SHAPE Helsinki Art Map and new exhibition

SHAPE is a new and essential resource for Helsinki’s contemporary art landscape, a mapping of art spaces and public events across the city. SHAPE Helsinki Art Map is run by PUBLICS. SHAPE (Spaces, Helsinki, Art, Projects, Events) is an event calendar, an art map and a comprehensive platform for local residents and visitors to navigate the diversity of Helsinki art scenes and to find out what’s happening, where and when. SHAPE relaunch coincides with the opening weekend of Helsinki Biennial in June 2023

SHAPE archives exhibitions and highlights current public events, spaces, times and locations. Users and visitors can browse upcoming activities as well as find out more about their initiating organisations, who they are, where they are and what they are up to. SHAPE is organised around eight main categories of activity: Events, Exhibitions, Festivals, Initiatives, Museums, Publications, Supports, and Workspaces:

“Events” gathers spaces currently organising and hosting a variety of discursive events and talks related to contemporary art.
“Exhibitions” lists spaces focused on the display and presentation of exhibitions of contemporary art.
“Festivals” highlights established art-related, public, and perennial events happening during a limited period of time.
“Initiatives” collects organisations initiating and hosting a range of art-related events without a dedicated physical space.
“Museums” shows large-scale institutions presenting contemporary art, generally with an entrance fee.
“Publications” combines libraries, independent publishers, editorial initiatives, art bookstores, virtual and physical spaces.
“Supports” brings together agencies and support structures providing information, events and funding for Finnish and non-Finnish speaking cultural workers.
“Workspaces” presents spaces focusing on making, working, producing such as studios or workspaces for artists, fabricators and makers.

SHAPE Art Map is initiated by and run by PUBLICS with support from Kohta. SHAPE is maintained by PUBLICS and is one way of supporting more than 110+ small to medium-sized local organisations, helping to make them more visible and connected to each other and to their audiences. SHAPE is not only an art map and online platform directory, it also supports and promotes public events through instagram and facebook and ongoing national and international marketing and support.

SHAPE is initiated as part of Open Up is a four-year cultural project (2020–23) co-funded by the Creative Europe programme, promoting artists and cultural workers. Open Up is a partnership between seven distinct organisations from seven cities across Europe.

PUBLICS COUPLING Vlatka Horvat with Maarit Muustonen previews on June 8 between 5–7pm and is open every Wednesday to Friday throughout June between 12–6pm.

In addition to spreading the word about SHAPE, PUBLICS curates its fourth Coupling exhibition with new interventions by London based artist Vlatka Horvat co-mingling with new works by Helsinki-based artist Maarit Mustonen. PUBLICS COUPLING of Vlatka Horvat with Maarit Mustonen comprises a public event, exhibition and series of window installations at PUBLICS for the month of June. In addition to presenting their new individual works alongside one another, Maarit and Vlatka will collaborate on the new edition of Eurantie Window Publication, an experimental spatial publication Maarit edits with Arja Karhumaa in their studio window in Vallila. Presented on the windows at both Maarit and Arja’s studio and at PUBLICS, the publication will stage a call-and-response encounter between the two artists and the two locations. Rendered as white text on stickers and directly addressing the street and the passersby, the publication speaks to the two artists’ shared interest in expanded publishing formats.

PUBLICS is a curatorial and commissioning agency with a dedicated research library and event space in Helsinki, Finland. Under the artistic direction of curator Paul O’Neill, and team members Annabelle Antas, Micol Curatolo, Valentina Černiauskaitė and PUBLICS YOUTH. PUBLICS explores a “work together” institutional model with multiple overlapping objectives, thematic strands and collaborations.

PUBLICS is partnering with Saastamoinen Foundation for 2023-25.