Aalto University is located in Helsinki and Espoo in Finland. CuMMA is lead by Professor Nora Sternfeld in collaboration with lecturer Henna Harri.
CuMMA (Curating, Managing and Mediating Art) is a two-year, multidisciplinary Master’s degree programme at Aalto University focusing on contemporary art and its publics. CuMMA provides a structure for reflection and acting, learning and organizing in art institutions and the public sphere. We aim to explore possibilities to understand and shift the paradigms of contemporary art and the world aroun
18/02/2020
Entangled Counter-Histories: Film Screening and Discussion — Museum of Impossible Forms William Greaves (dir.), First World Festival of Negro Arts (New York, distributed by William Greaves Productions, [1966] 2005) 40 mins, sound, black and white, 4 3/4 inch. English. The film is introduced by Minna Henriksson and Nora Sternfeld and the screening will be followed by a short di
23/10/2018
Curating as Anti-Racist Practice The anthology Curating as Anti-Racist Practice reflects upon museums and exhibitions from the perspective of postcolonial museology and critical migration and regime research. Beyond critical analysis, this collection of texts is about collecting strategies and forms of action that make it possible....
The very last CuMMA paper is now online!
The 29th CuMMA Paper ‘Unframing the Artist”— an interview with Salima Hashmi by ViCCA student Uzair Amjad is out.
Salima Hashmi was one of distance lecturers at ViCCA for the course “Authorship and Agency: Learning from the Middle ‘East’—Art, Micropolitics and Everyday Aesthetics”. To extend the dialogue and further understand her views on the formal evolution of the artist’s role in societies, Uzair met her in Lahore.
Please follow the link to read the interview:
https://cummastudies.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/cumma_papers_291.pdf
And have a look at all CuMMA Papers here:
https://cummastudies.wordpress.com/cumma-papers/
18/05/2018
A new text by Elham Rahmati is published in 'disputes' section of our blog!
The paper "Notes on the Archeology of the Final Decade
Retracing a Utopian Stage: Festival of Arts, Shiraz—Persepolis (1967-1977)" is written as a response to Vali Mahlouji’s confrontation of the controversial Festival of Arts, Shiraz – Persepolis (1967-77) under the ongoing curatorial platform of the Archeology of the Final Decade.
Please, follow the link to read Elham's text:
https://cummastudies.wordpress.com/disputes/notes-on-the-archeology-of-the-final-decade-retracing-a-utopian-stage-festival-of-arts-shiraz-persepolis-1967-1977/
and see Mahlouji’s project Elham is writing about here: http://www.archaeologyofthefinaldecade.com/
Notes on the Archeology of the Final Decade Retracing a Utopian Stage: Festival of Arts, Shiraz—Persepolis (1967-1977) The Shiraz Festival of Arts was held annually for 11 years from 1967 to 1977 in the city of Shiraz in central Iran. Accompanied by symposia and debates, the festival program included music, dance, …
11/05/2018
Excited to announce that the 28th CuMMA paper —“The Bright Lights of the Institution” — is out!
The following compilation of texts is an attempt to approach the framework built for the CuMMA seminar ‘Theoretical Frameworks of Curating and Mediating Art’ in autumn 2016. The installation The Bright Lights of the Institution—A Framework for Being Together was created by Freja Bäckman, who is doing doctoral studies at the Department of Arts. This issue is published with a foreword by Nora Sternfeld and you are invited to read the paper here:https://cummastudies.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/cumma_paper_28.pdf
21/02/2018
One more dispute is out on CuMMA blog!
The text published is a part of the exhibition project by Else Lagerspetz, Essi Ruuskanen, Paola Jalili, Saara Mahbouba, and Sheung Yiu realised within the course Exploring Historical and Theoretical Roots in 2018. "Together with the pamphlet titled Helsinki: Your Local How To Guide For Interacting With Monuments, this project was the result of a series of discussions and research about the meanings a monument can take and the rituals around them, as well as a proposal to engage with them in a critical manner".
click here to read the text and download the booklet!
https://cummastudies.wordpress.com/disputes/counter-ritual-de-sacralising-monuments-re-defining-meaning/
images: Sheung Yiu
14/02/2018
Happy to announce a new publication on CuMMA blog!
