Taike awards 11 state prizes to distinguished artists and art communities
The awarding of state prizes within specific artforms is decided annually by national arts councils, which are expert bodies of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike). The State Prize for Children’s and Youth Culture is decided by the Director of Taike based on proposals by the arts councils.
State prizes constitute recognition by peers to an artist in their field. In the arts, recognition received from other artists in the same field has always been held in exceptionally high esteem.
State prizes for the arts have a long history. They have been awarded throughout the history of Finnish arts councils, starting in the 1960s.
The awards were presented in Helsinki on 3 December 2024.
Further information: Henri Terho, Head of Arts Support, [email protected], t. +358 295 330 901
State prizes awarded in 2024
State Prize for Children’s and Youth
The Arts Promotion Centre Finland has awarded the State Prize for Children’s and Youth Culture 2024 to landscape architect Janne Saario.
Landscape architect Janne Saario has designed over 50 skate parks in Finland. His first design work, Eläintarhan Micropolis (2006), is still one of the most popular gathering places for young skateboarding enthusiasts in Helsinki. This year, seven new parks were completed, including one in Kittilä in Lapland.
Saario began skateboarding at the age of six and worked as a professional skater for several years. The hobby shaped his relationship with the environment. In his skate park architecture, Saario skilfully combines his own passion with the sensitivity and uniqueness of landscape design. Skate parks cultivate a recognisable identity for their location, inviting both young beginners and those who can perform even the most demanding tricks.
The construction materials used to build skate parks are often recycled. For example, for Steelpark in Luleå, Sweden (2011), Saario used steel pieces that had been decommissioned from a local steel mill. The sculptural, durable and smooth surfaces in the parks are counterbalanced by the softness of the vegetation. Saario has also designed skate parks in Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States.
Janne Saario has created a unique and contemporary way of developing culture, taking into account the experiential world of children and young people. In his work, he combines architecture, urban recreation and philosophy, in which young people, through their own actions and presence, create the city and a new kind of culture that enlivens it.
State Prize for Cinema
The National Council for Audiovisual Art has awarded the State Prize for Cinema 2024 to the DocPoint Film Events association for organising the annual DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival (DocPoint Helsinki).
DocPoint Helsinki excels in highlighting documentary film as an artform. Founded by filmmakers in 2001, the annual festival offers a comprehensive overview of the best of Finnish and foreign documentary film. The festival presents documentaries that are aesthetically and substantively ambitious, distinctive, carefully considered, boundary-breaking and structurally surprising. These documentaries guide their viewers to see reality through different eyes – and at their most impactful, they change the world. The films are screened in cinemas, where their image and sound design come into their own.
DocPoint particularly highlights Finnish documentaries and sets the bar high: the author’s handiwork must be visible. This is especially true in the current media landscape, when attention, space and visibility are being taken by foreign streaming documentary series, whose goals are often dictated by commercialism. DocPoint is also praised for its good audience relations. The screenings aim to communicate with the audience. After the screenings, documentary film professionals lead discussions with the filmmakers, deepening the viewing experience. Lectures and seminars organised in connection with the festival have also increased awareness of the methods of making and audiovisual thinking behind documentary film.
State Prize for Literature
The National Council for Literature has awarded the State Prize for Literature 2024 to author Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo.
Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo has been relentlessly testing the norms and boundaries of literature for three decades. Her work is characterised by her dedication to exploring the possibilities of text, whether it is prose, drama, poetry, graphic novels or children’s books.
At the heart of her work as a writer are unique novels that build unprecedented worlds and moods between airily drawn characters and seemingly everyday places and things. These include, for example, Oh, Come and Look at This (Åh, kom och se här, 2010), In Transit (2016) and The Past Returns (Det förflutna återvänder, 2023). Taivassalo’s work is always based on drama and poetry, and the author seamlessly mixes different literary genres in her formal language.
In addition to her own work as a writer, Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo has made a valuable contribution to the literary field by training new Finnish-Swedish authors at her own writing school and by acting as a precise yet empathetic reader.
