TAITEEN KURSSI

The Course of Art (Taiteen Kurssi)

The Course of Art (Taiteen Kurssi)

Galleria Nefret, Turku
30 – 31 May 2009

Artists: Heini Aho, Maria Arponen, Markus Berg, Juhana Blomstedt, Elina Brotherus, Toni Hautamäki, Tatu Hiltunen, Mikko Ijäs, Antti Jussila, Jussi Jääskeläinen, Sami Korkiakoski, Mika Natri, Ukri Merikanto, Eero Merimaa, Benjamin Orlow, Nelli Palomäki, Tamara Piilola, Teemu Raudaskoski, Topi Ruotsalainen, Juri Saarikoski, Sampsa Sarparanta, Hans-Peter Schütt, Janne Siltanen, Sirpa Särkijärvi, Kalle Taivainen, Sara Toivonen, Timo Vaittinen, Hanna Varis, Juha Welling

Guest speaker: Pauliina Laitinen-Laiho, PhD (Art-market researcher)
Opening: Jani Leinonen

Project description:
The Course of Art was a two-day exhibition and event that questioned how art acquires its value and what it means to “sell” a work in both symbolic and material terms. Conceived as a pedagogical and performative experiment, the project occupied the brief interlude between Galleria Nefret’s scheduled exhibitions — transforming a gap in the calendar into a conceptual space for inquiry.

Featuring thirty Finnish artists from multiple generations, the exhibition asked the enduring question: “What is art?” Each artist offered a personal statement through their work, revealing art’s multiplicity of motives — aesthetic, ethical, spiritual, and economic.

The event unfolded in two acts:

  • Day 1: Opening by artist Jani Leinonen, whose own practice critically examines consumer culture.
  • Day 2: Public discussion with participating artists and philosopher Pauliina Laitinen-Laiho, exploring the mechanisms of art valuation and market ethics. Auction by Ville Laaksonen.

The project culminated in a live auction-style sales performance, deliberately merging the languages of commerce and ritual. The invitation referenced Johann Tetzel’s 16th-century phrase, “When the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” By confronting the discomfort surrounding art sales, the project exposed the psychological and ethical tensions between artistic integrity and economic survival.

The Course of Art thus operated as a microcosm of the art world’s contradictions — at once exhibition, seminar, and market. It treated the act of curation not as neutral mediation but as a performative structure for philosophical dialogue, blurring the boundaries between pedagogy, critique, and commerce.

Context:
Curated and produced by Ville Laaksonen, The Course of Art prefigured the experimental ethos that would later define Art-Incubator: re-imagining exhibitions as discursive systems where institutional conventions, authorship, and economic realities are openly negotiated.