Description of the competition programme
Nordea is organising an open art competition for professional visual artists and groups of professional visual artist operating in Finland. The purpose of the competition is to find proposals for new work to be exhibited at the new office building at the Nordea Campus in Vallila. Entries can be submitted until 12 January 2024 at 12 noon, and the winning entry will be revealed in early 2025.
The competition offers an opportunity to express thoughts, ideas and feelings or a story through intangible digital art exhibited in the lobby of Nordea’s new office building.
The competition entry can be a video, audio or light installation, or a combination of these.
The work should positively reflect change and provide a vision for the future. We prefer that Nordea’s 200-year history and/or the colourful history of the block, starting in the late 1800s (Appendices 1 and 2), is used as inspiration. In addition, we prefer that the work is in line with Nordea’s mission and values, which are reflected in practice through the promotion of sustainable development, equality and diversity.
Assessment criteria
The assessment will pay particular attention to the following:
- the artistic quality and vision of the proposals,
- feasibility, and
- successful interpretation of the aims of the competition programme.
After the competition has been decided, Nordea Bank Abp will choose which winning proposal(s) will be implemented. The final work will be owned by Nordea Bank Abp.
The competition rules of the Artists’ Association of Finland will be observed in the competition. The competition programme was approved on 22 May 2023.
Timetable
- August 2023: Announcement of the competition
- Competitors have the opportunity to ask questions until 30 November 2023 (viivi.kuosa @ artists.fi)
- The final date for entries is 12 January 2024 at 12 noon (UTC +2)
- January–February 2024: Deliberation by the jury
- March 2024: Winner selection
- March–December 2024: Production of the work
- The work will be revealed in early 2025
Description of the competition environment and location
The building is located in Helsinki, at Aleksis Kiven katu 3–5. A description of the building and its architecture has been provided in a separate appendix (Appendix 3).
The work should primarily be located in the street-level lobby space, from where it can be expanded to other semi-public spaces in the building near the lobby and to the second floor, if necessary. The work can also be expanded or distributed elsewhere across the Nordea Campus.
The double-sided marketing displays that are planned to be installed on the window wall of the lobby can be used for the artwork, or they can be replaced with another solution if the proposal utilises the window wall as part of the artwork.
A comprehensive audio system has been designed for the lobby space and the conference centre on the second floor, and it can be utilised in a variety of ways to create a soundscape. All media players must be compatible with Nordea’s certified Scala platform.
The work is not intended to be shared through public channels and can’t be connected an external network. The work must be technically constructed in such a way that it can be activated and deactivated (turned on and off) automatically.
The work may also extend from inside the building to the street space, but in a way that does not pose a risk to vehicle traffic. Fast-moving images or LED screens may not be placed on the street. If the work extends to the street area, the implementation must be negotiated with representatives of the city.
Right to participate in the competition
The competition is open to all professional visual artists and working groups consisting of professional visual artists working in Finland who are not subject to international sanctions. If the participant is a working group, at least one of its members must be a professional visual artist.
The competition will be conducted anonymously. Each entry and the related material must be marked with a pseudonym that may not refer to a real person or to the name of the working group. The name(s) and contact details of the artist or group of artists should be entered separately in the field reserved for the competition material when submitting the competition material. If a working group participates in the competition, the names and contact details of all members and information about the copyright holder must be provided.
Entrants may submit alternative proposals under different pseudonyms. The competition entry must not consist of work that has been previously exhibited. Entrants may not publish or distribute their proposal in any media while the competition is ongoing.
Copyright and ownership
The artists will retain the copyright and ownership of their competition entries. The organiser of the competition has the right to use and publish material, including photos, related to the awarded competition entries in its own communications free of charge in cases where the communications have a non-commercial purpose and concern the competition or the art project in question. Any use subject to the copyright of a competition entry other than what is described above must be agreed on separately with Kuvasto ry or the artist.
Budget
Implementation of the work or works including all costs: EUR 50,000 (VAT 0%). Any value-added tax will be added to this sum. Read more about VAT for visual artists.
The sum includes the artists’ fees, the creation of the work and the materials used in it, transportation to the site and possible subcontracting costs related to the implementation of the work. The commissioning party is responsible for the purchase and installation of the equipment.
Duration of the work
The intention is to acquire a work of art that will be permanently exhibited at the site. The commissioning party will be responsible for purchasing, servicing and maintaining the technology used in the work.
Prizes
- Winner EUR 5,000
- 2nd place EUR 3,000
- 3rd place EUR 1,000
Composition of the jury
- Sari Palosaari, visual artist, member appointed by the Artists’ Association
- Elena Näsänen, visual artist, member appointed by the Artists’ Association
- Christina Gadeberg, CPO, Nordea Bank Abp
- Jussi Koskinen, Chief Legal Officer, Nordea Bank Abp
- Ulrika Romantschuk, Head of Brand, Communications and Marketing, Nordea Bank Abp
- Antti Tainio, Head of Workplace Management in Finland, Nordea Bank Abp
- Marja Ahlros, Architect, Nordea Bank Abp
The composition of the Nordea jury members may change.
The competition jury will select a chairperson from among its members.
The competition jury may also hear external experts regarding the competition entries. However, in a possible voting situation, only the members of the competition jury listed above have the right to vote, with the exception of the secretary.
The secretary of the competition jury is Anu Kehusmaa, Director at the Nordea Art Foundation (non-voting member).
The contact person for the competition is Competition Specialist Viivi Kuosa (viivi.kuosa @ artist.fi) from the Artists’ Association of Finland.
The competition entry must be demonstrated in a concrete way with sketches and a written description written preferably in English with a maximum length of one A4 sheet. The entries should be final proposals, not drafts.
Materials and/or links to materials as well as the written description of the work should be submitted digitally through the competition page at https://nordea.artcurator.io.
The material must be marked with a pseudonym that may not refer to a real person or to the name of the working group.
- Videos should be submitted as youtube or vimeo links and can be max. 1 minutes long. The video upload address should remain anonymous, without revealing the identity of the creator or the team. For instance, on platforms like YouTube, it's necessary to create a separate anonymous channel to upload the video content.
- Audio files, if their size is below 20 MB, can be attached as MP3 files.
- The maximum size of all attachments is 20 MB. Several attachments may be included with each entry.
All competition entries must include a screenshot image. The images will appear to the jury as cover images of the entry. In the case of a video, the screenshot can be a single frame from the video.
We prefer that competition entries are primarily submitted in English.
If there are differences in the versions of the competition programme, the English-language version will prevail.
The material must be submitted by 12 noon (UTC +2) on 12 January 2024. Incomplete or late entries will not be considered.
Information about processing of personal data
The organiser of the art competition processes the personal data of the competition entrants in accordance with EU and national data protection legislation in order to carry out the competition. Personal data will not be disclosed to third parties or used for other purposes. Personal data is collected from the data subjects themselves in connection with participation in the art competition. Personal data will be erased at the latest once the art project as a whole has ended and there is no longer a need to use the personal data. By participating in the art competition, the entrants consent to the processing of their personal data as described above.
Any questions related to the art competition can be sent to Viivi Kuosa (viivi.kuosa(a)artist.fi), Competition Specialist at the Artists’ Association of Finland. Questions must be submitted by 30 November 2023. Questions received and their answers will be published on the competition website. The answers to the questions will be published two weeks after the questions are received.
