Frame Contemporary Art Finland (previously Frame Visual Art Finland) is a foundation whose mission is to promote Finnish contemporary art internationally.
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Frame supports international projects, awards grants to artists and art professionals, facilitates professional partnerships, and acts as an information centre for Finnish contemporary art. Frame’s international programme includes an expert visitor programme for non-Finnish contemporary art professionals, a talks programme, and the Helsinki International Curator Programme (HICP) run in collaboration with HIAP (Helsinki International Artist Programme). Frame commissions and produces Finland's exhibitions at the Venice Biennale.
Frame is supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. Frame’s director is Raija Koli. Its office is located on Ratakatu [street] in central Helsinki. Frame Foundation is the successor of FRAME – Finnish Fund for Art Exchange (1992-2011).
Frame was founded in December 2011 by the cities of Espoo, Helsinki, Lahti, Oulu, Tampere, Turku and Vantaa, the Fine Arts Academy of Finland, the Finnish Art Society and Stiflesen Pro Artibus. The foundation was registered in May 2012.
Finland at the Venice Biennale
Frame commissions and produces exhibitions for the Pavilion of Finland at the Venice International Art Exhibition (Venice Biennale, La Biennale di Venezia). Finland also co-exhibits with Norway and Sweden in the Nordic Pavilion. The Finnish pavilion is designed by architect Alvar Aalto (1954), and the Nordic Pavilion by architect Sverre Fehn (1964). Both pavilions are located in the Giardini, the main exhibition venue at the Biennale. In 2017, the Finnish pavilion will feature The Aalto Natives, an exhibition by Erkka Nissinen and Nathaniel Mellors. It is curated by Xander Karskens, Artistic Director of the Cobra Museum (from December 1, 2016 on).
Representing Finland at the 2015 Biennale was the artist duo IC-98 (Patrik Söderlund and Visa Suonpää) with their site-specific installation Hours, Years, Aeons. The installation combined research, drawing and animation, and it formed part of the duo’s Abendland series. The exhibition was curated by Taru Elfving, PhD, Frame’s Head of Programme.
In 2013, Finland exhibited both in the Finnish pavilion and the Nordic pavilion. The Falling Trees exhibition featured Antti Laitinen in the Finnish pavilion and Terike Haapoja in the Nordic Pavilion. The exhibition was curated by Gruppo 111 (Marko Karo, Mika Elo and Harri Laakso).
FRAME - Finnish Fund For Art Exchange
Frame Foundation’s predecessor, FRAME – Finnish Fund for Art Exchange, was an organisation dedicated to promoting Finnish contemporary art internationally. The organisation operated as an independent unit under the administration of the Foundation for the Fine Arts Academy of Finland from 1992 to 2011. From 2004 to 2009 FRAME published a bi-annual contemporary art publication called Framework (later FRAMER).