The Art of Small by Catalysti
13.08.–29.08.2026
Opening/Avajaiset 13.08. 18:00–20:00
Special Additional Event for Night of the Arts 20.08: 18:00, 18:30, 19:00
Emotion Cookie Tasting by Doğa Çal – Kitchen Testimonies
The Art of Small challenges who gets to collect contemporary art — bringing 70 affordable artworks and new audiences together in Helsinki
Following its pilot edition in Tampere in 2024, The Art of Small returns in 2026 as an expanded exhibition and public programme at Myymälä2 in Helsinki from 13–29 August. Bringing together 70 original contemporary artworks by 27 artists living and working in Finland, the project rethinks contemporary art collecting through a more accessible approach, creating an entry point for people who are interested in Finnish contemporary art but don’t know where to start.
The Art of Small was developed as an artist-led initiative in response to challenges in the contemporary art field, including unequal visibility for artists and the need for new ways to connect artists, audiences, and collectors in a changing cultural landscape. The project challenges the idea that contemporary art collecting belongs only to experienced collectors or those already familiar with the art world.
Bringing together artists, audiences, and both first-time and seasoned collectors, The Art of Small presents a carefully curated selection of affordable contemporary artworks and educational interview series Learn Small. Visitors are invited to explore contemporary art collecting while discovering works by artists living and working in Finland across different career stages.
Together with our curator Ada Pääskysaari (Penthouse-kollektiivi), we are bringing emerging, mid-career, and established artists into conversation with one another. We want to challenge the idea that contemporary art is only accessible to those who already know how the art world works. By creating connections between artists at different career stages, The Art of Small creates opportunities for audiences to discover artists they might not otherwise encounter and help visibility flow across different career stages”, underlines Paloma Bautista Sánchez, project manager for the Art of Small and representative of Catalysti ry.
With all artworks priced under €300 and operating through a zero-commission model, The Art of Small ensures that sales revenue goes directly to artists, supporting a more direct relationship between artists and audiences.
Throughout the exhibition, visitors are invited to participate in community programmes that explore alternative ways of engaging with contemporary art. The public programme culminates in special events during Night of the Arts (20 August) and Helsinki Design Week (28–29 August). Highlights include Emotion Cookies Tasting by Kitchen Testimonies, a participatory performance that invites audiences to experience art through taste, conversation, and shared experience.
The exhibition opens with a public event on Thursday, 13 August, from 18:00–20:00 at Myymälä2 (Uudenmaankatu 23 F, Helsinki). Audiences are invited to discover original contemporary artworks, meet artists and project representatives, and explore new ways of engaging with and collecting art.
Please note that the exhibition venue is not wheelchair accessible and does have an accessible toilet.
The Art of Small is organised by Catalysti – Association of Transcultural Artists as part of its KUVI-supported programme, in collaboration with Kulttuuriosuuskunta TIcAS, which leads the project’s communications. The project is supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).
For more information, visit the Art of Small website or follow @tampereinterculturalart and @catalysti_finland on Instagram.
Opening event and media opportunity
Thursday, 13 August, 18:00–20:00
Myymälä2, Uudenmaankatu 23 F, Helsinki
Artists and project representatives will be present for interviews and conversations.
Media Contact:
Paoma Bautista Sánchez
Project Manager, The Art of Small 2026
Catalysti – Association of Transcultural Artists in Finland
bautistasanchez.paloma@gmail.com / theartofsmall@gmail.com
+358 zero four 9310222
ticas.fi/theartofsmall
Participating Artists:
Lore Kuuskala @kuuskala
Eero Yrjölä @eeroyrjola
Kaisa Syrjänen @kaisasyrjaenen
Marja Karisalmi @marjakarisalmi
Laura Pehkonen
Ronja Siitonen @ronjasiitonen
Agata Kutinowska @agatheski
Alena Tereshko @alenkij86
Karl Ohiri @karlohiri
Christelle Mas @christellemas_visions
Paula Ollikainen @paula_ollikainen
Val Nevalainen @valnevalainen
Sanni Weckman @sanni.weckman
Emilia Lehikoinen @emilia_lehikoinen
Emilia Mäkelä @emiliamakelaart
Eeli Hilme @eelihilme
Jerker Ramberg @jerkerramberg
Marloes Van Son @marloesson
Kitchen Testimonies @kitchen_testimonies @cal.doga
Monika Hauck @monautomaton
Eoin O’Dowd @eoinyboney
Riikka Gröndahl @riigro
Hieu Vo @_hieuvo_
Ana Gutieszca @anagutieszca
Ame Indigo Kärkkäinen @ameindigonine
Anna Värri @tonavakuiskaaja
Ekaterina Zubkova @imaginarykate
Additional Links:
The Art of Small website: https://www.ticas.fi/theartofsmall
The Art of Small LinkTree: linktr.ee/theartofsmall
The Art of Small in Helsinki Design Week: helsinkidesignweek.com/events/the-art-of-small
(EN: helsinkidesignweek.com/events/the-art-of-small/?lang=en)
finland.
