LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA - architeria.eu

Finnish Participation at the 11th INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITION
Out There: Architecture Beyond Building - LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA

Exhibition ”Store and Share – Museums and Libraries in Finland”
Finland / Alvar Aalto Pavilion, Giardini, Venice
14 September – 23 November 2008

The Museum of Finnish Architecture participates to the International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale
di Venezia for the 7th time with its own exhibition in the Finnish pavilion designed by Alvar Aalto.
This year’s Finnish exhibition presents museums and libraries under the heading “Store and Share – Museums
and Libraries in Finland”. It features four recent museums and four libraries. In addition to presenting these
works, the exhibition also outlines the general background and development of museums and libraries in
Finland. Accompanying the exhibition is a 72-page book containing three articles by Professor emerita
Riitta Nikula, Professor Ilmari Lahdelma and Tuula Haavisto, director of the Tampere City Library.

Museums and libraries guard our collective memory. We use them for storing – and sharing – our accrued
information and experience. They constitute a free memory base for education, research and creativity, which
is the foundation of our civilisation. Museums and libraries still hold an indisputable, although fuzzier than
before, place in the cultural hierarchy. Competition for the public’s time is fierce. The once so quiet and austere
cultural establishments have now become more vocal and enthusiastic. Museums are increasingly seen as
tourist attractions. Their architecture is expected to be boldly impressive and the exhibitions experiential.
They contain a greater variety of activities: shops, cafes, events and educational facilities are all provided
with ample space. Libraries are transformed into meeting places. Today, when almost every home is linked up
to the Internet, libraries have lost their monopoly as the only source of comprehensive information.
Like the museums, they too offer an opportunity to process what you have seen and heard. You come
across not only information, but people.

Finland boasts an extensive and fine network of museums and libraries; sometimes it has been called
extravagant. Despite the costs, the system – particularly the municipal libraries – enjoys wide support
among the public. Institutions open to the public that store shared memory and freely present it have
strong and central impact on education, innovation and overall enjoyment of life. In addition, these
cultural actors have a positively strengthening effect on the Finnish society; they are joint, communally
owned and shared loci of responsibility. The Finnish society proudly presents: the newcomers to
our museums and libraries!

Turku Art Museum, Renovation and Annex, Turku, Finland, 2004, LPR Architects / Ola Laiho
The WeeGee House, Espoo, Finland, 2006, Airas Architects / Timo Airas, Henna Helander
Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre Siida, Inari, Finland, 1998, Juhani Pallasmaa
Architects / Juhani Pallasmaa
Maritime Centre Vellamo, Kotka, Finland, 2008, Architects Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Ltd /
Ilmari Lahdelma
Turku City Library, Turku, Finland, 2007, JKMM Architects / Asmo Jaaksi
Vuosaari House, Helsinki, Finland, 2000, Heikkinen–Komonen Architects / Mikko Heikkinen,
Markku Komonen
The Tritonia Academic Libarary, Vaasa, Finland, 2001, Käpy and Simo Paavilainen Architects /
Käpy Paavilainen, Simo Paavilainen
University of Helsinki City Campus Library, competition 2007, to be completed 2012,
Architects Jussi Kalliopuska, Vesa Oiva

The exhibition is organized and produced by the Museum of Finnish Architecture
www.mfa.fi