Aalto Festival takes over the Helsinki metropolitan area in May
As Finland celebrates its 100th year of independence, Aalto University opens its annual festival showcasing the work of the schools of science, technology, arts, and business.
Kicking off April 19th in Otaniemi as part of the student union’s Aalto Open Air event, Aalto Festival unfolds throughout the month of May with various exhibitions, lectures, seminars, and galas.
Aalto Festival will again take over the Helsinki metropolitan area throughout the month of May. We aim at one hundred different events, exhibitions, open lectures, and galas from the schools of Arts, Design and Architecture, Science, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Business, and Engineering.
Says Vice President of Art & Creative Practices, Anna Valtonen, “As always I am really proud of the festival, but this year it has been amazing to see so many contributions and events from all our different schools – including innovative programs like the Sensual Mathematics exhibition (8.5), the PDP, or Product Development Gala (19.5) and our first ever Artist-in-Residence in the School of Electrical Engineering — so this is a great opportunity to break out of your field or comfort zone and try something new.”
This year the festival will open in partnership with the Aalto University student union (AYY) and their first ever Aalto Open Air event on April 19th from 16-22. The event will happen in Otaniemi and will offer a free outdoor concert presented by April Jazz and featuring Boston Promenade, Don Johnson Big Band, Toot Toot, and Ruudolf with Karri Koira.
Along with the music there will be a pop-up sauna, food trucks and a preview of different Aalto Festival programming including printing workshop, film screenings, a preview event for the PDP gala, gallery walks, and other demos and presentations in the new Harald Herlin Learning Centre.
The Festival itself will launch an app that will be available for download on the 19th showcasing the 60 plus events happening in May; including the annual Näytös 17 fashion show (17.5.), the Tokyo Spring Art Sale (20.5.), Electrical Engineering Workshop Final Gala (22.5.), Visualizing Knowledge 2017 (29.5.), and many different art crawls and scientific lectures.
Valtonen notes, “It is hard to capture or contain all the great work being done at our university, we’d have to run the festival year-round to really showcase everything. But as a snapshot for one month a year, we hope the community can really see our best and brightest on display.”
Aalto Festival runs 2.–31.5.2017 learn more online aaltofestival.fi or download the app at Google Play or via the AppStore.
For more information or press materials contact david.lewis@aalto.fi or visit online aaltofestival.fi