November 2027–Spring 2028

Hämeenlinna Art Museum’s Future NOW project will see the institution collaborate with three artist collectives: London-based Assemble, who run their own studio and take an often playful approach to developing the urban realm, Finnish collective I.C.W.D, whose practice is committed to finding adaptive solutions to the climate crisis and urban researchers and social innovators ZK/U-Berlin. During Future NOW, the collectives will focus on contemporary phenomena of their choice and develop artistic interventions designed to deliver a more sustainable future. Part of the Wihuri Foundation’s partner museum initiative, the project will run in 2026 and 2027.

“At Hämeenlinna Art Museum, we have decided to be bold and act on our dreams. We have extended an invitation to three award-winning international collectives, whose work we have admired for some time. It is extremely exciting for us that they have all chosen to join us for the Future NOW project”

Jenny Valli, Hämeenlinna Art museum director

The Future NOW project will see the collectives joining the working group for meetings in Finland. They will also visit all Kanta-Häme municipalities as part of a tour that will take place later this year and in 2027. The Kanta-Häme NOW tour kicks off on 3 June 2026 in Forssa and is scheduled to visit Hattula on 27 August and Hausjärvi on 28 August with more dates and locations to follow. A Future NOW exhibition will run in Hämeenlinna Art Museum’s Engel Building from November 2027 until spring 2028.

Future NOW Collectives:

Assemble

A London-based organisation comprising architects, designers and craft practitioners, Assemble works across the visual arts. They employ design and collaborative working practices to respond to environmental, social and economic challenges in unexpected and often playful ways. “We develop business plans, project strategies and create organisations. Alongside that, we design and manage workspaces. Everything we do forms part of an interconnected body of work,” the members explain. In 2015, Assemble won the Turner Prize, Britan’s most prestigious art award, with their Granby Four Streets project. The project included the Granby Workshop, a manufacturer of architectural ceramics that is deeply integrated into its local Liverpool community and remains committed to the area’s ongoing rebuilding and revitalisation.

More about Assemble: https://assemblestudio.co.uk/ 
@assembleofficial  

The Institute for Coping with Destruction  ( I.C.W.D)

The Institute for Coping with Destruction or I.C.W.D is an artist collective established in 2020 by three Finnish artists, Heini Aho, a visual artist, and performance artists Leena Kela and Eero Yli-Vakkuri. The purpose of I.C.W.D is to develop new methods that will allow people to come to terms with the ongoing climate emergency. As part of their practice, the collective turns to nature’s inherent resourcefulness for inspiration and seeks to identify new sustainable pathways capable of supporting change. Their work has seen them engage with local waterways and brought them into contact with people who work in at-risk habitats. These experiences continue to shape their current artistic endeavours.

More about I.C.W.D: https://tuho.org/ 
@tuho­­_org  

ZK/U-Berlin

ZK/U‑Berlin works internationally combining visual art with urban research. The collective is particularly focused on the realities that shape life within cities and has a track record of delivering research, performance-based interventions and long-term, place-specific initiatives in the context of local neighbourhoods and even whole cities. In conjunction with the 2022 Documenta Fifteen exhibition in Kassel, the collective journeyed by “roof boat” from Berlin towards Kassel (https://www.zku-berlin.org/projects/citizenship-raise-the-roof/). Instead of fossil fuel, the boat was powered by human-generated energy, and its progress each day was determined by the level of engagement it drew from the public.

More about ZK/U-Berlin: www.zku-berlin.org 
@zku.berlin

Hämeenlinna art museum is Wihuri Foundation’s partner museum

Future NOW working group includes Jenny Valli who coordinates the project alongside curators Riikka Kuittinen and Soile Ollikainen and community manager Maria Hjelt.

Hämeenlinna Art Museum is delivering the Future NOW exhibition project with the support of the Wihuri Foundation’s partner museums scheme. Future NOW forms part of a programme marking the museum’s 75th anniversary in 2027.