New public artworks inspired by fairy tales, movement, and the golden age of design

Curated by HAM Helsinki Art Museum and financed by the Percent for Art principle, two new public artworks have been made for Helsinki’s educational institutions. Matias Karsikas created the Little Thumbling’s Garden relief for Daycare Ariel, and Emma Rönnholm’s mobile-like sculpture Fragments of the Sky has been installed in Hoplaxskolan School in Munkkiniemi.

Matias Karsikas: Little Thumbling’s Garden, 2024

Visual artist Matias Karsikas’s Little Thumbling’s Garden brings a bunch of huge berries, flowers, and a giant pea pod to the interior staircase of Daycare Ariel in Kalasatama. In the work, clear glass that plays with light and reflections is combined with gilded ceramics and earthy wood.

Playing with scale, the work refers to Selma Lagerlöf’s classic work The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, a tale about a boy who, shrunken to the size of a thumb, travels across Sweden on the back of a goose. The story sparked Matias Karsikas’s imagination and made him dream of a miniature world. “As a child, I dreamed of being the size of a thumb so that berries would appear huge and I could eat them endlessly,” the artist recalls. 

In art history, the flower motif is connected to the tradition of ceramics, and the work’s glossy, glazed flowers are reminiscent of patterns in domestic tile stoves and decorative ceramics. The bunch of black currants is a tribute to designer Birger Kaipiainen, whose poetic and decorative objects have inspired Karsikas. Nature in general is a recurring theme in Karsikas’s works, symbolising life’s resilience and continuous perseverance.

Matias Karsikas (b. 1989) lives and works in Helsinki. His practice is based on his own highly developed methods, which are often time-consuming and technically challenging. Karsikas studied glass and ceramics at the University of Art and Design Helsinki and design at Aalto University. He was selected as Finland’s Young Designer of the Year in 2020.

Emma Rönnholm: Fragments of the Sky, 2024

Emma Rönnholm’s Fragments of the Sky (Fragment av himmel) is a geometric cloud made of thin metal sheets hanging from the ceiling. The work is simple in form, but it rewards the viewer with its surprising transformations and beautiful details. This piece, created for Hoplaxskolan School in Munkkiniemi, is located on a stair landing where people gather but also pass through in different directions. Rönnholm’s work gains its power and appeal from these transitions and changing perspectives. 

The work combines shiny stainless steel and brass as its materials. The metal sheet surfaces have been treated using various techniques, including grinding, heat colouring, and varnishing. During the day, light flooding in through the staircase windows plays across the sheets’ surfaces, and in the evening, the specially designed lighting reveals countless reflections.

Rönnholm drew inspiration for her piece from the optical and kinetic art and design of the time when the school, completed in 1952, was constructed. She created a clear and regular visual appearance for the piece while also adding a handmade feel and elements of surprise.

Emma Rönnholm (b. 1984) is a Helsinki-based visual artist. She graduated in 2011 from the Academy of Fine Arts, where she studied painting and sculpture. She works with sculpture and installation, often featuring movement or other mechanical elements. Materials and related processes are central parts of her practice. Rönnholm has had several solo shows and her work has been featured in group exhibitions in Finland and abroad.

The works were financed in accordance with Helsinki’s Percent for Art principle: A part of the city’s budget for construction and renovation projects is set aside for new public artworks. HAM Helsinki Art Museum acts as an art expert in these projects, and the works are added to the City of Helsinki’s art collection, managed and curated by HAM. The collection already includes more than 200 works implemented through the Percent for Art principle.