Anne Koskinen declared winner of the art competition for the VTT Centre for Nuclear Safety

The Finnish State Art Commission, VTT Centre for Nuclear Safety, Otaniemi, Espoo, Finland

In October 2013, the Finnish State Art Commission declared a competition for six invited artists for a work of art for the courtyard area of the VTT Centre for Nuclear Safety. Designed by SARC Architects, the building will be completed in Otaniemi in 2016. The invited artists were Lauri Astala, Tommi Grönlund and Petteri Nisunen, Timo Heino, Michael Johansson, Marja Kanervo and Anne Koskinen.

Six entries were submitted, of which the competition jury gave first place to Anne Koskinen’s entry The Nuclear Physicist’s Apple (under the pseudonym Halkaisija). This work was evaluated as follows: “A positive and easily approachable entry avoiding the unnecessary mystification of nuclear physics. It tells of the work carried out in the centre with the aid of a humoristic metaphor. The various parts of the piece are in a large area, which gives it an everyday function by providing places for staff and visitors to take a break outside. The material, granite, is problem-free and easy to maintain.” 

Second place went to Michael Johansson for Real Life Tetris, with its ”idea is presented familiar, everyday objects in a new and unexpected way.” “The themes of recycling and consumption give the work a connection with the everyday lives of people, thus making it accessible.” Third place was awarded to Lauri Astala for his entry Background Radiation. This entry proceeds from expressing the nuclear safety context of the building with the visualization of a concrete natural phenomenon, radioactive radiation in nature, with a work of art that is as immaterial as possible.

The entries are on display at VTT Digital House, Vuorimiehentie 3, Otaniemi Mon. – Fri. from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from 19 to 26 March 2014.

For more information please contact:

Arts Secretary Erika Hyyryläinen, the Finnish State Art Comission. erika.hyyrylainen@kansallisgalleria.fi, Tel. 0400 847 026

Further information: The Nuclear Physicist’s Apple