• 9.3. 17.30
• 16.3. 17.30
• 23.3. 17.30
• 30.3. 17.30
• 6.4. 17.30
• 1.6. 17.30
• 27.4. 17.30
• 4.5. 17.30
• 11.5. 17.30
• 18.5. 17.30

On the expert evenings on Thursdays, the audience is greeted by leading experts of arts and culture. With the help of researchers, art historians and professionals from specialised museums we dig deeper into the exhibition themes of Modern life!

The HAM Talks are held every Thursday at the HAM Hall at 5.30pm. Duration approximately one hour. The lectures are held in Finnish. Entry included in the admission ticket.

9 March
Director Tommi Lindh, Alvar Aalto Foundation and Museum:
Construction, conservation and renovation of the Tennis Palace

How did the Car Palace of the 1940 Olympics turn into the Tennis Palace, and finally a multiplex cinema and the Helsinki Art Museum?

16 March
Architect Jonas Malmberg, Alvar Aalto Foundation:
Paimio Sanatorium and the fight against tuberculosis

Contemporary functionalism highlighting cleanliness and light lived up to its expectations in sanatorium architecture, with the prime example of the winning bid in Paimio in 1933 by the 30-year-old architect Alvar Aalto.

23 March
Chief Curator, Deputy Director Merja Vilhunen, Design Museum:
Finnish Design and the Milan Triennials

A nation recovering from war was greeted with open arms in 1950s Italy. Finnish design was met with a huge success in the international design shows organised in Milan every three years.

30 March
Head of Research Juhana Lehti, Museum of Finnish Architecture:
Finnish architects in Germany

A delegation of Finnish architects traveled to Germany in 1943 to learn about standardising, following an invitation by Albert Speer. The delegation included Alvar Aalto, Aarne Ervi, Jussi Paatela, Viljo Revell and Esko Suhonen.

6 April
Director, Professor Markku Hedman, Alvar Aalto Academy:
Modern housing architecture – rationalism or poetry?

Two styles co-existed within modern housing architecture: rationalism leaning on technology and poetry leaning on humanistic thinking. The lecture dives into these two lines of thought through examples.

27 April
Director Elina Heikka, The Finnish Museum of Photography and Educational Curator Leena Svinhufvud, Design Museum:
Modern Helsinki in 1930 – a case study on home interiors and photography  

The rationalising exhibition on small scale housing held in 1930 at the Kunsthalle Helsinki took a stand on the housing problem at the time: how to offer sound housing solutions for the whole population. During the same year, modern Finnish photography reached new audiences through an exhibition held at the Strindberg Gallery by the groundbreaking photography collective ABISS.

4 May
Professor Riitta Nikula:
The Finnish rowhouse – from working-class housing to middle-class dream

Professor Riitta Nikula has conducted wide research in urban planning and the history of rowhouse living. As an art historian, her special interests lie in everyday phenomena and the 20th century.

11 May
Marko Home:
The world of Futuro

Launched in 1968, Futuro is the ellipsoid shaped plastic house designed by architect Matti Suuronen, encompassing space-age architecture and design experiments from the late 1960s, with new materials and optimistic ideas. Art historian Marko Home shares the colourful story of Futuro from the 1960s up until this day.

1 June
Curator Anni Wallenius, The Finnish Museum of Photography:
Photos change everything

Content to be updated soon.