The multidisciplinary arts exhibition, Higher Powers – Kurotuksia, brought to light the cross-functional teamwork of Aalto University’s students and professors. The opening ceremony of the co-created exhibition was held on June 5th at Heureka.
Aalto University’s provost, Kristiina Mäkelä, officially opened the exhibition at Heureka, the Finnish science centre.
Multidisciplinary collaboration between science and art, technology, and business were at the heart of the opening ceremony.
“What you see here tonight is a wonderful example of that,” said provost Mäkelä.
“To our knowledge, combining science and arts in this way is novel, and we have not found anything similar anywhere in the world,” Mäkelä said.
Two of the students who contributed to the works presented at the Art exhibition shared their perspective.
“What interested me was multidisciplinarity working with people from different backgrounds and different programmes,” said design student Emma Prost (ARTS).
“So yes, learning new things and having this kind of group work was really interesting.”
Working together
Jonas Tjepkema (SCI) gave his own perspective.
“When I first saw arts and maths, I was always walking around on campus, and I saw the arts department. I was thinking that this would be a good way to get into that world. I thought it was a nice combination: maths and arts. So that was how I decided to get into this.”
Both students highlighted the multidisciplinary teamwork with students from different fields of study.
“All the courses were material that I had not seen before, so it was always entertaining and interesting as well. And then you got to also have that practical aspect of building huge sculptures,” mentioned Tjepkema.
Solving global challenges
Kirsi Peltonen wanted to break cliches and preconceptions about mathematics.
“What mathematics is all about, and the human element. To do things with your own style.”
Communication is a challenge when you leave your own bubble and go to work with people from different fields.
Peltonen, a senior university lecturer at Aalto University, found it inspiring that engineers were also excited about the project. Sustainability is also important to the exhibition.
“The students are aware of what materials are being used. We want to be sustainable. Recycling is also central.”
The exhibition is open until 31.8.2023 at Heureka and showcases student works from the interdisciplinary course Crystal Flowers in Halls of Mirrors: Mathematics Meets Art and Architecture, of Aalto University.