"Honour silence as a form of presence" - a text by María Villa is out in our 'disputes' section.
In María's own words "This essay responds to a series of discussions on the role of text in exhibitions, that is, how narratives are built around the works displayed, which is both a reflection on collective creative processes, and the mediations that curators, artists, and other professionals inevitably perform when they put together a show. Faced with an exhibition of contemporary painting that was rich in content and very scarce in contextualising information, the author tries to track down the decisions and ideas that were behind it, and provide a narrative for it. In the process, her text brings forward a reflection on curating, mediation practices, and the many ways in which painting operates in the contemporary"
read the essay here:
https://cummastudies.wordpress.com/disputes/honour-silence-as-a-form-of-presence/
image credit: Maunu Markkula, Installation view, from right to left?: Trees in Evening Light (n.d.), Building (n.d), The Brink of the Meadow (n.d.), On the Road to Alexandria (n.d.). From the Esko Jääsalo Collection. Image: María Villa.
23/01/2018
CuMMA paper #27 is out!
Happy to announce that “The curator as arsonist” — an interview with a London-based curator and writer Vali Mahlouji is published on CuMMA blog. In the conversation with CuMMA students Mahlouji discusses his research, curatorial and educational platform Archaeology of the Final Decade (AOFTD), the questions it raises and the methodology it employs. In particular, Mahlouji speaks about the aspects of his curatorial practice that involve themselves with issues pertaining to power, radical democracy, conflict, activism, and art and cultural projects that evince social and political commitment.
Follow the link to read the interview:https://cummastudies.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/cumma-papers_27_super-final.pdf
image credit: Kaveh Golestan, Untitled (Pr******te series), 1975-77, Tehran; © Kaveh Golestan Estate; Courtesy Archaeology of the Final Decade
07/11/2017
Access to Utopia – A collaborative project by CuMMA and Praxis students at the Research Pavilion in Venice Last month CuMMA and Praxis students traveled to Venice to realise a collaborative project at the Research Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. Click here to read the description of the project …
18/09/2017
Eager and proud to announce that a new ‘dispute’ has just been published on CuMMA blog!
Please, follow the link to read a text by Minna Henriksson and Nora Sternfeld titled: Poetic Amnesia. How an exhibition reminds its viewers to forget the crimes of the Wehrmacht:
https://cummastudies.wordpress.com/disputes/poetic-amnesia-how-an-exhibition-reminds-its-viewers-to-forget-the-crimes-of-the-wehrmacht/
The article is an in-depth analysis of the Deutsches Lager and Other Post Doc Stuff opened last month at the Exhibition Laboratory in Helsinki, and offers a highly nuanced questioning of the poetical and political dimensions of the exhibition as a system of representation.
Poetic Amnesia. How an exhibition reminds its viewers to forget the crimes of the Wehrmacht Minna Henriksson and Nora Sternfeld1 On August 17, 2017, the exhibition Deutsches Lager and Other Post Doc Stuff opened in the Exhibition Laboratory in Helsinki. In the central work of the exhibiti…
15/08/2017
CuMMA student Dahlia Fishes as an educator at documenta 14. so good to be in conversation with her...
20/06/2017
Excited to announce CuMMA Discourse Series lectures for the Autumn 2017—Spring 2018!
Save the dates and follow cumma blog for more info about forthcoming talks.
CuMMA Discourse Series 39
OSEI BONSU
17th of October, 18.00
CuMMA Discourse Series 40
AYSE GÜLEC
31st of October, 18.00
CuMMA Discourse Series 41
SUSAN SCHUPPLI
8th of NOVEMBER, 18.00
CuMMA Discourse Series 42
BARBARA STEINER
15th of NOVEMBER, 18.00
CuMMA Discourse Series 43
SARAH RIFKY
6th of February 2018, 18.00
CuMMA Discourse Series 44
MARINELLA SENATORE
13rd of March, 18.00
CuMMA Discourse Series 45
PAUL MECHERIL
17th of April, 18.00
Please note that all DS lectures in 2017-2018 will take place at the Museum of Impossible Forms in Kontula!
https://cummastudies.wordpress.com