State Prize for the Visual Arts
The National Council for the Visual Arts has awarded the State Prize for the Visual Arts 2024 to sculptor Maija Närhinen.
The art of sculptor Maija Närhinen moves in a world between three-dimensional and two-dimensional, between sculpture and painting. Närhinen arranges the material she finds, creating connections and meanings between seemingly random objects. The works are carefully constructed, and the viewer can find directions, continuities and transformations within them. Närhinen’s insightful, surprising and quietly humorous works observe the world intelligently.
Maija Närhinen graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1998. Her doctoral thesis was examined at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki, in September 2024. Närhinen’s works have been exhibited in Finland and abroad since the 1990s. Currently, her commissioned work Packed In (Purkissa, 2023) is being exhibited in the collection exhibition Experiments in Concretism at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA). Närhinen’s works are included in the collections of Kiasma, the Helsinki Art Museum, Wihuri and EMMA, among others.
State Prize for Multidisciplinary Art
The National Council for Multidisciplinary Art has awarded the State Prize for Multidisciplinary Art 2024 to the Dance and Performance Art Association Ehkä.
The Dance and Performance Art Association Ehkä is a multi-voiced independent actor that promotes culture in a non-commercial manner. Ehkä is a Turku-based community of independent artists that started small in 2004 but has developed as a result of long-term work. Ehkä has promoted independent and experimental art by co-producing works by new dance and performing arts creators. The community’s activities are not limited to dance and the performing arts but also include children’s culture, sound art, music, and visual and performance art.
Ehkä curates and maintains the interdisciplinary Contemporary Art Space Kutomo in Turku, which it founded in 2009. Kutomo hosts regular and visiting performances, festivals, residencies and teaching. Ehkä’s networks extend to a wide range of performance venues in Finland and abroad. The activities benefit the work of over a hundred artists each year.
State Prize for Design
The National Council for Architecture and Design has awarded the State Prize for Design 2024 to architect Laura Mattila and architect, carpenter Mikko Merz.
Laura Mattila and Mikko Merz seamlessly combine in their work design, interior design and architecture, as well as their practical implementation. Their works are dominated by simplicity, insightful practical solutions, timelessness and respect for history, traditions and craftsmanship. Mattila’s and Merz’s understanding of the inherent properties of wood materials and their skill in handling them are an essential part of the quality of the works. Their implementations are beautiful, sustainably designed and long-lasting. Mattila’s and Merz's principles of work resonate in this time, asking how little is enough and how everyday life builds solutions that will last for generations.
Founded in 2012, the Mattila & Merz design and architectural office specialises in wooden objects, furniture and construction projects. The office has also participated in the design and construction of several exhibitions and installations in Finland and abroad. Laura Mattila and Mikko Merz also teach at Aalto University, among others, thereby supporting the next generations in developing their own skills and visions.
State Prize for Music
The National Council for Music has awarded the State Prize for Music 2024 to musician Pekka Kuusisto.
Pekka Kuusisto is among the most recognised and internationally successful Finnish musicians. His open-minded and bold approach to both his own work as a musician and to phenomena in the art world is particularly significant. He has a profound understanding of the structures of the musical world and has at the same time strived to renew them. Kuusisto has also used his own influence to bring to the fore quieter and more obscure voices.
Kuusisto’s musicianship reaches for expression that successfully crosses genre boundaries from classical to folk music. Often, his expression also crosses the boundaries of artistic disciplines. He has renewed the concert tradition and the interaction between musicians and the audience, always ensuring the uncompromising quality of the performances.
Kuusisto’s international career as a violinist gained momentum when he won the Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in 1995. He has performed in music centres around the world as a chamber musician, as a soloist with major orchestras, and with his own solo repertoires. Kuusisto has also distinguished himself as a festival director and more recently also as a conductor.
State Prize for Circus Art
The National Council for the Performing Arts has awarded the State Prize for Circus Art 2024 to Cirko – Center for New Circus.
