People

Kalle Hamm graduated as a visual artist from the Lahti Fine Art Institute in 1994 and as a Master of Arts from the University of Art and Design in 2002. Hamm worked as a leading teacher at the Taika Design and Art School from 2000 to 2003 and as a museum lecturer at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma from 2003 to 2007. Hamm has dealt with the relationship between humans and plants in his works. In his works, plants are active agents that interact with their environment. Hamm is also one of the founding members of the Band of Weeds sound collective. Hamm has also collaborated with visual artist Dzamil Kamanger since 1999. The works made together examine the relationship of marginal groups with the mainstream population: exclusion, inclusion, and equality. Key themes are cultural interaction, multiple identities, and the individual’s position in society.

Max Mickelsson has combined the careers of politician and technologist with working in business and communications. He is currently Head of New Markets and Miltton. Before he worked for Microsoft, the last position he held being Director for Government Affairs. Prior to that, he worked in politics and government as a Ministerial Advisor. Mickelsson has held positions of responsibility in numerous NGOs. He is now Vice Chair of the IoT Forge Foundation and Vice Chair of Kiasma Support Foundation.  Mickelsson is particularly interested in the potential of artificial intelligence to disrupt corporate culture and society in a complex world. Besides a passion for horses and riding, he is a contemporary-art enthusiast. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Åbo Akademi University.

Lauri Paloheimo is Chair of the Board of the Leonora and Yrjö Paloheimo Foundation. The Foundation maintains the University of the Arts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy’s spaces at Kallio-Kuninkala manor house in Järvenpää. Paloheimo is also a founder member and Chair of the Sibelius Academy’s association for concerts and master classes. In 2018, he was awarded the title of Honorary Doctor by the University of the Arts Helsinki. He has made his career in international finance, most recently as an investment banker. Lauri Paloheimo was Pro Arte Foundation Finland’s administrator in the setting up of the Foundation until June 2019.

The Senior Advisor in Art, museum director emerita and art historian Marja Sakari retired from the Director of the Ateneum Art Museum, which is part of the Finnish National Gallery in 2024. She was previously Curator of Changing Exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. In 2008-2012, she was Director of the Finnish Institute in France in Paris. Sakari has taught art history, for instance, as Principal Lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, and the University of Helsinki. She has worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Academy of Finland and as a researcher at the Central Art Archives. Her doctoral thesis (2000) dealt with the ethics of Finnish conceptual art via a postmodern and phenomenological interpretation. Sakari has held numerous positions of responsibility in art institutions and has written extensively about visual art.

Professor Hanna Snellman is Vice-Rector of the University of Helsinki. She has been Professor of European Ethnology at the University of Helsinki since 2012 and was a Dean of Faculty in 2017-2018. She has previously been, for instance, a Vice-Dean (2014-2016) and Acting Dean (2014-2015) at the University of Helsinki, Professor of Ethnology at the University of Jyväskylä (2009-2012), Professor of Finnish at Lakehead University, Canada (2007), and a Researcher at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. Snellman’s doctoral thesis (1997) dealt with the life of loggers along the Kemi River. She has researched people’s everyday lives and movements. She is particularly interested in research on minorities, which has included studying Finnish-speaking migrants in Sweden. Snellman’s numerous positions of responsibility, extensive networks and publications have involved her in many collaborative ventures that span national borders and academic disciplines.