Awards|The Art Promotion Center awarded 11 artists from different fields of art.
Landscape architect Janne Saario was among the awardees when the Art Promotion Center (Taike) handed out 11 state art awards on Tuesday.
The total amount of the prizes is 250,000 euros.
Saario was awarded the state award for children’s and youth culture.
He is a former professional skateboarder and current landscape architect, who is one of the few Finnish skate park designers. The dozens of parks he designed have made him famous around the world.
Saario entered the industry by designing the Micropolis skate park in Helsinki Zoo as his first work in 2006. Since then, he has designed numerous parks primarily in Finland, but also in other parts of Europe.
In 2016, Saario was one of the ten young people that the American magazine Time highlighted when listing “next generation leaders”.
In 2019, architect and skate park designer Janne Saario tested Kontula’s skate park, which was still unfinished at the time.
The music the state award went to one of our most famous and internationally successful musicians Pekka Kuusisto. His open-minded and courageous approach to both his own work as a musician and the phenomena of the art industry is particularly significant, argued the state music committee.
The State Literature Committee, on the other hand, awarded the State Prize for Literature For Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo. According to the award criteria, the author has uncompromisingly tested the norms and limits of literature for three decades. It is characteristic of Taivassalo to throw himself into exploring the possibilities of the text, whether the genre is prose, drama, poetry, graphic novel or children’s book.
The state award for visual arts was given to a sculptor Maija Närhinen. His art moves in the world between three-dimensional and two-dimensional, sculpture and painting.
The Audiovisual Arts Committee awarded the 2024 Cinematography State Prize to DocPoint-kulamoatyatt ry. The recognition came from organizing the annual DocPoint – Helsinki documentary film festival.
Theater arts the state award went to an actor Marc Gassot. He has had a distinguished career as an actor, mime, director and facilitator.
The state award for design went to the architect Laura Mattila and architect, carpenter Mikko Merz. In their work, they seamlessly combine design, interior design and architecture and their practical implementation.
The state award for photography went Juuso Noronkoski. His art is created by noticing the fascinating details of everyday reality and asking to stop by them.
The state award for circus arts went to Cirko – Uuiden sikrus keskus ry. It has developed and promoted Finnish contemporary circus in a creditable way.
The multi-arts state award went to the Dance and Performing Arts Association Ehkek ry. A multi-vocal operator of the free field has promoted culture non-commercially.
The state award for art journalism went to a critic Do School. He has promoted art journalism about music and brought discussion to the field at a time when fewer and fewer parties invest in art criticism.