Cirko – Center for New Circus has developed and promoted Finnish contemporary circus to great effect. Cirko was founded in 2004, and the Center for New Circus bearing the association’s name was opened in the former machine room at the Suvilahti gasworks in 2011. This milestone brought contemporary circus to prominence in the Finnish art scene. Cirko has risen to a position where it now unites the domestic circus field, develops international networks, promotes training and performance activities, and is a key player in residency activities.
Cirko develops contemporary circus through year-round residency and project activities. It looks to the future with a contemporary circus programme that speaks to the physical, emotional and intellectual. In addition to the centre’s six employees, Cirko employs approximately 30 professional groups and 150 circus artists annually.
State Prize for Art Journalism
The National Council for Multidisciplinary Art has awarded the State Prize for Art Journalism 2024 to critic Kare Eskola.
Critic Kare Eskola has actively promoted art journalism that covers music. Eskola has stimulated discussion at a time when fewer and fewer parties are investing in art criticism. Eskola’s own work contribution has been significant, as has been his use of radio as a medium for discussing art. Eskola has a long perspective in his field; he has had his own weekly program Välilevyjä on YLE Radio 1 since 2007. In addition, he has published music and cultural criticism in several different media.
Freelance journalist Kare Eskola is an innovative and knowledgeable expert in verbal fencing. An expressive and skilful user of language, he creates surprising connections and at times manages to get half of Finland's music community on its back feet. The critic skilfully opens up contexts and is not afraid to take a stand. As a result, it is also unusually easy to disagree with him. As a user of the public word, Eskola masterfully upholds the right granted by the institution of criticism to sometimes be wrong.
State Prize for Theatre
The National Council for the Performing Arts has awarded the State Prize for Theatre 2024 to actor Marc Gassot.
Marc Gassot has a distinguished artistic career as an actor, mime, director and facilitator. Gassot is known as a luminous performer whose expression is dynamic: wild and acrobatic, but also small and delicate when necessary.
Marc Gassot has acted in many of our country’s leading theatres, as well as in numerous films and TV series. Gassot has conceived, performed and facilitated mime performances that have delighted and startled audiences both at home and abroad. He has enriched the field of the performing arts by creating his own style of physical theatre, in which the tradition of French clowns and mimes can be seen and heard.
State Prize for Photographic Art
The National Council for the Visual Arts has awarded the State Prize for Photographic Art 2024 to photographic artist Juuso Noronkoski.
Juuso Noronkoski is created by observing the fascinating details of everyday reality and asking us to stop and look at them. The artist, who works in a variety of techniques, opens up an analytical and poetic world to the viewer in which brass arches signify the length of the days or photographs show the silent movement of fog. Noronkoski incorporates sculptural elements and text fragments into his photographic art. Central to his work is the intersection between photography and the real world. In his works, Noronkoski successfully stretches the traditional means of expression of photography, making the viewer also reflect on what a (photo)image actually is.
Juuso Noronkoski is a photographic artist who graduated with a Master of Arts degree from Aalto University School of Arts and Design in 2015. His works have been widely exhibited both in Finland and abroad, including at the Forum Box Gallery in Helsinki, the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, and the Loko Gallery in Tokyo.
Further information
• Cinema: Sari Ilmola, Special Advisor, Taike, t. +358 295 330 830
• Theatre, Circus Art: Marja Susi, Special Advisor, Taike, t. +358 295 330 894
• Literature, Children’s and Youth Culture: Ansa Aarnio, Special Advisor, Taike, t. +358 295 330 701
• Multidisciplinary Art, Art Journalism: Tuulikki Koskinen, Special Advisor, Taike, t. +358 295 330 728
• Design: Lea Halttunen, Special Advisor, Taike, t. +358 295 330 713
• Music: Salla Mistola, Special Advisor, Taike, t. +358 295 330 875
• Visual Arts, Photographic Art: Kirsi Väkiparta, Special Advisor, Taike, t. +358 295 330 724