Exhibiting Artists & Artist Bios
Lore Kuuskala
Lore Kuuskala (b. 1993) is a multidisciplinary visual artist and writer from Helsinki. Their practice centers around storytelling through various forms and media, with a current focus on conceptual poetry and ceramic sculpture. Working from queer and neurodivergent perspectives, their approach is a layered and associative process often drawing from personal experience, resulting in playful and poetic reflections on identity, belonging, and otherness.
Eero Yrjölä
Eero Yrjölä’s abstract artworks express the bodily essence of (the human) experience and memories. Through clay, as if by chance, layers of emotions and desires are being shaped.
Kaisa Syrjänen
Kaisa Syrjänen (b. 1997) is a Helsinki-based visual artist and journalist whose practice is grounded in research-based art.
Syrjänen combines photographic materials, documents, and text in her work. She is interested in modes of representation and the inherently context-dependent nature of photographic meaning. Her practice explores the intersections of art and science, with a particular interest in questions of accessibility in the arts.
Syrjänen graduated from the Institute of Design at LAB University of Applied Sciences with a degree in Photography in 2022. She is currently studying sociology at the University of Helsinki while working as a journalist.
Marja Karisalmi
Marja Karisalmi is a painter from Helsinki, working mainly with watersoluble paints on canvas. Wooden frames are often seen as a core structure of her work. Karisalmi’s work is strongly linked to the subconscious. She approaches themes that are related to the fleeting experiences of time, focusing on the subject through dreams. For her dreams offer a window into the diverse and complex human experience — a space never homogeneous enough to describe just by the means of narratives. Painting is therefore a gesture to find understanding, a gentle view into the intimate experience of otherness. Karisalmi has studied painting at the Free Art School and has undergone extensive art therapy herself, which has impacted on the development of her practice and artistic language.
Laura Pehkonen
Laura Pehkonen is a ceramic and visual artist (MFA) living and working in Helsinki. Her main material is ceramics, but she also works with wood and mixed-media paintings. The core of her practice is creating abstract, one-of-a-kind works using and combining various craft techniques. In recent years, Pehkonen has created several ceramic artworks for public spaces in Finland, such as schools and hospitals.
Her works are non-representational, leaving the interpretation open to the viewer. Based on various colors, shapes, and surfaces, her works do not exclude anyone’s interpretation, but instead evoke different streams of images and thoughts in each viewer.
Ronja Siitonen
Ronja Siitonen (b.1997) works with photography, video and text. Right now she’s interested in questions of work, everyday poetry and interpersonal relationships under the conditions of late capitalism. Recurring methods in her work include self reflexivity, performativity and humor. Siitonen has graduated from the photography department of LAB Institute of Design, Finland, and is currently doing her master’s studies in the Contemporary Art program in Estonian Academy of Arts.
Agata Kutinowska
Agata Maria Kutniowska, born 1998 in Poland. Graduated from the Royal Danish Academy with a PBA in ceramics, currently based between Denmark and Finland.
An artist and designer working primarily with ceramics, inspired by urban compositions made by people and nature. She collects details and translates them into design objects such as functional vases or abstract sculptures. Her forms center around geometric shapes, colour compositions and photographic elements.
Alena Tereshko
Alena Tereshko (b. 1986, Siberia) works with autobiography and humour, blending personal narratives with social critique. Grounded in feminist studies, her performance-based practice spans diverse forms of expression, including painting, video and installations. Her work reflects on power, identity, and selfhood, affirming the deeply personal as political.
Karl Ohiri
Karl Ohiri is a British-Nigerian visual artist and archival activist based in Helsinki. His conceptually driven practice draws on his background in visual culture to explore the human condition and lived experience by engaging with the cultures and histories that shape our understanding of ourselves and others. Through personal narratives, observations and social encounters, Ohiri’s work reflects on how personal and collective experiences shape identity, memory and belonging.
Christelle Mas
Christelle Mas (born in Paris, France) is a Finland-based media artist and photographer whose work bridges science, technology, and art through immersive installations and interdisciplinary collaborations. She holds a Master’s degree in Art and a Philosophy of Art degree from the University of Sorbonne, Paris.
