Ee Eisen, Valentin Kimstedt, Bread Omens (Jani Anders Purhonen & Elina Rantasuo), Khush Badhwar, Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Priya Sen, Nima Naderi, Aman Askarizad Masoulleh, Elvin Brandhi, Muqata’a, Wambui Njuguna, Äänen Lumo, Steve Maher, Suva, Houria Bouteldja, CEREN (Center for Ethnic Research and Nationalism), Nordic Decolonial Workshop, Leena Pukki, Inaam Kachachi, Aya Chalabee, Kontula Book City, Amanda Nell Eu, Gabriela Gažová, Gökçe Erdem, Ida H. Eldøen, Jordan Wong, Karissa Hahn, Liene Linde, Lud Mônaco, Malena Szlam, Nikoleta Leousi, P. Sam Kessie, Payal Kapadia, Femf Art, Anastasia Artemeva, Yin-Chenh Kekot, Kathleen Heil, Andrew Bentley, Anu Keski-Saari, Sam Conlon, Dr. Leonardo Custódio, Abhinit Khanna, Kaisa Lassinaro, Cinenova London, Goethe Institute Finland, Emilié Girard-Charest, Sami Klemola, Nucbeade, Jessie Jeffrey Dunn Rovinelli, and Hanan Mahbouba, Father Frost Against (AVTONOM.ORG, Moloko Plus, A-Ryhmä), TOK Curators (Maria Veits & Anna Bitkina), Nataliia Neshevets, Hassane Mezine, Kenno Filmi, Liene Linde, Grisell Macdonel, James Andean, Interkult, Catalysti Association of Transcultural Artists, Korvat Auki Ensemble, Sibelius Academy, Laponia Improvisations school, Aman Askarizad, Farshad Senati, mohsen Namjoo, Radical Care Collective, Tea Andreoletti, Fjolla Hoxha, Feminist Culture House, Cinemaissi, Brenda Robles, Pasha Karami, Zahrah Ehsan, Theodore Parker, Sujari Britt, Heidi Lunabba, Sina Mousavi Fard, Trojan Horse, Payal Kapadia, P. Sam Kessie, Nicole Killian, Shareef Askar, Kate Auman, Jo Hislop, Risto Kujanpää, Christine Yerie Lee, Hanan Mahbouba, Utkarsh Raut, Arlene Tucker, Sachin Yaduvanshi, Karina Zavidova, Jaakko Arola, Mirva Mäkinen, Libero Mureddu, Sade Risku, Arash Pandi, Milad Mohammadi, Sheida Ghazi, Aki Vesanto, Mehrdad Masoudifarid, Negar Bouban, Hanan Mahbouba, Jessica Escobar, Irina Mutt, Mercedes Balarezo, Sivuvalo Platform, Kiila Ry, Amanda Blomqvist, Johanna Vahtola, Adriano Adewale, Michael Sagulin, UrbanApa, Pixelache, Bio Art Society, Third Space, Mediakulttuuriyhdistys M-cult Ry, Helsinki International Art Program (HIAP), Aalto University, University of Helsinki, Kuvataide, Sibelius Academy, Goethe Institut-Finland, Chimurenga Collective (South Africa); Laboratory of urban Commons (Athens); Savvy Contemporary (Berlin); Raven Row (London); Silent University North (Stockholm/Copenhagen/Helsinki); ParaNordic Institute (Stockholm); My Wild Flag (Stockholm); Party office (N. Delhi).

Between 2017 – 2020, the Museum of Impossible Forms has been sustained through funding support from the Kone Foundation, Suomen Kulttuurirahasto, and Taiteen Edistämiskeskus. We would like to thank you for your support and trust. Your funding support has facilitated the availability of resources, a free and accessible space for curators, artists, and guests who speak, perform and work at M{if}, and has made it foreseeable to institute alternate ecologies of working environments.

There are many ways you can enter M{if}, as a guest, as a curator, as a member, but also as a passerby. The circle, if one may call it that, has many open ends and each end could be woven into patterns previously unknown.

We wish to thank all the individuals who over the course of the last 4 years walked into the space, either once, or repeatedly, as recurrent members working in various visible but often invisible capacities, held each other together, and pulled M{if} forward, who have argued critically, supported unconditionally, been proud of us and made it possible for us to push the limits of ‘what is possible’.