The new Astra campus being built by the Åbo Akademi University Foundation is located in Turku’s historic quarter. The site’s historical links considered when selecting contemporary art, as the building’s art concept, “Burning time”, is inspired by its setting, with its visible and invisible layers of the city’s past. The work of art commissioned from visual artist Jouna Karsi explores these layers in time and the importance of knowledge in a unique and modern way. The work will be sited at the entrance to the Astra building.  

  “The art explores the phenomena and questions that have been important at different times – present, past and future – and whether connections can be found between different time periods,” explains Ulrika Grägg, curator at the Åbo Akademi University Foundation.  

Layers of time branch out into paths in Jouna Karsi’s work  

  The artwork consists of shapes like islands, like fragments of landscape carved out of the ground, which together form a path-like structure. Karsi’s work depicts time as an archipelago of opportunities in which the past, the present, and the paths branching out from unmade choices are constantly visible. The work builds on repetition, with the same visual elements recurring with minor variations, like overlapping or consecutive versions of reality.  

  According to the artist, the starting point for the work is the idea that a knowledge-producing institution was part of the defence system as far back as the Middle Ages, a concept that appears highly relevant today. At the same time, the work can be seen as a symbol of scientific endeavour and of how scientific knowledge is refined, passing through different versions to get closer to the truth.  

  The landscape that the work depicts is taken from the university’s history. Finland’s first university, the Royal Academy of Turku, was founded in 1640 in a small building in the wall surrounding the Cathedral.  

  “Åbo Akademi University is on the site where Finland’s first school, first university and first government authority were founded. When I saw Jouna Karsi’s concept for the artwork, I was deeply moved by the way that it makes this heritage so clearly visible, while also emphasising the importance of knowledge for a safe society and a future, as yet unknown, that we are engaged in creating,” says Heidi Backman, Åbo Akademi University’s Director of University Services and member of the art project’s steering group.  

Astra’s art concept  

  Astra’s art concept consist of  three separate art projects: one indoor artwork, one outdoor artwork, and one abstract work. Earlier this year, Hilda Hellström’s outdoor work, Passage of Time, was presented, having won the competition for invited artists. Karsi’s and Hellström’s works will go on public display when Astra is completed in autumn 2025. The art projects are run jointly with Public Art Agency Finland, an organisation that specialises in producing and working strategically with public art.  

---

For further information:  

Ulrika Grägg, curator, Åbo Academy University Foundation
Tel. 040 866 9777
E-mail: ulrika.gragg@stiftelsenabo.fi

Jouna Karsi, visual artist  
Tel. 050 3509479   
E-mail: jouna.karsi@gmail.com