She has exhibited extensively in Finland and abroad, with projects presented in Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, France, Germany, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania, Spain, and Serbia. Her practice combines large-scale projects, international residencies, and long-term research-based initiatives, including collaborations with the Biocenter in Oulu (Finland) and the Marine Research Center in Klaipėda (Lithuania).
Mas’s works are part of the collections of the Oulu Art Museum and the Kemi Art Museum, as well as private collections. She is a member of the Bioart Society and M-Cult (Media Art and Digital Culture), both based in Finland, as well as two international creative networks: Globe Art Point and Catalysti. She is also a member of Artists with Evidence, an international art-science organization promoting evidence-based environmental discourse through artistic collaborations.
Highlights of her career include representing Gallery Huuto at the Supermarket Art Fair 2025 (Stockholm), exhibitions at the Mänttä Art Festival (2015), the Triennial of Art and Science in Klaipėda in Lithuania (2024), and her selection as Visual Artist of the Year 2024 by the Northern Photographic Centre. In 2025, her works were shown at the CreaVa Festival (Spain), SIMULTAN Video Festival (Romania), Gallery Reflektor (Serbia), and at the immersive interactive art space Kuutio in Helsinki (Oodi Central Library). In 2026, her work is presented at the Lithuanian Sea Museum in Klaipėda, in collaboration with the Marine Research Centre of Lithuania.
Paula Ollikainen
Paula Ollikainen is a visual artist based in Sarkola and working in Tampere, Finland. Painting is her primary medium. She graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2014.
Ollikainen’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Finland and internationally. Her works are included in the collections of the Kulturamt of the City of Düsseldorf, the Helsinki Art Museum, the Turku Art Museum, the Tampere Art Museum, and the Finnish National Gallery, including the State Art Commission Collection.
Val Nevalainen
I’m a photographer driven by a deep passion for people and for meeting them just as they are. I’m drawn to carefully crafted concepts, natural light, and expressive, boundary-free self-expression.
I specialize in portraiture, and I love creating images that tell stories — photographs that blend emotions and raw beauty, inviting the viewer to return to them again and again.
Sanni Weckman
Born 1993, lives and works in Helsinki. Sanni Weckman mixes traditional portrait imagery with unconventional techniques and materials. Working mainly with textiles, the material and the portrayed image combine to tell their own stories inside one piece. Weckman finds inspiration from traditional folk crafts, and from modern DIY-culture.
Weckman has graduated as a Master of Arts from Aalto University. Weckman’s works have been presented in various museums and galleries such as Amos Anderson Art Museum, Jyväskylä Art Museum and Kajaani Art Museum. Solo exhibitions have been shown among others in Salo Art Museum Turku Art Hall, and Nuutajärvi Glass Factory.
Emilia Lehikoinen
Emilia Lehikoinen (b. 2002) lives in Porvoo and currently works in Porvoo and Helsinki, mainly within oil painting. Central themes in recent works are time and temporality, changing points and transitions on both emotional and concretely spatial levels. The exploratory perspective that often serves as a starting point in the works changes, breaks down and expands along the process.
Lehikoinen’s work has been exhibited in various solo and group exhibitions since 2023, most recently in the Generation 2026 group exhibition at Amos Rex in Helsinki. Lehikoinen will be graduating from Vapaa Taidekoulu in the spring of 2027.
Emilia Mäkelä
Mäkelä paints figurative portraits using herself as the model for the paintings. Purposefully awkward poses are her go-to. She is fascinated by the subtle shapes of the body and how the light bounces off the skin. Her work with self-portraits often dwells around the subject of sexuality and gender. In her work solitude of her model becomes a reflection of the soliloquy that is present in the act of painting itself. The low self-esteem, insecurity and sexual innuendo oozing from the character she portrays gives away the search for acceptance in the eyes of the viewer. Underlining the fact that this is often the case with the artist itself merely seeking approval through their work.
Eeli Hilme
Eeli Hilme works primarily on the peripheries of sound art and music, as well as with photography. As an artist, he is guided by slowness and idleness. The documentary nature of the material forms the heart of his work with both sound and photography. In his art, he seeks to serve as a bridge between the private and the public, the tangible and the abstract.
Jerker Ramberg
Jerker Ramberg (b.1989) is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Helsinki. Ramberg´s work often focuses on social inequality, class and melancholy but uses whimsy and humour to handle his themes.
Marloes Van Son
Marloes van Son creates sound-objects, instruments and experimental music. Her artistic practice combines electronics, woodwork and sound in varying combinations. Through exhibitions, performances and workshops she explores interactions with everyday appliances and situations. Her interests include connections between humans and technology, repair culture, interface design and combinations of electronics with craftsmanship.
