About the department

The Department of Art educates and prepares professionals in the fields of art education, visual culture, curating, and contemporary art. Studying through the department, you will gain expertise and critical skills in mediating, representing, discussing, and critiquing art and other forms of visual culture.

Through the department, art and other cultural work is understood as a critical practice that creates meaning and mediates an embodied relationship with the world. In this sense, art is a social practice that shapes perceptions of reality. It creates meaning by allowing participants and viewers to critically reflect on, and respond to, the past, present, and future. Through the department, you will study, create, and explore art and other forms of visual culture towards some not-yet-known future of “becoming.” Amongst fragments of images and ideas, knowledge and understandings, pedagogies and practices, this quality of “becoming” withstands final closure.

The department is known for high quality artistic and art pedagogical activities, and scholarship and research that are recognized nationally and internationally. The department has three study programs that are taught by leading scholars and practioncers in their field. The programs focus on art education, Nordic visual studies, and visual culture and contemporary art. The course and program offerings will help you build a well-rounded and well-tailored degree that supports both depth and breadth.

The Department of Art also engages in interdisciplinary studies that enrich learning across Aalto University. You can learn cutting edge concepts and practice towards:

  • Art and science partnering together for biological art studies (biofilia.aalto.fi), investigating technologies for seeing and being seen, developing virtual worlds, creating games and understating the gamification of societies… 
  • Art, media, and engineering partnering together for embodied interaction, environmental planning, urban conceptualization, critical cartography, and electrical arts… 
  • Art, social sciences, and education partnering to study the best practices in Nordic institutions and organizations, global and transnational movements and practices, posthuman and network theories…

In short, the Department of Art offers students a crucial space for the development, construction and presentation of new knowledge and new skills about art, visual culture, curating, and pedagogy.

Page content by: | Last updated: 21.01.2015.