Category: Foundation

2025 was a year of movement for the Tiftö Foundation: works were loaned to museums, a new artwork was created on Vallisaari island, and nearly four hundred guests gathered in the foundation’s spaces. Not a bad year for art.

Vallisaari called — Hans Rosenström answered

The year’s most significant support went to the Helsinki Biennial 2025, which the foundation has been backing since 2023. In 2025, the support was channelled to artist Hans Rosenström’s work created specifically for the Biennial on Vallisaari — an island you can’t reach on foot, but ferries run every hour from the Market Square.

Rosenström’s piece is a fine example of what the foundation’s support can do at its best: make new art possible.

Others received support too

Beyond the Helsinki Biennial, Valoseura Flash received a grant for its project connected to Oulu’s year as European Capital of Culture 2026, and four visual artists also received direct support from the foundation.

Works toured the world

The Tiftö collection grew by four new works. Meanwhile, eight works from the foundation’s collection and Rafaela Seppälä’s private collection were loaned to 11 museums — seven of them abroad.

One of our forms of support is lending artworks . It’s a simple but powerful way to keep art moving and visible.

The doors were open

Throughout the year, the foundation’s premises hosted a series of networking events and meetings. A total of 403 people walked through the door — 165 of them international guests. That’s a lot of handshakes and coffee.

In 2026, the foundation will continue seeking partnerships that keep art where it belongs: visible and meaningful.

The Tiftö Foundation supports visual art through collection and loan activities, grants, and international collaboration.

At the first Tiftö Foundation board meeting of the autumn, it was decided to invite artist Jarmo Mäkilä to join the board. We warmly welcome him and his expertise to our board.

© Photo: Jussi Tiainen

Toni R. Toivonen’s works are on display at The Presence of Absence Matter and Traces – Imprints of Life in Time exhibition, Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt) on 12.10.2024–2.3.2025.

The exhibition The Presence of Absence revolves around the theme of humankind’s endless confrontation with the idea of change and transience and their forms of representation in art. The title alludes to matter as a presence in which traces of the living are inscribed.

© Photo: Toni R. Toivonen

Jarmo Mäkilä – I am a Multitude exhibition is on display at Villa Gyllenberg Art Museum on 23.10.2024–2.3.2025.

The central themes of the works, which evoke conflicting and strong emotions, are time and ageing, the development of the self and the importance of memories and the subconscious. Mäkilä’s enigmatic paintings, sculptures and installations are mental landscapes occupying liminal spaces, on the borders between the inner and the outer.

© Photo: Jussi Tiainen

A painting by Joonas Ahlava, Growing Garden 1.1, 2019 (UV print on plywood, 157x16x16 cm), has been added as a donation to the collection. The artwork combines Japanese, Western, and Scandinavian symbolism. The artwork is the artist’s first in the foundation’s collection.

© Photo: Joonas Ahlava

Tommi Toija’s Archeology of Emotions exhibition will be displayed at Taidehalli on 1.6.–6.10.2024.

Toija’s fascinating studio will move from the Lallukka Artists’ Home to Kunsthalle Helsinki. Visitors can explore the rich collection of artworks, tools, and inspiring objects, and occasionally watch the artist at work.

Tommi Toija is especially known for gently rebellious sculpture figures that examine their surroundings with eyes wide open. The exhibition will also feature newer sculptures, paintings, and drawings.

© Photo: Anna Autio