Kitchen Testimonies
Kitchen Testimonies is a nomadic gesture conceived by artist doğa çal that reconfigures itself around kitchens, food, and eating through different participants and modes of participation. Its current practice focuses on holding social space for diverse dietary needs within Helsinki’s food scene.
Performance for The Art of Small 2026 during the Night of The Arts: Emotion Cookie Tasting by Kitchen Testimonies. 20th August 2026 at 18:00, 18:30, and 19:00 (3 guided tasting sessions).
Monika Hauck
Working at the intersection of visual art and technology, her practice spans immersive installations, live audiovisual performances, and process-based works in video, painting, sculpture, photography and drawing. Through surreal digital landscapes, analog textures, and experimental compositions, she explores memory, media saturation, social fictions and environmental themes.
Hauck’s work emerges from a combination of traditional studio practices and live, time-based media. Her installations often bridge physical and virtual environments, inviting audiences into spaces of collective reflection and sensory immersion. In parallel with her media work, she creates monoprinted landscapes, papier-mâché sculpture, and image based work exploring memory, ritual, and speculative futures.
She has exhibited and performed in Canada, Poland, Finland and Mexico including Art Gallery of Ontario, Nuit Blanche, Aavistus A/V Festival, Kazoo! Festival, and with collectives such as Entropy Ry and Ida Radio. She was a finalist in the 2023 Tampere Film Festival VJ Contest and has collaborated with artists including US Girls, Deerhoof, Julie Doiron, and Snotty Nose Rez Kids. Hauck holds a BA in Studio Art from the University of Guelph, Canada and has recently completed an MA in New Media at Aalto University.
Eoin O’Dowd
Eoin O’Dowd is an Irish artist living and working in Helsinki. Their work examines the psychological and spiritual toll of alienating labour under capitalism, questioning our desire for both the immaterial and the material. Using reclaimed construction supplies, field recordings, and devotional symbolism, O’Dowd invites viewers to explore the relationship between capital and labour, and its physical, psychological, and spiritual impacts.
Eoin O’Dowd’s work has been exhibited internationally and is held in private collections. They are a recipient of the Kone Foundation working grant (2025), and previously was co-ordinator of Eight Gallery Dublin (2013–2018), a non-profit space supporting experimental practice.
Riikka Gröndahl
Riikka Gröndahl is a visual artist working with video art and drawing. She likes to film people and draw human-like figures. Her latest interest is in late medieval church paintings. Gröndahl holds a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg.
Hieu Vo
Hieu Vo (b.1997, Vietnam) is a ceramic artist and fine-art photographer based in Helsinki, Finland. Drawing from their personal experience to reconnect and find understanding from others, they express their inner world through an emphasis on repeating subject elements and movements, which were familiar but temporary in nature. Their ceramic works reflect the intricate beauties of nature through flower and plant motifs, creating functional forms with unique patterns using Nerikomi – or layered clay techniques.
Ana Gutieszca
Ana Gutieszca is a visual & sound artist born in the dry lands of the northern Mexican plateau. She is an inventor of broken noises and graphite universes: she is fascinated by the transformation of drawing into sound and using graphite as a tool for sound making. In her drawings, she embraces the question of the animal and its ambivalent presence through symbolic thinking. With a background in visual arts and music, she sculpts the unfathomable boundaries of drawing through the creation of analog instruments, the sonification of graphite and its deconstruction into performance art.
Ame Indigo Kärkkäinen
Ame Indigo Kärkkäinen (b.2000) is a self-taught oil, natural material, mixed media painter and sculptor currently working in Helsinki. They combine their knowledge of plants, film, music, spiritual- and social studies to form otherwordly pieces. Kärkkäinen is currently building a collection made and inspired by materials collected in Brazil, Colombia and Albania during their independent art research trip from 2025-26.
Anna Värri
I am a cross-disciplinary artist, who works with painting, drawing, photography and ceramics. I am currently interested in things and places that are left without attention or are in-between things: abandoned places and urban areas where humans are not present, but nature continues to work. The essentiality of small, trivial and unnoticed things fascinates me.
Ekaterina Zubkova
I’m Ekaterina Zubkova, a multidisciplinary artist originally from St Petersburg and currently based in Finland. After relocating in 2022, my practice shifted from digital work to material-based processes. Working with textiles, ceramics, drawing, and found materials, I explore relationships between humans and their environment through everyday observations. I’m interested in how materials can carry memory, transformation, and emotion. My background in graphic design continues to inform my approach to composition and concept development, while slow handwork and tactility remain at the core of my artistic practice.